Is this a "Foundation for Excellence"?

"Digital learning can customise and personalise education so that all students can learn in their own style and pace, which maximises their chances of success at school and beyond ...." So says the report "Digital learning Now" from the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

The report lists 10 elements of high quality digital learning. Those of you who follow the push for educational reform won't likely find much new here. But what you will find is a list of a few key policy directions that stand a chance of delivering on the promise that technology has for education. Let me give you an example or two ... then you can digest the report yourself ... luckily it is one of those reports that is only a few pages long and doesn't waste time on putting in irrelevant stuff ...

Point 2: All students have access to high quality digital content and online courses.
Policy directions:

• do not restrict access to courses or content using class numbers, budget or enrolment caps or other such traditional measures ... just make them available
• do not restrict access due to geography
• do require school diplomas to have at least some online course completion requirement

Point 3: All students can personalise their own learning using digital content from approved providers
Policy directions:

• allow students to take online courses full time, part time or by individual class
• allow students to enroll in multiple courses from multiple providers
• allow enrollment all year round
• no limit to number of credits take

Each of the 10 elements has a similar "simple" look - a brief statement of the element and a few policy directions.

I wonder how this might play out in our environment? I have made several suggestions in the past in varying formats that I believe it is inevitable that the nature of learning in schools must change - and I liken it to Chris Anderson's view of Long Tail Economics - I just can't see education in its current form for some students being valid for too much longer. There will likely be a need for bricks and mortar for some - but for others, why? Why when there are better options?

Anyway, read the report, and keep the discussions going - and try and implement a little of the directions every day in your schools.

Four months with an iPad

Little bit late this one. The reason is time. Just so much happening at the moment. Still, am happy to report that this little iToy is still a favourite tool of mine.

The awesome battery life is a huge plus. The ability to type a few notes is great - though I sometimes wonder just where the predictive text comes from - some the interpretations are bizarre. I have pretty much given up my Pulse Smartpen since becoming attached to this iPad. I record all notes from seminars or meetings directly into Pages and sync either via iTunes or DropBox with my other laptops.

I haven't looked to print anything - why would you when you've got the live document with you. I'm really please Google has finally brought a basic form of editing of Google Docs via iOS or Android. I can now create new documents on my iPad and iPhone without using Docs to Go - though Docs to Go still has more functionality.

I still think Feedler is good as an RSS reader for my Google Reader account.

The biggest draw back is the 3G network ... Last weekend we used the iPad when geocaching around the Miranda coast - the network performance was pretty poor even though the indicators showed full strength 3G.

So yes, the iPad is great. I've upgraded to iOS 4.2.1 and look forwardbto seeing if the multitasking is any good.

Stay tuned!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just what is the point of the current curriculum in schools?

Conrad Wolfram gave a talk at TED in Oxford earlier this year. it's just been posted on the TED site. And wow, does it pose some big questions. If you are a maths teacher, you will likely form an immediate view of what he is saying. I don't think there is any middle ground here. You will either agree with him or you won't.

But there are bigger questions here too than just those pertaining to maths. The way in which we very likely approach many subjects in the school curriculum, for example. And the point about exams ... I think I've made this point several times in the past.

I've shown WolframAlpha to Year 12 students about to embark on their IB extended essay research over the past 12 months. What I find truly scary is not so much that they haven't seen WolframAlpha before, but that many of them still don't even know that there are search engines other than Google. And even scarier, that Google even has an advanced search tab, and worse, you can look through Google Books or Scholar.

The whole point of using computers for powerful things ... not trivial things ... comes out in Conrad's talk. (He makes reference to an online tutorial showing how to manually solve a problem.)

So, this is I think one of the better TED talks I've seen. It asks some serious questions. It hints at a solution. I wonder if you agree? I rate this talk up there with those of Hans Rosling and Ken Robinson, both of whom I have featured on this blog in the past.

So - take 17 minutes of your valuable time and have a look.

Credit where credit is due

Well, despite my less than satisfactory experience in getting my iPhone 4 repaired/replaced I am pleased to give some credit to the actual speed at which the local repairer (and the Vodafone store I took my phone back to) turned around the repair. OK - so like the Apple helpdesk person who said "the handset needs replacing" - the repair wasn't a repair - it was a straight replacement. BUT - I dropped my dead phone off late Monday and had a phone call first thing Thursday morning saying the replacement was back. Give a day either side for the couriers, the turn around was pretty much OK - and certainly well under the 5 working days Vodafone stated.
As for the new phone - the camera works like it is supposed to - even created my first iMovie HD yesterday.

A Test - Customer Service or Not? An iPhone repair in NZ.

Over recent months I've had the opportunity to use some Apple kit. I've had an iPad for a couple of months (actually writing this post on it), have had a MacBook Pro for a month or so and for the past couple of weeks an iPhone 4. Lucky me!

Now, the iPhone has a Vodafone plan (so does the iPad). I bought it from the Vodafone online store. Everything about the iPhone is great but for 2 things.

1. The 3G coverage seems pretty average at best to me - this is partly due to the fact I work in a concrete bunker and coverage is poor anyway, but it just seems to me that in other places coverage just drops off for no apparent reason. This is a problem for a phone!

2. But the bigger issue is actually the iPhone 4 camera app - just doesn't work. Now there are plenty of instances of this recorded on the Internet - just thought they would have sorted this out by now. Seems that this is not the case. I've tried all suggested fixes - none work - the app/hardware combo for me is just not working.

And this of course is where it gets interesting. Who will I contact for support? - to me it's clear that there is a known issue here that Apple is hiding from. But the phone is sold via Vodafone locally.

So - with trepidation I head to Vodafone's website - find the link for support and am advised to contact a Vodafone store. The website gives me a list of stores and so I contact a store not far from where I work. "Ah, you need to contact Apple support" I'm told. Somehow I knew this is what I'd be told.

I call Apple support - presumably in Australia, but certainly not NZ - and after describing symptoms and the fact that resetting the phone has had no effect I get "please hold while I talk to my supervisor". To me this means - "ah! Another one. Replacement likely required, but I'm not authorized to say so." Two minutes later I'm told I need a new phone - but this needs to come from the Vodafone online store - fair enough. I ask for, and receive, a job # from Apple.

So - back to Vodafone. I call their help desk - because that's what the website said to do. I explain the problem. "You need to contact the online store" I'm told.

At this stage my customer service experience is exactly what I expected it to be - most unsatisfactory. No one at Vodafone will take responsibility here.

I call the online store - get told that I need to take the phone to a store and they will send it in for repair/replacement. Somehow I think I've gone full circle here. At any rate I've wasted an hour of my time at this stage, but off I go to a store - explain the issue and they take the phone to send away. 5 working days I'm told before it will be repaired.

I ask for a credit to my account for the lost time - "you'll have to take that up with the online store" I'm told. I can't be bothered trying to argue with someone who can't affect anything. I'll deal to this if and when I get the phone back.

I wonder after the now 2 hours I've wasted on this how many other poor people have been put through this run around - it seems unbelievable that today I get shunted from Vodafone to Apple to Vodafone - and then to various sections within Vodafone with no accountability anywhere. This is crap with a capital CRAP.

I look forward to
1. Getting a phone that works.
2. Seeing how I get on for some compensation for loss of access.

By the way - on the reception at the Vodafone is a sign offering a replacement phone - I was not offered this as an option. Not that I wanted it - but just a further indication that this company doesn't understand customer service.

Let's see what happens over the next week - I'm not expecting things to go well. And my perception of Vodafone NZ is not good.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sir Ken Robinson at RSA

Sir Ken Robinson is a favourite of mine. This presentation is a great animation and a different way of looking at Sir Ken's main points. If you are a visual learner, you might find this version of interest. In any event, RSA Animate is pretty cool!

More fundamental change coming - this time via Google Instant

We all know that the rate of data creation today sees us create as much new data every two days as existed from the dawn of civilisation to 2003. That in itself is staggering - but how we all have access to that information is more staggering ... anyone with an internet connection can get access to this vast amount of data. And herein lies the problem - sick of those searches that give you thousands or millions of hits ...

Google is about to bring Google Instant to your browser here in New Zealand - well, when I say about to I'm not sure when, but they released it yesterday in the US and parts of Europe.

Have a watch of this intro to it ...


So, what's so big about Instant?

It redefines how we do search. 

It redefines how we are going to need to model search to students.

I grabbed this image from Google's Instant page - sums it up ... 







Not sure when it will hit New Zealand, but I want it now!

How lucky are we to live in such times.