SharePoint 2010 as an effective Learning Gateway

An interesting presentation about sharepoint in a secondary school context

SharePoint 2010 as an effective Learning Gateway

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Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

This is a very stirring speech and it is hard to disagree with him. If we live in the knowledge age then investment in education needs to take highest priority. Not only should education be high priority but the standing of teachers and educators must also be elevated in the eyes of the wider public. All to often we raise persons of fame and fortune to the lofty heights of public adulation only to find the feet of giants are made of clay. Another common view, touted in the IT industry is, "well he got in to College then dropped out and became a billionaire!". Why this maybe true for some very successful IT entrepreneurs it really only tells part of the story. Often forgotten are those who do work hard at University despite great financial and personal challenges and contribute to enriching the culture of a nation. Furthermore, in your local community or city thousands of doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers and countless other professionals create the delicate network of interactions that create the very societies we live in. However, I digress and Sir Ken is right that we need to think differently about education. If we can maintain the creativity and imagination that a young child has and enfold it with a disciplined academic mind that is tolerant of other cultural perspectives and has a well developed ethical compass great things will happen. Now the challenge for education is to create, foster and champion systems, that encourage, grow and empower their citizens to continue to be creative and constructive thinkers, life long learners and also positive nurturing human beings. If we do this not one or a handful of people will be remembered as the paragon of virtue and financial success, but an entire generation will be remembered as the driving force behind a learning revolution. A revolution that we need and have to have. 

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Supercomputing the brains secrets

The strangest thing about this is the way the image of a rose ghosts itself within the visualisation of the data. Another interesting point is the idea that the brain stores a model of the world, almost like a VR world, within which it constantly reflexively refers to. In the context of education this informs us that the mind is in a constant state of re-imaging its surroundings at the same time the past interferes with the present in an effort to explain the experience of the 'now'. Are we in a constant state of becoming? If we are, then realising this constant becoming and bringing this to the forefront of our attention is a demonstration of the perceiving self constructing the 'Now' within - we forge ourselves in a crucible of our own reality.

YouTube - Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide

- Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide -



I have often thought that once all the worlds data starts talking to itself could we then begin witnessing an emergent global intelligent knowledge network. Data --> Information --> Knowledge -- > Wisdom, where would we locate this network on the continuum? It would be owned by everyone and yet no one, a global human textual corpus.

Reading and teaching IT, don't forget the reading

It is all to easy to get entranced with technology and forget that unless you can read a lot of the power of technology is not available. The amount of text that the Internet consists of is large and yes there are heaps of movies, images and other interactive items on the net. But the ability to engage with text is paramount in order to participate meaningfully in a learning environment. This clip points out, and rightly so, that a wide range of knowledge can help and support reading. Therefore, those who do not advocate a broad based education at primary and secondary level are really closing off large amounts of human knowledge. A narrow education reduces a students exposure to the richness of human knowledge and understanding.

Why I just love the Internet, seek and ye shall find... mostly

I was reflecting upon how the Internet has help me with my teaching over the past 6 years. We certainly have witness a massive change over the past six years and my job would be a lot harder without it. The number of resources for my subject are huge and most of the time it takes very little time to track down a book or article that can address my interest, or my students questions. But here is the problem, to much stuff and not enough time. In order to help students get the best out of the resources on the Internet students MUST learn how to be critical. When looking at any information from the net the first thing I tell them to think about is "Does this serve a commercial interest?". Also looking and the web address is a good indicator to, "Look at the URL... what does this tell us?".

The currency of the information is also a major factor, the net has been around for a while now and there is a lot of information which was posted over 10 years ago. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that 10 years calendar time is a lot longer when you are thinking about currency of information on the net. Now this all may sound like old hat to teachers but just sit back for a while and watch your students use the net to find information. Many of you will be shocked at how even know after the net has been in our classrooms for sometime students still don't know how to move beyond the first few matches in google.

Getting teachers to use Moodle

Currently I administer a Moodle for a secondary school and I am also currently developing a second for our other campus. One question that always comes my way is how do you get the recalcitrant to use Moodle. The answer is I don't, the students do. After awhile most teachers get on board, it is a slow process but slowly is the best way to go. Usually I focus my attention on the keen but technically challenged teachers and encourage them to have a go, this is always supported by one on one help. Over the past four years and three implementations this appears to be the best way to go, find an interested teacher and give them one on one help and hopefully others will follow. It is impossible for one person to adequately train a large number of teachers of various capabilities and motivation but get a few key people on the band wagon and this is a good start. What is cool is that students do actually appreciate Moodle even though many will not admit it in front of their peers.