It is our pleasure and privilege to announce Professor Sugata Mitra as one of our keynote speakers at this year’s Innovative Education Forum. Professor Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is the instigator of the Hole in the Wall experiment, where a computer was embedded within a wall in an Indian slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to freely use it. The experiment aimed at proving that kids could be taught computers very easily without any formal training. His keynote will explore the concept of ‘Self organising systems in education.’ His premise is that groups of children, given the appropriate resources, can learn to use computers and the Internet on their own, achieve many objectives of schooling on their own, and even attain levels of achievement close to traditional schooling with the help of a friendly, but not necessarily knowledgeable, mediator.
Professor Mitra’s ideas about learning as a self organising system are based on experimental results, often referred to as ‘the hole in the wall’ experiments. He will be discussing this famous project and more recent research.
He will include his thoughts on the design of facilities and technology for areas where good schools cannot exist and good teachers do not want to go.
This keynote hints at a future of education that may be very different from what we have today.
The Hole in the Wall experiment has left a mark on popular culture. Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup read about Mitra's experiment and was inspired to write his debut novel that went on to become the Oscar winning movie of 2009 - Slumdog Millionaire.
Don’t miss out, register today http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com
Fellow Welshman David Rogers will be running this workshop (Workshop 1 on the registration form). He plans it to be highly interactive. After considering the importance of outdoor learning, delegates will get the chance to explore in small groups while completing a mission from Mission:Explore. It might be a good idea to make sure you have suitable footwear if you want venture outside. Although David will probably be wearing shorts, that perhaps is a step too far for many in November!
Mission:Explore is 102 missions that are designed to encourage young people to safely explore issues in their local environments. The missions have links to geography, PSHE, sociology, history, maths, science....... While exploring, delegates will use their personal mobile devices to Tweet, Email or text the results. The hash tag for the event is #ukief10.
On returning there will be a brief discussion and feedback session based around two questions:
The session will end with some practical examples of where technology has been used to enhance or transform the outdoor learning experience, including what happens when you ban pens, pencils and paper.
Read David's Blog: http://daviderogers.blogspot.com or follow him on twitter www.twitter.com/daviderogers
Find out more about The Geography Collective here: /http://thegeographycollective.co.uk/
Find out about Mission:Explore here:http://www.missionexplore.co.uk/missions
Find out about our campaign here: http://loveoutdoorplay.net/
This is a series of posts outlining the workshops at the upcoming Innovative Education Forum . This will give you an insight to what is being covered and the opportunity to download any software, bookmark any websites that will be explored.
I am going to start with a shameless plug for the workshop I am running, ‘Office 2010 in the classroom’ (Workshop 5 on the registration form). I know its’ not the most imaginative title, but it says what it is.
I wanted to explore again the role of the Office suite in the classroom. I say again, as ten years ago I wrote a series of books called ‘ICT in Action’, (Did anybody buy them? I would love to hear from somebody that did). I wanted to revisit some of those ideas for classroom activities and see how the latest developments can be used to develop learning activities.
So this workshop will look at some of the useful functions of Office 2010, that can be utilised in the classroom , such as removing backgrounds in images, Sparklines in Excel and exporting presentations to video in PowerPoint. I will also look at how teachers can utilise the free Office Web apps for learning opportunities. In addition , I will be covering a range of plug-ins, such as the Maths-Plugin for Word and OneNote, the Interactive Classroom plug-in, Mouse Mischief and Community clips.
I will also look at the latest Innovids, created during our summer camp that show how teachers are using Office in the classroom to great effect. So if you are looking for some great classroom ideas, innovative ways of using Office and a look at the new features of Office 2010 , as well as some features you perhaps have forgotten about, then this is the ideal workshop for you.
Our Innovative Education Forum is is being held on Nov 30th in Manchester.
Register now for your free place at our 2010 Forum
http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com
The 7th Microsoft Innovative Education Forum is a one-day conference, free of charge to all teachers and educators who wish to attend and will look to address the theme of ‘Connecting Learners, Connecting Teachers.’
This forum connects Teachers with Teachers, Educators with Educators, allowing you to share expertise and learn from each other, giving insights into how you can connect your students with technology and connect them with their learning.
This year the Forum is being held at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel in Manchester on the 30th Nov.
We have a packed agenda with Keynote speakers, the world renowned Professor Sugata Mitra famous for his ‘Hole in the wall’ project and Michael Furdyk Co-founder of the young person’s online community , Taking IT Global.
In addition, Delegates will be able to choose from a range of practical workshops covering areas such as using free software and Web 2.0 technology, games based learning and managing innovation in schools.
Workshop 1- TakingITGlobal - Mandeep Atwal, TIGed UK
Workshop 2- Outdoor learning & technology - David Rogers, The Geography Collective
Workshop 3- From the cloud to the classroom, making innovation stick! - Guy Shearer, Head Teacher, Lodge Park Technology College
Workshop 4- Creative use of technology in the classroom - Dan Roberts, saltash.net community school
Workshop 5- Office 2010 in the Classroom – Stuart Ball – Microsoft Partners in Learning
Workshop 6- Kodu Games based learning - Nicki Maddam, Hartsdown Technology College, Margate
Find out more details about each workshop here>>
What’s on your mind?
For the first time we are holding an Innovative Teacher Meet, 29 Nov. at 7:30pm
Join us for drinks, canapés and a series of informal pitches from leading teachers at Hilton’s vibrant Cloud 23 bar, providing 360-degree views of Manchester.
Share with like-minded teachers in a series of 3-minute open pitches.
Also, find out who are Microsoft’s 2010 Award-Winning Innovative Educators. The awards will be presented to Teachers who have submitted projects that illustrate the innovative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Not only will they receive award recognition, but have the chance to be invited to The European Education Forum being held next year in Moscow . These projects will be on display at the event.
If you have been following this blog for a while, you will have often heard Kristen and I talking about virtual classroom tours, more commonly know as VCTs. These are the project submissions that we receive and share at the Partners in Learning Innovative Education Forums. We have over 200 VCTs hosted on the UK Partners in Learning Network site. These have been created by teachers throughout the UK, many are award winning projects. There are also a large number from teachers right across the globe, they show how technology is being used to support great learning and teaching in other countries.
The VCT is a simple PowerPoint template, that is not meant to be the usual slide presentation. But an e-portfolio, documenting a project that a teacher has undertaken.
The template consists of two slides. The first asks for a summary of the project, the software used, the age range of the pupils and details of the school.
The second slide is where a teacher can place examples of resources used and created during the project. This can include photos and links to websites that were used in the project. This could be a link to the school’s learning platform, especially if it is hosting resources and/or outcomes of the project. We also encourage the uploading of any video resources used to the schools learning platform or YouTube, and links added to the slide. Video could be simply embedded on the slide, but this has a tendency to make the file size a little too large.
But, probably the two most important documents are the embedded Word files. These provide the detailed thinking behind the project and the reflection about the impact on learning. This is the unique feature of the VCT, as it asks teachers to reflect on the most important outcome, learning.
The Virtual Classroom Tour concept has been adopted by many schools and Local Authorities as a professional development tool, if you are interested in using it, please feel free to download the template and modify how you wish.
The best way to experience the benefits of using this concept is to document a project that you have done or are doing in your school, and enter it into this year’s Innovative Education Awards which will be announced at our Innovative Education Forum in November. So download the template attached to this post and get started.
It’s funny that despite not having to go back to school at this time for the past four years, I still feel like it is the start of the new term. So with many of you returning to school this week, meeting your new classes and staff, and getting your heads around the planning. I thought I would share with you some of the main activities we are looking forward to through Partners in Learning this ‘term’.
Our first big event takes place in October, the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum is being held in Cape Town, South Africa. Accompanying us this year are our two award winners, Jan Webb and Simon Horleston . Both primary school teachers, they will have the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise, as well as learn from teachers from all over the world. A highlight will be visiting schools in the townships of Cape Town. We will blog on outcomes of the event, and with fingers crossed , they might even win an award.
Jan and Simon began their journey to South Africa, by submitting a project in the form of a Virtual Classroom Tour in last year’s Innovative Education Forum . This year’s Forum will take place in Manchester at the end of November. We will be posting details soon of this free conference, that we hope will be bigger and build upon last year success. In the meantime, the competition is now open for the submissions of projects for the Microsoft UK Innovative Education Awards 2010 . So why not have a think about the projects you are doing and have done, and consider entering them into the competition, and like our teachers last year, you never know where it could lead.
I will be blogging next week on what a Virtual Classroom Tour is and what you will need to do to submit your project, in the meantime enjoy your first few days back at school, hopefully like me you are looking forward to a great term, if not , then don’t worry half term is just around the corner.