The Mind Lab Session 4 - Augmented Reality

After reading this week's texts, I'm looking forward to this week's tools - Aurasma and others. 

These looked like some useful applications for school science an PE. The image is held under advice - when activated various parts of the human body can be seen and worked on. Anatomy 4D is the free app. 

This is the blood circulation system overlay on Anatomy 4D - viewed through my iPad.

Quiver application is an NZ designed aimed at Primary market - each page can be coloured - then scanned with the Quiver app brings the objects to 'augmented' life

The 4D shapes float above the page - can be rotated - again viewed through the iPad

Incredibly frustrating taster of Aurasma - could not get the original trigger image to read the overlays that I wanted to use - but despite this - feel that I could progress through the steps again - https://studio.aurasma.com/login

The focus of today's session was around the future of technology in education - the possibilities, the challenges and the questions. 

Augmented Reality - the seeds planted in 1964 - Marshall McLuhan - the invention of technology, extends our bodies - eg the phone extended our ability to hear, cars extended our ability to walk (travel).. In a metaphorical sense.

When technology is introduced into society, they lead to explosion - but eventually lead to implosion - how long will we need cars for?

Mark Weiser - 1990s - coined the phrase - ubiquitous computing - they weave themselves I ton the fabric of everyday life - technology become invisible. Think about the computer - the original mainframe - size  and capability compared to today's phone!! This then leads to calm technology - it recedes inton the background. It becomes an extension to our 'conscious' - the disappearance of 'interface'. 

Some interesting readings and clips re augmented reality uses in education - Mark Billinghurst. 

Large companies creating augmented reality apps - what impact will these have on our ability to do the depth work? Check out 'The Shallows' by Nicholas Carr - what the Internet is doing to our brain. 

Augmented reality will impact on how we develop our curricular. 

Likely to see the 'blurring of lines' between virtuality and augmented realities - overlays can be made either way - which is an interesting view - reality overlapped into virtual worlds.

If I have any time ever, I might have a look at Ingress - overlaying the electronic game into the real world. 

However I definitely need 'zombies run' - augmented reality interval training  - will def look into this app - sounds like a fun way to get fit ....

How can this be made utilitarian? Serve a useful purpose? 'Go beyond the screen' - holograms for life - love the phrase 'products that can change your life' - being able to integrate live data into real life work projects eg engineering and industrial applications 'smart helmets' www.hardware.daqri.com

Will allow workers to do things that they have never been able to do before 'the future or working' - do humans even need to be there.

Invention and innovation are not the same thing. Technology does not lead to innovation. 

Innovation - generally brought about by need - or forced -  screw top wine was because we could not get good cork. One if the most innovative recent designs is the Guiness can widget, which makes the Guinness head like a poured Guiness - the patent - gave them a lead for a few years. 

The flexible toothbrush, came from research - market demand - innovation came from the communication - brushing a tomato - it didn't need to be translated to any language, the image was enough!

The difference between invention and innovation - eg the tide watch - the inventor onsold to Ripcurl, who innovatively marketed to surfers worldwide.

Sometimes the innovation is not actually an innovation - eg the railways and Roman oxen carts 

Augmented reality - innovation or invention.

Gartner's Hype Cycle - new technology introduced - can be measured by this scale - I like the application of this to classroom technology!!

- technology trigger

- peak of inflated expectations

- slope or trough of despair or disillusionment

- slope of enlightenment

- plateau of productivity

You can map all technology introduction against this.

Have to say I was lost me at Quantam Computing - other than its gonna be a major breakthrough in what our computers can go.

The new reality - just some of what is out there now -: 

Disruptive innovation - the more overdue a disruption is, and the more sudden it is when it finally occurs, the more off- guard the incumbents are caught. A good example is the music industry - technological innovation displaced the incumbents - but are they fighting back?

Higher education is an example of how this is changing - MOOKS.

What will the class of  2025 look like? 

The kids who enter school now, will graduate in 2025. 

What should they know? What should they be able to do? 

Today kids are already doing so much - a 'maker generation' - the previous generation are no longer teaching the current generation. They are working in answers to the world's complex problems. 

In 2020 - there will be 200,000,000 graduates - world wide competition for jobs - location not an issue. 

There will be no digital divide - Internet will be available to all - the globe will be covered - everyone will be connected! Images of Terminator Skynet come to mind! The world will indeed be 'flat'.

Tablets provided in developing countries for as little as 10 pounds -focus on 'leapfrogging' technology.

Connected devices exploding - world population 7 billion in 2020 - devices predicted to total 50 billion.

Self-education - is now the gateway to the world - Sugatra Mitra - hole in the wall - his work is a good indication of this - though this is a little dated now.

Virtual Reality is becoming more immersive - the blurring of the lines between augmented and virtual worlds (as mentioned earlier).

Information sharing via the 5eyesnetwork - OK so, this is scary - but probably already what US is doing now.

The undeletable amount of social media out there is unbelievable scary! The Sixth Sense - Patti Maes - social engineering at work! 

Vitally important to move away from the transmission model of the past - I guess this is what the MOEd's ILEs are all about.

Vital conversation around what this means for the workforce - what can and can't be replaced by technology. Think about the role of teachers here - define the value of the teacher - what complex skills cannot be offloaded? 

Arcology - fully contained self sustained buildings - could this lead to fully self contained and sustainable cities?? 

De-extinction is possible in theory - a scary thought !! What the hell would we do with mammoths and dinosaurs! Jurassic World a scary reality!

The technology debate 

So much technology inventions - but how they are used in innovation at the moment? 

Which ones can get developed depends on - financial implications - who stands to make money? 

What skills do we bring to the table, that technology cannot replace? 

Has technology made our lives as teachers easier or not? 

Are we online, and available too often? Too long? How desirable is this? 

Compassion, ethics, soft skills - where do these come from? 

Creative Writing - blended approach - Tam Y Proctor

Great to see Tam's ideas in this afternoon's CETA's mini conference. Her workshop was based around 

'How to integrate technology in a writing unit -  not just with a whizz bang technology approach'. It was focussed around a Yr 10 class. 

Short Story task - specific outcomes 

A creative writing  built from the literature - Term 1 film study, generated a setting - an integrated approach to curriculum planning. 

Pre writing tasks -create a visual representation of the setting - use your BYOD - and use familiar software - had to turn with a design day 1, Term 2.

May have to rework setting as story develops - some use paint and paper, some Lego, some computer game, some mine craft, some sketch up, some 3D printed.

Typical short story, conflict - and then looked at the writer's purpose. 

Created a video discussing the purpose of the short story, where had the idea come from. 

- describe the idea

- describe the setting 

Could use whatever tool they needed to do this - on screen video cast, talking head 

- questions about the short story 

- what problems they had 

Assessments have 3 parts - writing, the setting design and a QR code linked to their video

All students have a school only You Tube video - so they all posted on these. Great idea for all kids to have their own YouTube channel.

Comprehensive reflection at the end of this - collaboration space, and OneNote 

Moodle time stamps everything.

Technology included - phones, videos, QR codes.

Google Earth - setting activity - I think this is a great task 

Students plot the setting points and they narrate voice overs of this, discussing the setting. Rather than just writing about the setting. They still had to write about the setting later on. 

Students worked on this as collaborative groups. 

OneNote - used to build the collaborative notes. 

The MindLab - Session 3

Spent the first 15 mins 'discussing' the first assessment - aaasgggh - actually have to get on and do it in the next 10 days. Define an issue - submitted in a video (!) - and design a collaborative and digital solution. 

This week we got to look at and play Scratch -https://scratch.mit.edu/ and Makey Maker   http://www.makeymakey.com/ 

Makey Makey - makes an alternative circuit - students can be creative as they like with this - anything that is conductive is usable. 

They can also combine this with Scratch to make all sorts of things!  Creative use of a keyboard. Check out the website to see usage of these. 

Group Task 

Not actually sure how I'd use this as an application in my classes - probably for explaining narrative or creating atmosphere - we created a few moments of a spooky soundtrack atmosphere.....

The focus on this part of the session was on us experiencing collaboration under time pressure. This led onto the theory part of the session - linked to this week's key reading. 

Discussion - why is collaboration such an impt skill now?

- we are no longer experts

- the Internet has levelled the playing field 

- the network has connected the world 

- we're social animals 

- what skills are required in the workplace today - soft skills eg the ability to work in a group 

- shared vested interest is a key - what is true collaboration - are you collaborating effectively 

What are the key elements of collaboration ? Our group response : 

Interesting discussions around the following questions -,But, do you let students choose the roles all the time? What if they choose the same thing all the time? What if they need to learn all the key skills? How do we manage the skills that we want them? 

Below the rubric for assessing whether a task is truly collaborative, was discussed incline with the tasks we had experienced this morning - running our tasks 'through' this model makes us really think about the level of collaboration we think we are allowing. 

The key aspect needs to be the purpose - a risk. In NCEA and assessment, we do not take this risk. There's a lag in the system. We have aspirational skills in the ITL skill sets, but rarely aim for them. 

Nice analogy to pilots - we want them to learn by flying, ergo we want modern skill sets to be acquired by doing! 

If we want students to have 21st century skills, then we'd have to assess in this way.

Research Informed Teaching 

Research is critical to what we do as teachers - what is the relationship between research and practice? 

Different levels of research findings - research should inform practice - if theory says this will work - context based research - adaptability is important - there is a complexity and context is important. 

We need to question what - this is where teacher inquiry cones in. 

Research presents hypotheses not facts. Research can never be definitive because it's exploratory.

we bring our own views towards research. 

Avant grade music is sort of research music. You're glad someone's don't it but you don't want to listen to it - Brian Eno 

Responses to research 

- Research Led - based on the interests of teachers 

- Research Orientated - you ask the meta questions - how we learn is impt 

- Research Based - the students are doing the research 

- Research Informed - we base our curriculum design on how it is informed by research 

Of ten top educational theorists I knew 3 - Piaget, Dewey, Vygotsky 

To what extent is our own practice informed by research? I guess for me it's Bishop and Berrymann. 

The Dr Michael Fox video   http://youtu.be/RcxW6nrWwtc for a funny look at the 'value' of research.

There is a tension as a teacher / researcher - and ethical issues. You are part of the situation - you are a participant researcher  - the focus is on qualitative research. The focus is on the how and why - the human experience - but we need a mix of both - best evidence synthesis. 

In my contexts - what are the benefits of research? 

- data driven and evidence based 

- support and back up what's going on - community by in 

- enable change 

- better outcomes for students 

- edict from on high 

We cannot be ignorant of the research, but at the same time cannot panic about it - it never has a definitive answer and is often contradictory. 

Why do we need the literature? Because despite its flaws, it's better than anecdote and hearsay!!!

The Mind Lab - Session 1 ( for me) of another post-grad experience

Today was my first session at newly opened Mind Lab. I've started a 32 week Post Grad Diploma in Collaborative and Digital Applications! 

Due to school holiday sports' tournaments I missed week 1 - which focussed on what knowledge is today and what that means for the classroom. As all readings and media notes are well sorted on the Unitec MindLab Moodle, it was easy to get an overview of the session. 

So Week 2 is my first week. Committing to weekly 4 hourly sessions for 16 weeks seemed daunting at 8am this morning when I left home. But the 4 hours went incredibly fast! 

This weeks session focussed on -.what skills do 21st century learners need to thrive and how does leadership create these possibilities.

A theorist mentioned in the brief 'lecture' part of the session was Gert Biests's and his domains of purpose - qualification, socialisation , autonomous - elements of truth in all of these 

Which theory dominates is up to the individual? What are my view on this ? I will be following this up later. http://www.gertbiesta.com/

What are the main skills needed in the 21st - in an age of hyper change? Many of our reflections on the Today's Meet discussion mentioned adaptability, flexibility, ability to change. 

Another theorist to look into is George Siemens - connectivism - knowledge resides in networks - human and non human - how does this impact on our practice? http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

What do we actually mean by 21st century skills? Is it a relevant term? Microsoft partners in learning - provides rubrics to assess all of these skills required for students to survive in the future - and for education to be relevant 

- collaboration

- knowledge construction

- self - regulation

- real world problems

- ICT for learning

- skilled communication 

Collaborative and co-operative learning task - Film Making - the 3 Act Structure 

The task for us today was to create a short film using three act structure - a basic film paradigm - a common way of telling a narrative

Why is this relevant to us today in this course? A key part of the course is based around narrative. 

We had to create a short film about a problem that we planned to solve by using 21st century skills 

Set up - the context of our school - 

Confrontation - what is the conflict - what is the issue in pedagogical terms 

Resolution - the introduction of a 21st C skills- in terms of the problem we are going to introduce this skill to help resolve the problem 

Our groups 21st century skill is 'skilled communication' - and this was our group's plan 

There were very specific timed time-frames for the task (good modelling I thought!). None of us were particularly enthusiastic about being in front of the camera - not sure you can see how final product here - https://app.themindlab.com/media/9563/view - sorry you need a password, so I'll figure out how to download and post. 

How do the 21st century skills connect to the KCs? This of course is what we are aiming at!

21stC skills and KeyCompetencies - fit naturally together

Leadership is about change - not management.

Educational systems are complex ecosystems can- classes are nested in schools, schools are nested in communities and countries and connects with other systems. These systems are always adapting. 

What skills do students need to operate in this system and world.

Change agents and agents of technological change - how do the key competencies underpin what we as leaders do? Mary Ann Murphy's EdTalk on TKI - expands on this - http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Key-competencies/Key-competencies-in-leadership

Some  key messages from this focus thinking on - thinking outside the 'box', building relational trust, keeping ourselves as leaders 'in the flow' and building out professional communities. 

We need to think about how we 'vision' the key competencies. 

The online survey provided interesting data in terms of the group 200 - the highest competencies - thinking and relating to others - but the KC that featured highly for improvement was also thinking. 

Last part of the session was discussion around the first assessment/s

- identify and briefly justify the need to implement a digital and collaborative learning innovation

- provide a justification for a digital and/or collaborative learning innovation 

Scarily due quite soon. 

Initial thoughts are around the educational issue of innovative learning spaces - what is the need in our school? The digital or collaborative learning innovation could collaborative planning and co-teaching.

Or a class based need / issue - improving critical analysis - metacognition. 

So, Week 2 done:  class mates met, group tasks completed, readings and viewings done for the week, supportive and engaging tutors and staff connected with, collaborative and co-operative tasks modelled. Ka pai! 

Thanks to the NEXT Foundation - www.nextfoundation.org.nz - for the fees scholarship that got me here! 

Capital Letters - Keynote 4 - Dr Karlo Mila

Karlo Mila's presentation was a fabulous 'bookend' to Glenn Colquhoun's opening keynote. To open and end with such personal and richly constructed presentations, that focussed on the spoken word and cultural identity, was fantastic. Unfortunately I deleted my original draft of this post while awaiting for a delayed flight in Welly, so this will be a poor comparison to what I had written during Karlo's performance!

Mana Moana - the journey of her post doctoral research formed the basis of her presentation. She began with by explaining a few key ideas - that the ocean does not separate Polynesia, but rather act as as the pathways between the places - it is the space between and as such should be exlpored; that 'urbansesia' is a more relevant term than Polynesia and that polycultural is the cultural capital that we all need to be able to access and tap into. The disaffection of 'urbasnesian' youth is a great concern to her and she spoke at length of the inability of many youth to access the 'cutltural capital' of the dominant culture.

Karlo's description of the mapping of the langauges, images, proverbs and 'stories' of Oceania was a fascinating tale.

Using a model by Friere focusing on finding generative words that are intrinsic to a culture and a people, I  started to search for our shared Pacific words that exist in the source languages of Protopolynesian, Austronesian and  Oceanic languages. Here certain concepts, metaphors and words might be considered archetypal and integral to who  we are, and how we have viewed the world around us for centuries. Seventy words, found in at least 15 current Pacific languages, were selected.

The next step involved collecting proverbs and stories associated with these constructs. More than 250 proverbs in Tongan, Niue, Cook Islands, Samoan, Maori and Hawaiian provided more information about how these concepts were breathed into life by our ancestors and used to construct the world around them. Many of these concepts have recently been turned into visual images by designer Dr Johnson Witehira (of Maori and Samoan descent).  Karlo Mila

These then became the basis for an intervention that was trialled at Wesley College with a group of urbanesian youth. The Journey (metaphorical) to Motutapu, wellbeing and healiong based in a developing understanding of -

To a large degree it involved teaching and learning about Pacific cultural knowledge, ideas, worldviews and understandings of health and healing, but very much targeted at an English-speaking, highly urbanised population. The focus on va, or relationships, was explicit and the positive relationships with others, in a multidimensional, ecological and spiritual sense was considered integral to wellbeing.

Karlo's passion for both the programme itself and those it was designed for was contagious. Understanding that young urbanesians are doubly fortunate to have poly-cultural capital and this must be viewed as an asset.

She finished with a refined version of the poem below - taking a moment to warn us that we might not have the cultural capital to understand the references - but to imagine how others might feel when confronted with the cultural capital of a Western European canon of literature.

Composed for the Prime Minister’s Youth Awards December 10^th 2013, Parliament

Once I wrote

That I was the seed of the migrant dream

The daughter supposed to fill the promise

hope heavy on our shoulders

we stand on the broken back of physical labour

knowing the new dawn, has been raided.

We are the seeds of a much greater dream

Ruia from Rangiatea

A dream still buried in the hands of humble men

buried in humble villages

who chant clear our paths with every lost breath.

Our story reaches back, across oceans of memory.

Do not be satisfied with other people’s stories of us,

That have us beginning sometime in the seventies

with the economic boom and need for migrant labour,

those reserve armies, the oil crisis, the neoliberal reforms

that cut the feet out of the industries we were clustered in,

do not be satiated by those stories of dawn raids,

and the demise of the primary industries, and the unemployed,

do not be seduced by their acronyms of NEETS, not in education, employment or training, 

remember that when we came, 

“Pacific Islanders” were more likely than the general population to be employed. 

Remember that when the industry changed,

in 1986 only half of our people had qualifications

to help them navigate new terrain,

fifteen years later, two-thirds of us had upskilled

with a qualification to navigate a shifting landscape,

last on, first off, 

don’t let them tell you any other story of underachievement,underclass 

or brown tails slowing the upright country down,

let them eat that down-and-brown poly-pancake

that distasteful beast of their own making.

We are the seeds of a much greater dream

Ruia from Rangiatea

That like the niu, the coconut,

has travelled across many oceans

and found its roots,

over and over again.

Replanted, reterritorialised

Growing in new soil

to the sway of a slightly different horizon.

This seed began in Pulotu,

With its life-giving waters and the talking tree, Akau-lea,

Where Tangaloa, Maui and Hikule’o formed the first pantheon,

Here it was started.

And we think of Manu’a, where Maui travelled

and betrayed Tonga, fisherman of islands,

Who has betrayed me in Manuka? – why Maui of course, trickster,

fisherman of islands, the atolls, where the Tuli, first coloniser, the plover,

stands with its feet wet on new reefs, the messenger of Tangaloa i Lagi,

Maui fished up Tonga with that tiny insignificant hook, tipped off,

And it was there… on the shores of Tonga that we stopped being immortal, 

Moala’s daughter finding fatality, 

far from vaiola, waiora, the eternal springs of lifegiving water, 

there was no turning back, bingo,

Far from the kulokula source-land of redtraded feathers, that disappeared,

sunk into the sea, or makes itself invisible at will, or is Viti, Vanua, it depends who is telling the story… gone are those cannibal dogs, and giant lizards,

fossils now in somebody else’s version of the story…

From Tongamamao, to Tokelau in the North, Tahiti in the East, Pulotu – signalling death on return, 

from Samoa, the sacred centre, to every corner of the four winds, all the way to Taputapuatea, 

nga hau e aha, in search of Vatea, space, and new beginnings, 

Tangaloa reborn again, Tu’i Tonga, Tu’i Tokelau,

same old story, slightly different spin, 

enter Rongo, Tu, Vatea, many new atua emerging, 

men and women following stars, 

escaping kaitangata, escaping the misfortune of the rainbow, 

Uenuku, fleeing, multiple migrations, and of course, the flood, the flood, 

remembered as the eyes of Mata’aho…

all of these stories buried deep with our dead,

and part of our thread, that connects us today,

in all of that dark and light days,

Tapukitea, shining like an omen, Oea ra, Oea ra, 

and here is Aitutaki, here is Lalotonga, here is Aotearoa,

and so the seeds of the niu spread,

we retell the same stories, some forgotten,

Some relocated, some spoken in new tongues,

some shifting along, like Tangaloa here,

losing primacy,

in a landmass full of forest,

enter Tane Mahuta, he breathes still amongus,

we havebuilt a fence around him to protect him.

Tane  Mahuta  reminds us all,

To return to the roots of us,

To dig deeper for the taproot, the puutake,

To source the essence of who we are.

Your job is to navigate

and expand the pathways you find at your feet.

We are told clearly,  le gase ‘o ala lalavao.

The paths in the bush are never obliterated.

the shade of high trees won’t allow

overgrowth to come up,

(inferring ancestors).

Tane Mahuta knows this,

Even as he is fenced.

It is your job to find this pathway,

To remember who you are,

Walk what you were born to be,

Ancestors at your shoulders,

Clearing your pathways

with every lost breath.

The vines, and scrub at your feet,

barriers that are insignificant in the minds

of those who have been before.

They set out in the largest ocean in the world,

Navigated those waves,

And if there is a mala,

let it fall to shore.

and if we make mistakes,

let us rectify this in the deep ocean.

Holo or stand, you are ultimate end music

Hold on,because a wave will break.

be ready for it when it comes...

Tei a koe rai te rapa I to oe

You have the blade of your paddle,

I have the blade of mine.

They will choose on the high seas

who ought to pilot the boat

who can keep us dry in wet weather

who will navigate us through the storms

He ho’okele wa’a no ka la ino.

Let us be more

Let us be the canoe steersman for the hurricanes ahead.

And, La lafo’ia’ i le fogava’a tele.

Let us weigh anchor and set sail,

Should burdens be too great to bear,

Don’t stop,

Let us cast them on the big deck,

able to carry heavy loads,

Let us be those big decks to you,

you bright young things!

Shining like the morning and evening star

offering hope for a new generation.

Dare to shine,

Dare to be all you can be,

Illuminate the darkness around you

and have no fear, and no shame, about burning too brightly

cloaking yourself in clouds serves none of us,

It does not serve your family

It does not serve our communities

It does not serve our suburbs

It does not serve our nation.

It does not serve Oceania.

It does not serve the world.

heed the words of our ancestors, let them help you find your feet,

For the matau, the hooks in your hands,

that you use to cast your dreams

are made from the jawbone of your ancestors,

and as you cast your intent,

think of what they want you to catch in this lifetime

and as you cast your matau,

think of what you want your mokopuna to catch in theirs.

You are the thin thread between what has been before

and what will come, as long as you have breath.

Not nice to know that the sea surrounded ,

Engari anoo a uta.  Do not bait your hook in the deep,

bait your hook on the shore. Be prepared,

for you stand on the shores of your lives now,

and we honour you,

you stand on the shoulders of giants,

Go forth, the pathways have been cleared,

bushwack them wider,

clear them consciously

so that we can move as a collective,

so that no one is left behind.

Remember who you are,

Remember where you came from,

Locate your stars,

There is no freedom in blowing with the wind

as seductive as it seems,

true freedom is,

knowing where you are going.

And getting there.

Le fogava’a e tasi

There is only one deck.

Reminding us again, that the waterways of the largest ocean on Earth do not separate us, they  are the pathways that connect us - and I love that 'view' of our world.

Power and Voice in the English Classroom - Capital Letters Workshop

Nigel Mitchell posed some interesting questions in this workshop and referenced some interesting sounding research to look at - including Gay Geneva - Culturally  responsive teaching

The ability to be expressive us at the heart of what we do in English - getting that voice is essential. Culturally expressive voice is fundamental to what we do. 

Spectrum - Continuum of student voice

- expression (English provides many opportunities) 

- consultation

- participation

- partnership

- activism (identifying problems, generating solutions) 

- leadership 

Heretaunga College -  check out their English programmes - Maori voices in English  - but check out the list of English courses that run multi-level.

The 'Maori' voices are in the heads of the Maori students - not just in Patricia Grace or Witi Ihimaera

What do the parents of your akonga want from an English classroom and how do you know? 

How can whanaungatanga characterise the environment of your classroom? 

- what did the kids say in response? 

        - work  together  - writing and discussing - sharing 

        - laugh with us - share your life - share food 

        - use music 

       

Wananga - what we actually do as teachers. Who decides what's worth teaching and learning? 

 Absolutist

 Relative

 Reflective 

Question to leave with - Where's the balance between teacher and student decision making and power?