Well, it’s hard to believe but another school year has begun! This time around I’m starting the year in a new country (Japan), new school (Yokohama International School), and a not-so-new job (Technology and Learning Coach). This is our fourth international school in eleven years and if the past few weeks are anything to go by, I think we’ll be here for a while!
Over the past month or so, Alex and I have been spending the majority of our time settling in to our new apartment (which we love). We’ve been to Ikea twice already, Muji (kind of a Japanese Ikea) more times than I can count, the electronics store at least once a week, and pretty much spent every waking hour not shopping for home goods building, unpacking, organizing and sorting everything into its proper place.
As much as I love setting up a new home, I’m realizing that this process is more than just decorating, it’s about feeling settled, safe and comfortable in your environment. What makes people feel comfortable when they move to new places may be different, some people might not feel at home until they’ve found their favorite restaurant or joined a gym, but the concept is the same. Until your basic needs are met, you end up feeling distracted and unable to take on new responsibilities. The same is true for a work environment. Although you may not be moving to a new school (or even a new classroom), we all need to feel a sense of stability before taking risks and trying something new.
For many teachers, doing new things (especially with technology) in their classroom can seem as daunting as an international move. Knowing how I’ve felt these last few weeks getting our apartment settled, I want to make sure my priority as Technology and Learning Coach is to help my new colleagues feel safe and comfortable with me and the technology they use everyday before expecting them to try something new in the classroom. Building a solid foundation of trust and security is the only way I can expect my teachers to take risks with me.
After learning from plenty of mistakes in the past, here are my top 7 priorities for starting the year off right (trying to take some of my own advice here):
Building Relationships: In my 3 years at ISB, I learned that the absolute key to helping teachers try new things in their classroom is for them to trust you. When you have a positive relationship with another teacher you are much more willing to work with them and to take risks. These first few weeks and months are critical for me to begin making connections on a personal level with as many teachers as possible. I like to think I’m a nice person, and even if I sometimes push people out of their comfort zone, I want them to know that I am always there to help.
Be Approachable: Sometimes technology is intimidating and people (especially teachers) can become reluctant to ask for help, in fear of a typical techno-babble response. Making the technology office a welcoming place by greeting people when they come in, treating their questions with respect, and answering with simple step-by-step instructions helps set people at ease. There is no limit to what a little patience, a friendly tone of voice, and simple responses can do to build a welcoming and approachable vibe in a technology team. Once people see that you can actually help them, they will come back for more!
Be Available: I’m not a fan of talking tech at lunch, but I know how important it is that people feel supported. Getting questions answered in the hallway, on the sidewalk, over dinner or in the grocery store is a clear signal to teachers that you are ready and willing to help. It is amazing how appreciative people will be if you are able to go just a little out of your way to solve their problems.
Be Proactive: Every day the past week I’ve made sure to spend some time walking around to each and every classroom in my division, just popping in to see how things are going and to make sure previous requests have been completed. I certainly haven’t been able to solve everything, but demonstrating that I care and want to make sure everything is functioning makes people feel supported and listened to. Every now and again all it takes is a sympathetic ear and an understanding of the issue for a problem to resolve itself.
Be Positive: It’s easy to become frustrated with technology, but maintaining a positive attitude and staying calm under pressure helps other teachers (and students) feel less stressed and nervous. I figure if I see technology in a positive light, I can lead others to see things that way too.
Being Appreciative: It’s easy to arrive at a new school and constantly talk about the way things were done at your last school, or to start comparing teachers. I get sucked into that kind of behavior every time I move, but it’s counter-productive. I need to make sure I am appreciative of what has been done here, where the school is at in its development, and how I can tailor solutions for this particular school, staff and students. I need to take the time to understand what is working before I can say with certainty what needs to be improved. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have ideas right now, but going in thinking I know everything is a surefire way to get started on the wrong foot.
Build Community: Every school has a group of keen teachers who are ready and willing to learn, but they don’t always know each other. Finding ways to bring those teachers together, as well as support those teachers who are not ready yet, is so important. For the last five years (at MKIS and then ISB) I’ve run after school walk-in tech support. There is something about an open-door tech support session, in a classroom, that helps put people at ease, and engages the more advanced users in a technology leadership role. In addition to those general walk-in sessions, I’m also going to run a weekly “Pimp My Mac” session for tips and tricks to help teachers be more productive with tech.
Final Thoughts
This is just the beginning of the year, I know I will need to add more ideas to the list as time goes on, but I hope a positive and supportive attitude will go a long way to establishing a strong foundation of techie goodness here at YIS. As much as I hate it, I know I can’t do everything at once. I hope we can start our own cohort of CoETaIL here soon, Parent Coffee Mornings are already calling my name, I would love to bring a Flat Classroom workshop here, I’m anxious to get a Digital Citizenship curriculum going, maybe start a GenYES student group, and continue building a coaching team. One step at a time!
What am I missing? What should I be doing now to build a solid foundation with the YIS community?
Over the last few months, I’ve been extremely fortunate to lead a number of weekend workshops at ISB and around Asia. I always really enjoy the experience (and am usually on a “workshop high” for days afterward), but attending ASB Unplugged in February and the EARCOS Teacher’s Conference last week helped me realize what was so special about those weekend workshops, compared to your “standard” conference.
Last year, after the EARCOS Teacher’s Conference, I realized that the most useful aspect of attending conferences (for me) is not so much about the content available, but rather about meeting people and building relationships. But, after all these weekend workshops this year, I’m realizing that just having the occasional opportunity to chat with someone in the hallway or between sessions isn’t really enough. It’s actually going through the process of learning together, creating something together, collaborating as equals over time, that really builds a meaningful and lasting connection.
Now, of course, that’s not to say that the connections you make in the hallways and after presentation sessions at conferences aren’t great (’cause they are), but after spending a whole weekend, working in a team with another group of teachers to actually create something that demonstrates your learning, well that’s a whole other level of connecting you’ve got there.
It’s the experience, the collaboration, the creation of something new, the feeling of being on a team, and the satisfaction of actually doing something with your time. It’s what I’d like to call “The Way of The Workshop” (or The Next Generation Conference). You just don’t get that attending sessions at a conference.
I’ve attended a number of workshops like this in the past, and this year have had the opportunity to actually lead (and organize) a few myself. I’d like to think that the other workshop leaders and I tried to foster the kind of learning environment that we as learners would appreciate and enjoy. Reflecting on two of the workshops from this past January, TechTrain 2010 (led by Tara Ethridge, Chrissy Hellyer, Dennis Harter, Dana Watts and me, hosted at ISB) and Create the Future (led by Julie Lindsay and me, hosted at Beijing BISS International School), here are some of the ideas we implemented:
Cohort Grouping
We organized our workshop participants into groups that stayed together for the duration of the two-day workshop. For Create the Future, we (well, Julie) created the groups in advance based on subject are and grade level taught. For TechTrain 2010, we let participants self-select the appropriate cohort group based on comfort level with technology through a simple Google Form. This way we were able to expect that in the Create the Future Workshop, teachers would be able to focus on the practical and address real issues relevant to their curriculum and subject area, and in TechTrain, teachers would be comfortable asking any and all questions because everyone in their cohort group would be at a similar skill level.
Application of Learning
In both workshops we made sure that participants actually produced something by the end of the workshop. For Create the Future, we asked participants to follow the Understanding by Design method of unit planning and create an actual unit that they could implement in their own classroom, including a collaboration element for students to be connecting with others in different schools. For TechTrain 2010, we asked participants to use their new learning to create a sample project to be shared at the very end of the workshop in a SpeedGeeking session.
Breakout Sessions
Because these workshops are usually smaller than a full conference (we had around 50 participants in both workshops), we were conscious of the fact that it can get tedious to sit in the same room hour after hour, day after day. So, we organized specific breakout sessions where each workshop leader gave a presentation on a new tool or idea (finding Creative Commons images, for example) and the participants were split between the two sessions, and then we swapped groups so that everyone had a chance to learn the same things. It was nice to be able to work with a smaller group of people, and to be able to go into depth on one topic, while knowing that someone else would take care of the other one.
A Common Experience
Working with the same team of people, experiencing the same presentations and hands-on sessions means that everyone who attended had a shared experience, one they can reflect on together and remember well after the workshop. In a “normal” conference everyone attends different sessions and shares the ideas later, which is a great way to diversify experience, but there is something special about having gone through the same training together. It helps build your own understanding when you have someone to deeply reflect and discuss it with, and it ensures that everyone in attendance gets the same message.
Time to Talk
In both workshops we built in specific time for participants to digest what they were learning through focused questions, group conversation time, and just general “down time.” All too often conferences are go, go, go, with no time to think about what you’re learning or to make sense of it all. We tried to build in that discussion time so that participants felt like they walked away with something solidified in their mind, still new learning, but something concrete instead of completely fuzzy.
Final Thoughts
This definitely does not mean that both workshops were perfect, I know I certainly have a lot to learn (as always), but I am so thrilled with the experiences and it’s great to start to understand better what actually works for teachers. Based on participant feedback, there are a few things, in addition to the above, that I know I need to always keep in mind:
- Giving participants a chance to choose their breakout sessions.
- Make sure the project is based on something that can actually be used in the classroom (not just an excuse to try new tools) following a sound curriculum planning process like Understanding by Design.
- Trust in the self-selection process for cohort grouping, but make sure the descriptions are crystal clear of what will happen in each group. Ensure that ability levels are a feature of group self-selection.
- Continue to utilize a variety of presentation styles and media formats (some direct presenting is good, some videos are good, some hands-on is good – mix and match throughout the workshop).
- Model, model, model – if you say something works well in the classroom, do it in the workshop just the way you would in the classroom.
- Plan for sharing time, but make sure it’s in small groups (like SpeedGeeking) to keep the environment safe, rather than in front of everyone.
- Make sure workshops are voluntary, if not, make sure they’re during the regular work day.
I’m sure I’ll have the chance to both attend and lead more workshops over the coming years, and knowing the value of that time spent makes it all the more worth it to me!
Do you have any advice on what makes a good workshop? Am I missing anything from the list?
I just had a very interesting conversation with Julie Linn, Chief of Staff for K12.com, a private online school which also offers individual online courses to public and private schools looking to supplement their course offerings.
Having read Disrupting Class a few years ago (thanks to Scott McLeod’s fantastic K12Online Conference 2009 presentation), it seems clear that online learning is going to be a powerful catalyst for change in schools, so I was very interested to hear exactly how K12 would pitch their services to an established international school like ISB.
Here are a few highlights about K12 and what they offer:
- They employ over 2,000 full-time teachers.
- They have courses from Kindergarten to grade 12. Wow! I wonder what an online kinder course looks like?
- The k-8 program uses their proprietary learning management system. For all K-8 courses, K12.com requires on-site personal support for the student, like a personal learning coach (who could be a parent or a tutor).
- The high school runs the e-college learning management system and does not require any on-site personal support.
- They use a blended approach for all courses, many include K12-authored, proprietary textbooks and physical kits which are sent to students for, for example, science lab courses.
- They offer a lot of varitety particualrly in specialist areas, like technology; including courses like: Digital Photography and Graphics, Game Design I and II, 3D Game Creation, Flash Animation, etc.
According to Julie, many international schools are already embracing online learning with K12. The early adopters are mostly smaller schools, who do not have the diverse on-site course offerings of larger schools. The larger schools usually start with interest in online courses for summer school, or for students who are in need of higher level course work but are not social ready to be with older students.
In addition to these highlights, there are a few clear reasons why online course offering would be especially attractive to international schools:
- the difficulty of ensuring diverse offerings at international schools (especially smaller schools) because of the limited number of students (and teachers) interested in certain courses,
- the frequency of some families’ needs to move from country to country, and their desire for consistency in education for their children,
- the need for differentiation in content level and offerings, especially when students are coming from so many different schools. What happens to the student who’s been in a Spanish immersion school for 4 years who moves to Thailand, where all that’s on on offer is a World Language course geared towards the students who have taken it as a second language for a year or two?
- the desire for retaining mother-tongue languages in a new country. How great would it be for a Swedish student in Thailand to be able to take Swedish language courses with a Swedish teacher?
All of those factors seem like great reasons to invest in online learning opportunities, even for a large school like ISB that does have a wide variety of onsite offerings.
After chatting with Julie, some challenges or considerations for international schools investigating programs like K12.com also came up:
- Ensuring the integrity of the program (pointed out by Chad): it doesn’t seem like there is an infrastructure for proctoring exams – students just take them on their own, which could lead to cheating or sharing logins to allow students to pose as other students. Maybe this is something the individual school can implement.
- Ensuring correct placement: it seems that the on-site coordinator (a teacher, counselor, or curriculum coordinator employed by the school, who is the liaison between K12 and the school) determines which class to place a student in based on the provided scope and sequence. When interactive testing is so easy and efficient (we MAP test twice a year, but only in Math and Language), wouldn’t it be ideal to have pre-assessments to determine which course a student should enroll in?
- All of the current language offerings seem to be aimed at English speakers desiring to learn a new language. When providing a spectrum of services for an international school population, a more diverse selection of language learning offerings might be desirable.
- Similarly, because K12.com is based in the US, their scope and sequence seem to be very linked to American models, which might not be optimal for international school usage without modification. I’m wondering how their course structure would fit in with the PYP, MYP and DP for example.
- In one of the blended models outlined by K12.com, where some students might be taking some of their courses at a physical school as well as online, the question arises of where and how the online learning will intersect with their daily school schedule. Will students simply be going to the library to work on their online classes at certain points during the day? This seems like an area which might require careful planning and resource management on the school’s part in order to coordinate.
Final Thoughts
It’s very exciting for me to see online learning becoming more popular in international schools. It might be easy for those of us working in international schools to see our education model as unchanging because there will always be expatriate children needing a global education, but I’m not so sure that’s the case. The ability to keep a consistent educational context for children, the convenience of being able to move from country to country without all of the interviews and paperwork required for changing schools, and the increasingly personalized school programs that can be developed when you can pick and choose from a wide variety of courses all lead me to believe that this is going to have a huge impact on international schools as well.
No matter what, I do think we will need to incorporate face-to-face interaction to help children learn social skills. But it will certainly be interesting to see how these kinds of supplemental offerings can/will become the disruptive innovation that forces schools to make some much-needed changes.
All of this reminds me just how important it is to be able to teach an engaging and interactive online course – we might be doing it more regularly (and sooner) than we think.
Does your school run or offer online courses? What are the most popular or useful offerings? How do you think this shift in the world of education will affect schools and learning in the near future?
In January I attended the first ever TEDx event in Bangkok: TEDxBKK. And it was fantastic.
It was fantastic for many reasons – it was extremely well-organized, the speakers were engaging, the variety of topics was perfect, the food was tasty, it was a jam-packed day of learning – but those really aren’t the most important reason that the day was fantastic for me.
It was fantastic for me because I got to step outside of the field of education and learn about new and different and exciting things. I got to chat with people in a variety of fields and see the world through their eyes. I got to see a preview of what our students might actually end up doing with their lives, instead of always thinking about education.
For the most part, although I’m pretty much constantly learning new things, I’m usually focused on learning about education and technology. The Twitter lists I read most often are made up of educators or technology news, the blogs I read are written by educators, the conferences I go to are about education. But this one was different. Yes, there were three (excellent) speakers who talked about education, but for the most part it was people from a variety of industries talking about their passion and how they are quite literally changing the world.
We heard from:
- Apirak Kosayodhin, advisor to the Prime Minister of Thailand
- Brooke Estin, daughter of two ISB teachers, currently working for Kiva and other non-profits focused on sustainable solutions for the world’s challenges
- Bruce Poon Tip, founder of Gap Adventures, a sustainable travel adventure company
- Chris Mitchell, a travel writer based here in Bangkok who has been swimming with great white sharks
- Chris Smith, the Second Life superstar
- Colin Gallagher, the iPod in the classroom guru
- Daniela Ruby Papi, founder of PEPY, an NGO working towards sustainable development in education in rural Cambodia
- James With, a filmmaker exploring the future of 3D cameras
- Julie Lavoie, a photographer who focuses on the secret life of cities
- Prae Sunantaraks, founder of the Little Light Project here in Bangkok
- Ronley Teper, a performance artist
- Robyn Treyvaud, the cybersafety expert
- Zoltan Radnai, Community Manager of Prezi
- Akansha Shah, an RIS student
Each of these speakers shared something absolutely amazing, but the most wonderful thing about seeing them all together in the same day (combined with several pre-recorded TED videos) was spending time thinking and talking about something new and different. The theme of the event was “Minds Wide Open” and that’s really what it did, it opened my mind to the many astounding things that are happening in the world, and more importantly the stunningly creative ways that people are making a difference.
As we were watching these speakers on stage, I couldn’t help but think to myself: these are the people we’re trying to create in our schools. But I’m not sure the stuff we spend our time on is really helping create these kinds of people. In fact, maybe all of the content we’re just “getting through” in school means that the people on stage got there in spite of their education, not because of it…
TEDxBKK was a reminder, a wake-up call, that all the other stuff I learn about day in and day out, though I love it, is really because of this: helping students find their passion, building confidence that they can make a difference in the world, encouraging them to follow their dreams, and making sure that they know they can do it.
With all the time I spend at educational conferences (waaay too much), why don’t we ever talk about any of these things?
So, a huge thank you to the organizers of this event for making me think, for inspiring me, for connecting me, and for truly opening my mind.
