Reflecting on our big day in- Week four.

It was great to meet everybody. I now feel a lot more connected to the course and my mentor group. I think knowing everybody now will make the conversations online more fluid. The day was reaffirming that I am on the right track with my understandings and my Big Question. I also have a clearer vision in my head of the actions I will need to take for my ARP and it seems manageable but a little daunting when combined with report writing term.

Stephen Heppell was OK in an engaging, scatterbrained way but his overall message was quite powerful in that he is a rich, living example in how all learners are different. His presentation and the view of his desktop was amazing- not organised to my thinking but clearly to himself and a result of his own learning and the own connections he has with ideas. He is a living example of 21^st century learning even if he is atypical of the generation we are targeting.

The most challenging thing I am learning is as the course states, is to consider myself a leader even if I officially am not in “leadership”. It is up to me to take the initiative and lead from within the “pack”. Also I guess this has challenged my view of what a leader is.

The most significant event this week was handing out the Ipads to students as part of the 1:1 program. It really means the game is on and the work really starts for me now. It was interesting that the kids were excite but also able to take it in their stride and just jumped in, it was all second nature to them. I guess this makes it clear we are heading the right way.

This week my colleagues and I have been preparing our video answering the question "What is your vision of an ideal school?" Part of the process has been to interview a number of people in our school community. One of my tasks was to ask a groups of grade1,2,3,4's about this and collate their responses as a word splash on the IWB. SAHPS has a strong values system which our kids clearly know well and identify with. interestingly, when asked about the ideal school all of their answers reflected their knowledge and understanding of their school's values but not one of them mentioned technologies. I was shocked and disappointed but on reflection maybe this just indicates the thinking of our digital natives who have use iPad or laptops for their entire schooling. maybe they see it as something that is a given, always there in the background to be used, an ever-present tool. Maybe this also shows me as a teacher that we might need to make more explicit the link between learning and learning how to learn via technology. Another positive part of this experience was my teaching partner, Terena's response. She happened to be cleaning up after making pumpkin soup with veggies from our school garden. She commented that ideal schools have real, hands on, purposeful learning experiences. I wonder if she had already read A Rich Seam?

My Response to Reading From Chalkboards to tablets

My own personal use of digital technology has enabled me to maintain and improve my knowledge of current technology as I am a big user of twitter, Facebook, eBay, Instagram, YouTube etc. I have an interesting perspective on this article as I approach it as an educator and parent. I have three real motivations for keeping up with the advances.

1. For my own personal networking, entertainment and as a tool for everyday life.

2. As a parent I need to be aware of what my kids are up to and using, and need to be able to connect with their schools.

3. As a teacher I am now trying to advance my skills and knowledge for my own purposes such as assessment, planning and communication. But more importantly, being part of a school that is introducing a 1:1 ipad program.

As a parent I am comfortable with technologies and use them all day, everyday and see the transfer of these into my kids lives as essential. I know as digital natives, they seem them as a tool and they would naturally expect to have the part of their learning. It highly engages them.

My son has just started high school at Footscray City College and he now has a laptop with books for learning. I am highly aware of the widespread introduction of digital learning into curriculum and know that the expense of purchasing a laptop was unavoidable if he is to have the same opportunities as others. They use the compass portal to communicate with parents and it is fantastic as I will see these messages rather than ones on paper left in my kids' bags.

More over, having discussed purchasing iPads with parents at SAHPS I can relate to  how they are struggling with the idea and expense of leasing or purchasing iPads for their kids. But I have had many conversations with parents about how their kids deserve the same opportunities as others and that this is about providing them with the same skills and opportunities as kids from all over Melbourne. This has been a conversation to negotiate carefully as we work with some of the lowest soci-economic family groups in the state. I have found that those who are most receptive are big users of technology themselves or those who want their kids to have the best opportunities.

The article discusses BYOD programs and it has been a big subject of debate about whether to accept families using iPads they already have versus making it compulsory to access one through the program at school. A number of parents for economic reasons have resisted purchasing new iPads and haven't grasped the concept that these iPads are to be a specific learning tool. I am still wondering if this was the right way to go or if we are only early in the process of setting up a new culture for learning and families will find the money for the iPads as they see how they are being used throughout the school.

The issues of teacher training about implementation are pertinent to our staff as well as broader issues such as infrastructure, wifi and bandwidth.