Derek's Blog

A new report from PISA has just been released (24-Jan-2006), titled - Are Students Ready for a Technology-Rich World? What PISA studies tell us , containing results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003.

The report provides the first internationally comparative data on:

• The opportunities 15-year-old students have for using computers at home and at school
  
• How they use computers and their attitudes to them;
  
• The relationship between computer use and performance in key school subjects.

Since the PISA 2000 survey access to computers at home and at school has increased and the majority of students now have access to computers in both places. Access to computers at school is most universal, but students report using home computers more frequently.The report also finds that access to computers at school has increased rapidly between PISA 2000 and PISA 2003.

There's a lot of very interesting stuff in this report - particularly if you like analysing lots of graphs and tables - but the important thing to note is where New Zealand is ranked alongside the other countries in the study, and where our particular strengths and weaknesses are.

There is a full downloadable PDF version of the report available on the PISA website, but I found the Powerpoint Presentation really useful for accessing the key points (and I liked the animated graphs!)

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 2:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A series of interactions with airlines in the past few days has left me thinking again about the interactions between humans and technology, and the fact that while technology may hold the promise of making parts of our live more efficient and productive, the human dimension will ultimately determine the extent to which this is true.

A few days ago I traveled from Wellington to Christchurch with my wife. We both checked in together, our bags tagged together etc. On arrival in CHCH my wife??s bag appeared on the carousel, but not mine. Through the marvels of technology (using the barcode on the label etc) it was discovered that my bag had actually ended up in Auckland, and was delivered to me the following morning. Seems that, despite the efficiency of computerized labeling and tracking systems, online booking and ticketing etc, the decision of a luggage handler working under pressure to separate my bag from my wife??s and put it on a different plane is what made the difference here.

I??m now sitting in a hotel in Dubai, where the same thing has happened. My bag has finally caught up with me (less than 24 hours later) ?? but it failed to turn up on the carousel ?? apparently because a baggage handler had inadvertently placed it with the set of bags on the place that were destined to travel on to the next destination. Again, the technology worked perfectly ?? the bar code on my bag was in fact the thing that enabled it to be tracked, but it was the action of a human being along the way that failed.

Still on the airlines theme ?? when was the last time you tried to book online with Air New Zealand ? I??m a regular user of their online booking system, and have been impressed with the services they offer ?? that is, until last week. I tried booking a companion fare using airpoints for my wife who is one of my nominated ??giftees?? and has all her details entered in the system. No matter how hard I tried the system simply wouldn??t accept the data that I entered, and continued to send me a message to say that some of the data didn??t match what was on their database. In desperation I rang the 0800 number, only to be put through to the technical department where we finally resolved what the issue was. In these days of interoperability and open standards etc, Air New Zealand, in their wisdom, have decided to ??optimize?? their online system so that it will only work if you are accessing it via an up to date MS Explorer browser on a Windows-based PC. Thus my attempts to access and use the system using Firefox on my Mac just didn??t foot it. The best advice the help desk person could give me was ????go out and find someone with Explorer on a PC and have another go!?? Sorry Air New Zealand ?? not good enough!

All of these examples illustrate just one thing to me ?? so often it??s not the technology that fails us, it??s humans. Now I??m not saying that technology never fails (as I speak my laptop is in for repair), but from a systems point of view, so many of the issues that we face are the result of human actions that disrupt the processes and systems that the technology is working to. Perhaps I simply need to wait until the technology matures ?? imagine what could be possible if instead of simply bar-coding the bags, there were sensors in the label and the plane that could automatically ??know?? if it were in the right place, and perhaps audibly ??call out?? if it is left behind somewhere?

As for the AirNZ online booking system ?? this illustrates for me the dangers we face with building and creating systems that are closed and restrictive in the name of efficiency and reliability ?? or could that be because of the limited skill or experience of the programmer, the limitations placed on them by time and money, or some conspiracy to form an alliance with Microsoft ?? whatever the reason, it seems very odd that in a world that is so obviously moving down the track of open standards and interoperability, a human being made the decision to ignore this.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 5:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Blog entry
I was re-reading some of George Siemens ideas on Learning as Network Creation and his theory of connectivism recently and was struck by the quotes below:

"The beauty of networks is their inherent simplicity. A network requires at minimum two elements: nodes and connections. Nodes carry different names in other disciplines (vertices, elements, or entities). Regardless of name, a node is any element that can be connected to any other element. A connection is any type of link between nodes. "

"Nodes are characterized by a general sense of autonomy. A node may exist within a network, even if it is not strongly connected. Each node has the capacity to function in its own manner. The network itself is the aggregation of nodes, but can only exert limited influence on the nature of each node in the network."

"Networks can combine to form still larger networks (each node in a larger network can be a network of nodes itself). A community, for example is a rich learning network of individuals who in themselves are completed learning networks."

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Here's something I felt worth passing on - this FREE Digital Book, 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction is an useful collection of tips from 336 of online educators, available through the The eLearning Guild and made possible by a generous contribution to its development from WebEx Communications.
Unlike many other publications, this list of tips are presented as short, "bite-sized" statements, with categories for different users - instructors, managers, designers etc. There's a numbering system that references each tip back to the contributor so you can follow up on that if you wish.
It's a free download of 71 pages in PDF format, ~1.1 mb.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

David Stuart sent me a link this morning to a summary of the 2006 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index - titled Teens predict gasoline-powered cars obsolete by2015 that reports on recent survey findings that a third of teens (33 percent) predict the demise of gasoline-powered cars by the year 2015. One in four teens (26 percent) expects compact discs to be obsolete within the next decade, and roughly another one in five (22 percent) predicts desktop computers will be a thing of the past.

Commenting on the findings of the report Lemelson-MIT Program Director Merton Flemings said, "Perhaps more than any preceding generation, today's young people are completely comfortable with rapid technological change,"

I really wonder how many of us can say that? Surely such 'comfort' is related more to where we are located in the present (and by implication will be generational) than our grasp of what lies in the future? In the weekend Christchurch Press I read an article by Hayden Walles titled "Future Thinking" in which he contrasts the thinking of two well known futurists.

Ray Kurzweil promotes an analysis of the history of technology that shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense "intuitive linear" view. According to Kurzweil the vast changes of the 20th century amount to only about 20 years of research at the 2000 rate - he predicts that this century will see the equivalent of 20,000 years of change at the 2000 rate! A frightening thought indeed!

Kurzweil represents one dimension of futurology that empahsises the directions of technological change and its impact on society - with bold predictions and an agressive timetable for change.

In contrast, Walles points to Jared Diamond who extracts lessons for the future from ancient and modern societies that fell apart in his book, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" . Diamond's work reminds us that the seemingly inevitable timetable for technological change is affected by the way that we as individuals and as societies adopt and (mis)use these technologies and the opportunities they create for us. His work is a salient reminder that our current prosperity is no guard against immenent collapse.

I found some interesting thoughts and references to Diamond's work on Dave Pollard's "How to Save the World" blog.

Two thoughts about the nature and scope of the curriculum we are planning for our schools emerge from me from reflecting on these ideas:

1. a study of history must be included within the framework of any "subject" area, and
   
2. we must engage our learners in discussions about and sharing their visions for the future

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Reading an article titled Electronics for our future on Stuff this morning confirms for me that interoperability is the the key to the future of developments in the technology world at the moment.

To quote Intel's chief executive, Paul Otellini; "In our mind, it's not a battle between the various devices. It's a battle to make all these devices work together."

The article by Michael Herman reports on the four-day Consumer Electronics Show held last week in Las Vegas, the world's largest showcase of consumer technology, attracting 2500 exhibitors, over 130,000 visitors and featuring presentations by global technology and electronics industries.

Herman leads with the statement that we should expect more convenience, personal control of content and portability from new consumer electronics devices.

Among the innovations reported on are:
- the developments with Blu-ray , the name of a next-generation optical disc format.
- the Sansa 200 - aiming to give Apple's iPod a run for its money
- a new Wi-Fi phone produced jointly by Skype and Netgear
- Vista , the next generation operating system from Microsoft.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Back from a refreshing break, and what better way to start than contemplating what things may be of importance in the education world of 2006.

Yesterday's news of the appointment of Dr Karen Poutasi as Chief Executive of the Qualifications Authority focuses attention on what must surely be one of the "biggies" for the year - accountability within the education sector.

The portfolio changes after last year's election were another sign of this, with opposition parties breathing down the neck of government with (predictable) demands for proof of return on investment, and calls for "back to basics" approaches.

This morning I read a release from 'eSchool News" titled Education reform shows modest results which comments on Education Week's "Quality Counts at 10: A Decade of Standards-Based Education" , reported as being the first in-depth look at how state education reforms have affected student scores on a series of federal tests designed to measure classroom performance from state to state.

The report provides a state-by-state analysis, and a cursory read reveals a bias towards demonstrating that those states that have adopted a standards-based approach have shown greater improvements than those that haven't - although, as the eSchoolNews commentary highlights, the improvements are modest at best!

I haven't read the report in detail, but many of the additional commentries that are linked to provide some interesting insights. One of these is titled Making the Connection by Christopher B. Swanson of the Educational Projects in Education Research Centre. (NB registration required to access this PDF)

Swanson provides a useful overview of the methodogy and background to the report, before focusing specifically on a series of policy indicators and the question, "have the states adopted policies that support standards-based education?

A paragraph in his opening page caught my eye:

We find strong evidence that implementing a solid program of standards-based-education policies has been associated with significant gains in mathematics achievement over the past decade, as measured by NAEP. Positive but less dramatic results are also found for achievement in reading. However, these benefits appear to be limited to certain elements of a standards-based approach??academic-content standards, aligned assessments, and accountability. Results suggest that policies related to improving teacher quality are negatively related to achievement growth, although the reason for this relationship remains unclear.

Further - no surprises for discovering the subject area that comes out top in the analysis - Maths, followed by reading, presumably with a heavy emphasis on vocab and comprehension-type standards. (How, I wonder, did the creative subjects like music or art fare?)

The key point in Swansons article is an important one for NZ, however - that is, do we have policies in place to support the various strategies and initiatives that we are adopting. This is, perhaps, a question that Dr Poutasi and her team must ask as they set about sorting out the issues that the QA have been struggling with over the past few years.

Another classic case in NZ is the issue of online education. We have a plethora of initiatives at both the schools and tertiary level, many of which have been actively encouraged through the provision of funding from government sources. Many of these are now foundering, some admittedly through lack of careful planning or sound management, but many because they have "hit the policy wall".

A case in point being the schools video conferencing clusters involving dozens of schools (and some tertiaries) who are using online strategies to provide access to greater subject choice and teacher expertise etc. While the anecdotal and small amount of research evidence available would indicate these initiatives have proven to be successful, the policy environment within which they operate (and the resourcing mechanisms that stem from that) continues to be based on notions of physical attendance at a physical school from which you receive all of your instruction.

NZ should take careful note of what Swanson and others are saying from these overseas experiences and put some serious effort into developing robust policies that are consistent with learning in a "learner-centred, digitally-minded" paradigm.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)