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Imagine is proud to be working with Dr Paul Howard Jones. Here he assesses whether the latest scientific findings support popular fears about what technology is doing to us.

An exciting week in Washington DC at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Education Forum 2011. Unique opportunity for educators to work together and share best practice, discuss challenges and opportunities. There are different strands driving workshops which includes mentor schools, pathfinder schools, institute coaches, teachers displaying their work as part of the global competition for educators. This years event has a focus on: Drive collaboration among educators and school leaders to promote innovative programs, celebrate creativity and innovation in education
and establish a strong worldwide community of innovators at the classroom and school level.

I have been involved in working with coaches and getting them to dive in deeper into how some of the 21st century skills (http://www.pilsr.com/) can be measured and help teachers develop learning activities. This has led to some great discussions on the criteria for measurements. All the 21st century skills that are important such as collaboration, knowledge building etc have one thing in common. They are trying to support teachers to make learning more meaningful, appropriate which can be referred to “learning productivity”. Is this the top 21st century skill? Productivity has driven the growth of different industries from the car production line to the design on the computer chip. Technology has the potential to transform learning productivity. This is linked with two important areas which are the focus of discussion: teacher effectiveness and using data  to measure learning productivity.

Day 2 of our training with teachers from Lebanon at the British Council event. So far 40 teachers have been finding out what Moodle can bring to their institutions.

This is change is any system which moves beyond individuals, individual problems and solutions but looks at the bigger picture and makes holistic change . It looks to make a change in systems – policy systems, education systems, social service systems, information systems, technology systems. It is  a cyclical process with continuous improvement central to change. This is supported through a cycles  of reflecting, rethinking, and restructuring. Systemic change involves stakeholders and with them the following steps for systemic change are developed:

1. Developing an all inclusive of vision

2. Bench marking or environmental scanning of where things are currently

3. What are the weakness and strengths of current system in view of vision developed and benchmarking activities

4. Target specific areas for improvement where change will make a difference (feel their pain!)

5. Review progress and modify plans as and when needed. Be agile in the review phase

6. Evaluate progress and go through another cycle

Understanding the system and its weakness is important for transformation. Striving towards a “no excuses system”

This should become the blueprint for curriculum reform and defines 21^st century education.

Principles of Collective intelligence:

 1. Openness
Sharing ideas and intellectual property: though these resources provide the edge over competitors more benefits accrue from allowing others to share ideas and gain significant improvement and scrutiny through collaboration.

 2. Peering
Horizontal organization as with the ‘opening up’ of the Linux program where users are free to modify and develop it provided that they make it available for others. Peering succeeds because it encourages self-organization – a style of production that works more effectively than hierarchical management for certain tasks.

 3. Sharing
Companies have started to share some ideas while maintaining some degree of control over others, like potential and critical patent rights. Limiting all intellectual property shuts out opportunities, while sharing some expands markets and brings out products faster.

 4. Acting Globally
The advancement in communication technology has prompted the rise of global companies at low overhead costs. The internet is widespread, therefore a globally integrated company has no geographical boundaries and may access new markets, ideas and technology.

A brilliant and simple idea – how the most basic of technology is changing lives.

BBC News – How water bottles create cheap lighting in Philippineshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14967535BBC Accessibility links Skip to content Skip to local navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk search Help Accessibility Help We are always looking to improve…

This is the title of paper published by Promethean. The classroom is changing and teachers need access to new “tools” to become more effective. The curriculum will change and global pressures and demands on the skills required by the job market is creating pressure on th education system. Can technology help teachers become more effective?

There is pressure on education systems around the world to change and help their learners to meet the demands on the 21st century by developing skills for the 21st century. The ITL research project sets out to investigate innovative teaching and learning practices. In the pilot study (2009-2010), 4 countries were involved (Senegal, Finland, Russia and Indonesia). This is now being extended to the UK, USA, Australia and Mexico. What is defined as innovative teaching practices. These are 1. student centered pedagogies 2. extending learning beyond the classroom 3. ICT used for teaching and learning.

What are the key features of student centered pedagogies (one component of innovative teaching practices):

• Project-based learning
• Collaborative
• Support knowledge building
• Require self-regulation and assessment
• Personalized which is about student choice and relevance
• Individualized which is about working at their own pace and in their own learning style