teaching Scout

I was recently presenting for my class on the issue of Sustainability and Scottish Education. Before that, I had to create a portfolio for a class on Sustainability.

Also recently, I have been looking at this whole web 2.0 concept and also the school 2.0 concept, and feel that for the large part I am only starting to catch up with all that has been going on. Although, I feel that the two link together (sustainability and web 2.0 etc) quite substantially. In-fact, they are inextricably linked. Everybody seems to be talking about the fantastic opportunities web2.0 is giving us. Us? The third of people in the world who have access to a computer? In fact, I think the statistic is that less than a third of the worlds population have access to a phone. I understand that web2.0 has the potential to improve the situation for everyone.  Michael Welch, the guy behind the video (that I was probably the last to see) also recognises this:

“So if there is a global village, it is not a very equitable one, and if there is a tragedy of our times, it may be that we are all interconnected but we fail to see it and take care of our relationships with others. For me, the ultimate promise of digital technology is that it might enable us to truly see one another once again and all the ways we are interconnected. It might help us create a truly global view that can spark the kind of empathy we need to create a better world for all of humankind. I’m not being overly utopian and naively saying that the Web will make this happen.”

But do the majority recognise this? Though the real question on my mind is what are we really doing to create this ’spark’? The potential is there, though as of yet I have not seen any thing with true purpose as to increasing a  global sustainable awareness through new technology. It literally seems a bit self centred (in structure). I do credit that a lot of people are doing a lot of good things for creating sustainable schools and communities. We are in the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development aren’t we? I see the $100 dollar laptop project doing fantastic stuff (though it makes me wonder about priorities). I see that everyone is going along this whole new technology idea with the right intentions. But I wonder what is happening? I wonder if we keep going down the route of ‘the next better thing for ourselves’ we will create an even greater divide with those who clearly don’t have the same opportunities.

No one person can change the world but is there a real common focus on doing so within Education? I guess when I start teaching in August, my answer may be that I can only do the best in my own classroom –  I can only educate the pupils I see on a daily basis. I wonder though, is it only because I am not a teacher yet and don’t fully understand the realities of teaching life that I am questioning this perspective?  

It was all going so well. I was on top of things at Uni, had made progress with my disertation and was diligently working away every night. Then I started reading other peoples blogs, and what worse I’ve set up my own one. Now I can see all the hard work slowly slipping away as I spend all my time on my scratched laptop figuring out how to add plugins like the one that allows a preview of the hyperlinks. Sounded like I almost knew what I was talking about there, but I assure you I don’t – I am a complete novice at all this. 

Talking about the dissertation though, this blog might help me become a bit more focused as to where I’m going with it. ‘Sharing Good Practice within Technology Education’, it’s defenitely interesting. In fact, I didn’t think I would start researching something which has made so much sense to me. You see I started off with the notion that as teachers we should all be willing to learn. From each other seems the most obvious way because teachers always know what they’re talking about, don’t they? So how better to improve ourselves as professionals, than share practice with each other? By practice, I mean the everyday stuff, the stuff that matters, the practical stuff – hints, approaches, resources, solutions. Behavioural, managerial, subject knowledge. But what is most interesting to me is the way we do it. It seems that it has to be lateral. Not just how information is shared but how decisions are made. People need to be deciding the common aim rather than being told of it. Needless to say, I feel that the constant approach in Education of a top down heirarchial structure just creates divisions, poor knowledge transition and feeling of resentment about being told how to do your job. But who am I to say, I’m not a teacher yet.

So this blogging thing seems like a pretty good tool to share practice. But is it? I mean, so far I’ve got one reader, I know potentially millions but who’s going to tell them? Are they not just other individuals at computers? Where is the community? Sharing tacit knowledge doesn’t really seem practical for technology to translate? And whats more, where is the common focus, who creates the drive? Is it not a lot of sifting to find something that relevant to you? Or is it actually a fact that it’s not a potential ‘worldwide audience’ its more an audience of other likeminded people that know each other from a community that is already formed? How many ‘outsiders’ actually find there way into a group that suits them?

The thing is – I don’t know. But I’d like to find out. If you read my ‘welcome to my blog’ you’ll see that I’m not doing this in a sceptical manner, I really do think that it is an inspirational technological tool.

Though I wonder what’ll be needed to get everyone on board, to create a common aim in our teaching practice? I feel we’re all doing it for different reasons – which is no bad thing - but I’ve not yet had a sense of ‘whole school/ across schools community’ which I feel is vital for the teaching profession to move forward. As part of my final year dissertation, I’ve got to make a project that supports it. As the project is only worth 20%, like most other students I just want to get it done, I don’t know how much effort I will put into it. The thing is though, what I want to do has ‘potential’ and I really want to give it a good shot. So what is it?

An online resource for probationary Technology teachers to: blog, have an open forum, post resources, help each other out, and not feel too isolated during their first year. Why just probationers? So that the project doesn’t get out of hand for me. Why just Technology? Since I’m brand new to all this, probably best to start small. What I intend to do though, is figure out what people want, provide a starting point and let everyone get on with it. Concerns I have are, how to ‘break down barriers’ such as: peoples’ willingness to share what they do, to overcome the ‘can I really be bothered with this’, how best to maintain a common focus. Things that I feel will be needed, and I’ll need to develop, are maintaining real life contact with each other, the use of critical friends, having a progressing (monthly) focus, a structured resource database and unfortunately some kind of security as I don’t know how pupil suitable the site may be.

Worringly, I proposed the idea to some of my peers, and was asked – ‘Would it involve Jordanhill people, because if it does I don’t want to do it – they’re not getting my stuff’.’ Really sorry all you Jordanhillers, this is not a common view. But a more common view was ‘ I think you’ll get certain people contributing and then the majority just sitting back,’ also ‘ I don’t know about sharing resources, other people might think they’re crap’ and most significantly ‘won’t it just make certain people feel worse as they continually see other people doing better than them, doing better work and having all the answers?’ Hmmmm, maybe, but surely it’s better to give it a go than not to. But if people feel these may be problems just now then I had better address them somehow.

But how do you create change?

I feel that I should break myself in gently here – don’t want to start saying anything too radical on my first post. How about what I did today? What I’m doing tomorrow? Maybe I could make something up to impress my future self with? I guess not. Though I just read some guys post about how to get 120,000 readers in the one day – although something which would be a fairly cool claim, a bit unrealistic from my part. Also, I’m afraid to say, although I’d love for other people to be interested in what I’ve got to say, it’s not the reason for this blog. I think if I went down that route, I’d end up writing to please some imaginary audience, instead I think it best that I write to figure things out for myself. Also imaginary audiences don’t tend to exist.

So if I say ‘you’ I mean me, but my ‘future’ me so that when I read back it seems like I’m the reader. Though why I would want to be addressed by my former self I’m not to sure. So  – Krysia in the future, if you remember that you wrote this, it’ll all make sense because … Now I’m not too sure if I want to keep that last stream of conscious in – what if someone reads this post and thinks I’m a nut? Oh well, at least my future self will understand.

Moving on.

Incase you stumble across this, I’m busy figuring out how to work all the bits and pieces, will hopefully have it up and running soon. As a newbie any tips will be appreciated – so far I’ve worked out how to hyperlink!