tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43234134308776250882024-03-14T04:58:14.866+00:00Head in the CloudThe infrequent ramblings and musings of a curriculum and education technology consultant.Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-41066922101589660142021-06-29T16:09:00.010+00:002021-06-30T10:11:15.129+00:00"Many Teachers Are Not 'Tech' People"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qexhV6535es/YNxCrCiPOAI/AAAAAAACNqk/dC4DY5MlbXsSbI_RL01Ee8TPhDDh2IpWACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/jeshoots-com--2vD8lIhdnw-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qexhV6535es/YNxCrCiPOAI/AAAAAAACNqk/dC4DY5MlbXsSbI_RL01Ee8TPhDDh2IpWACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/jeshoots-com--2vD8lIhdnw-unsplash.jpg" title="Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jeshoots?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">JESHOOTS.COM</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/confused-teacher?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jeshoots?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">JESHOOTS.COM</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/confused-teacher?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This post very much follows on from my <a href="https://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com/2021/04/science-technology-long-term-planning.html" target="_blank">previous post,</a> especially with regards to some of the difficulties I've encountered with some of the Descriptions of Learning from the Science & Technology AoLE. </p><p>Last week a DCF coordinator from a primary school emailed me. Here's what it said:</p><p><i>"I was just wondering if you could point our year 5 and 6 team in the direction of resources to support the AoLe statements:</i></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>I can identify positive and negative design elements that affect user interactions.</i></li><li><i>I can explain the importance of securing the technology I use and protecting the integrity of my data.</i></li><li><i>I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology.</i></li><li><i>I can explain how data is stored and processed.</i></li></ul><p></p><p><i>I thought I'd ask because you're probably already aware of lots of resources."</i></p><p>So here's a primary school that is beginning to address the Science & Technology AoLE but is struggling to find resources to be able to support the teaching of these statements. Something that I referred to in my last post. The following was my response:</p>Great question from your Yr5 and 6 teachers and to be honest these statements have been perplexing me too for some time. The issue as far as I can see it, is that some of these statements haven't really been taught in the primary school before. Therefore it's difficult to find resources that have been created to support them....and I'm constantly on the look out for relevant things. It's very frustrating that the WG hasn't, as far as I can tell, produced anything to support statements such as these. However, I'll try my best to help you interpret these as I see them.<br /><br /><i><b>"I can identify positive and negative design elements that affect user interactions."</b></i><div>I see this as closely linked to D&T. To me this is about looking at existing products / applications and identifying what makes it a good or poor user experience. From a coding perspective this could be done in the planning stages. Pupils would look at a similar application and could focus on the colours used, buttons, navigation or where outputs such as scoring or 'lives' are placed. If you were wanting the pupils to design and create a game using Scratch, on the Scratch platform pupils can look at similar examples that Scratch users have created. Identify what they like / dislike about the games. The nice thing about Scratch is that they can even copy the code from those games to help them get started with their own game and then develop them further with their own ideas.<br /><br /><i><b> "I can explain the importance of securing the technology I use and protecting the integrity of my data."</b></i><br />I see this as being very closely linked to the DCF Citizenship - Identity, Image and Reputation:<br />- "I can understand how to protect myself from online identity theft, e.g. identifying secure sites, phishing, scam websites."<br />- "I can identify the benefits and risks of mobile devices broadcasting the location of the user/device."<br />- "I can identify the benefits and risks of giving personal information and device access to different software."<br />Therefore any of the Citizenship lessons from The Digital Learning Den that address the above DCF statements I would argue addresses the Science & Tech AoLE statement.<br /><br /><i><b>"I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology."</b></i><br />Right, this is a bit more tricky and the one in particular I'm having difficulty with. Personally I understand what this means, but to what depth I would explain this to Yr5 or 6 pupils I'm still unsure of. Also, I've yet to find any appropriate primary aged lessons or resources to teach it. At the moment, if you wanted to address this aspect, I would probably have to do it as a class debate / discussion. Something around firstly finding out what type of online platforms pupils are signed up to, therefore have their own username and password to access. Ask what information they had to provide to be able to sign up? Name, email, age, postcode, etc. Could also be an opportunity to discuss whether they are old enough to use these platforms? Ask why these platforms need or want this information? What happens to the data you share? If some pupils are using Facebook for instance, everything you share, post or like is a piece of data that Facebook can use to build an accurate profile of you so that Facebook and advertisers can target specific posts or adverts to you. The same can be said of Youtube with your liking of particular videos or your viewing history. Virtually all applications work in this way. They know who you are, age, where you live, your likes / dislikes, location history (especially via your smartphone), your browsing history, contacts - the list goes on. I guess at age 10 or 11 we are just trying to get pupils (and adults!) to simply understand that data you share (posts, texts, photos, likes, browsing history) can be viewed by that platform and sometimes third parties and in many cases shared and used. <br /><br /><i><b>"I can explain how data is stored and processed."</b></i><br />I'm interpreting this as the fundamentals of how computers work. Have a look at these from BBC Bitesize:<br /><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z4gwhyc/articles/z82v34j" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z4gwhyc/articles/z82v34j</a> (simple introduction)<br /><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj8xvcw/articles/zx3q7ty" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj8xvcw/articles/zx3q7ty</a><br />This could be an opportunity to look at different types of file (jpg, doc, mp3, etc) and file sizes. There are also binary lesson plans out there for KS2. It's not something I've focused on as yet, but I will be looking at this in the future and will probably introduce it to <a href="http://www.thedigitallearningden.co.uk" target="_blank">The Digital Learning Den</a>.<br /><br />I hope this helps? Personally I just wish the WG would provide resources for the new things they introduce and also make the statements a lot easier to understand for everyone. How does a school write a curriculum if they can't understand what some of it means? Madness.<div><br /></div><div><i>Finally here's the response I received back from the school:</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><i>Thank you so much for your quick and lengthy response. This is very helpful as a starting point for us and helpful in trying to understand what these statements mean. I think you are right that the statements should have been written in more appropriate language <b><u>as many teachers are not 'tech' people,</u></b> and yes, <b><u>provide us with the resources and ideas to be able to teach these objectives</u></b>.<br /><br />Thank you so much for your on going help.</i></div>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-18026971964339883082021-04-08T15:44:00.002+00:002021-04-08T15:48:27.892+00:00Science & Technology Long Term Planning<p>For what seems like 'forever', I along with two of my colleagues have been working our way through the new Science and Technology area of learning and experience. Only focusing on the primary school related Progression Steps (PS) 1 to 3. Actually to be more accurate, I've only focused on the last 'What matters' statement related to Computer Science and my colleagues have been looking at their respective areas of expertise in Science and in Design and Technology. For several months we have been pulling together a long term progression document that we hope will help schools in the design of their new curriculum. Basically, we have been looking at the Descriptions of Learning (DoL) for each of the first three PS and then trying to work out what we think would be a suitable progression to address that end of PS statement. As it says in the Science and Technology <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/designing-your-curriculum/principles-for-designing-your-curriculum/#descriptions-of-learning" target="_blank">guidance</a>, the expectations are "<i>framed broadly so that they can sustain learning over a series of years</i>" and that "<i>they are not designed as stand-alone tasks, activities or assessment criteria.</i>" So for example, in PS3 there is a DoL that says:</p><i> "I can identify repeating patterns and use loops to make my algorithm more concise."</i><p>From a curriculum design perspective a school will need to think about what prior knowledge the pupils have and then what steps do they need to carry out before the learner could honestly say they were confident at this? Building on algorithm work from PS2, my progression looks something like this:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Identify a repeating pattern and use the repeat command to shorten the algorithm.</li><li>Create procedures using familiar instructions to make a program more concise.</li><li>Reuse repeats / procedures in a program in a different context.</li></ul><p></p><p>In my opinion, the above introduces a simple progression. For example, look at an algorithm to create a square - <i>forward 10 right turn 90, forward 10 right turn 90, forward 10 right turn 90, forward 10 right turn 90</i>. What do the pupils notice about this algorithm? It repeats <i>forward 10 right turn 90</i>, 4 times. We can then introduce the repeat command in Scratch or LOGO for instance. From this we can then move onto procedures which will make the algorithm even more concise. Finally, I would want to see the pupils creating repeats / procedures in programs of their own making. </p><p>From a curriculum design perspective, schools will also have to think about what year group this is introduced and if it's being reinforced in other years too. In our document I've introduced this in Yr4. Repeating patterns / loops, are regularly used in coding activities and it may just mean that later year groups can just make sure that the pupils are being regularly reminded of repeat features in the programs they use or create themselves. </p><p>As I mentioned flippantly at the beginning of this post, it does feel like I've been working on this document for an awful long time....and I've only been looking at the Computer Science section for PS1, 2 and 3. After being closely involved in educational technology for over 20 years, I like to think that I know something about this subject. However, some of the DoL for computer science have go me very confused. Points of confusion / frustration:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>PS2 - <i>I can use computational thinking techniques, through unplugged or offline activities</i>. Why is computational thinking (CT) explicitly mentioned here and not in PS1 or PS3? Where's the progression? It could be argued, why is it in here at all, as computational thinking has a whole section to itself at PS1, 2 & 3 in the Digital Competence Framework (DCF). For what it's worth, I actually believe CT should never have been placed into the DCF and that the WG should have waited until the Science & Technology AoLE came out and then slotted it into this. In my opinion, CT would have made far more sense to teachers if it was linked in with coding. </li><li>PS2 - <i>I can follow instructions to build and control a physical device</i>. This statement has been driving me crazy as I'm unable to find suitable devices to do this. I recently asked a group of technology coordinators for help on this but no one could really provide a good answer. The nearest I got was one who said he'd bought some drones. I went off to look at this in more detail and got a little concerned when some of the websites I was going to were saying that they were recommended for ages +14. PS2 covers Yrs1, 2 and 3 therefore we are talking about pupils from about 5 to 8 years old. The nearest I got to addressing this is Lego products but as one teacher told me, the "price is ridiculous for the amount of kits needed and number of really small parts is a problem". I've looked on TTS which is always a fab website for technology products, and even on here I can find nothing suitable. Is it just me? If you can help me with this I would be so grateful.</li><li>PS3 - <i>I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology</i>. This is just one of several data related statements at PS3 which I'm struggling with. Firstly, is this something that a school in its long term planning needs to touch upon in Yrs4, 5 & 6, or is something for just one year group to look at. Is there a progression of lessons to build up to this DoL or would we be happy with just a 'one-off' lesson to say, "We've covered it!" which would be very much against what the guidance says. Also, to what depth would we need to go into to address this? Is it enough to explain that companies take varying amounts of our data and may or may not use it or share it with other people (3rd parties) and that the pupils should be taking this into account when using services? I'm very unsure as to how far we go with this and it's pretty difficult to find any age appropriate lessons to cover this. Which brings me neatly onto my last point.</li><li>Lesson examples. Forgive me if I'm wrong here or that they are published and I've missed them, but weren't the '<a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/schools-charged-developing-wales-new-10392096" target="_blank">pioneer schools'</a> in Wales supposedly helping to develop the Curriculum for Wales before the publication? If so, it would be really helpful to all schools if they published the lessons or supporting materials associated with the Science and Technology AoLE. In fact, greater elaboration on every DoL would be of great help as it feels like I'm just guessing at what some of it means...and surely I can't be the only one? </li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-6416026532803877232021-02-18T10:19:00.001+00:002021-02-18T10:19:16.412+00:00The Digital Learning Den<p>Gareth Morgan Consultancy has now been going for nearly 7 years, providing advice, support and training to primary schools across Wales. Where did that time go? Throughout those years, I've always had an ICT skills ladder that I've offered to schools. It's been updated continually throughout those years with quite a change in focus when the <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/cross-curricular-skills-frameworks/digital-competence-framework/" target="_blank">Digital Competence Framework</a> (DCF) was introduced and with the ubiquitous use of <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales" target="_blank">Hwb </a>and its related cloud based applications and digital resources. Initially this skills ladder was paper based and at one stage I had four versions of it as the example activities were focused around specific applications e.g., Google for Education / Purple Mash or Microsoft 365 / Just2easy. The problem I found was keeping these documents up to date. Applications would change or I would have new ideas or web-links would die or change. </p><p>So a couple years ago I moved everything online and created The Digital Den. Schools could buy into the platform for a year. I was able to update the site quickly and easily with any changes. I also created over 160 support videos demonstrating how to carry out particular activity using the highlighted application. I had wonderful feedback from the schools who were using it. However, for me, it was quite a difficult website to update, I was having to create the pages in html which was ok if it was just simple text, but anything more and my html skills were clearly lacking. The help videos were also being hosted on Youtube which wasn't a prefect solution for my site.</p><p>Therefore, last summer I invested in a new platform created by a company called <a href="https://www.thinkific.com" target="_blank">Thinkific</a>. I moved all my content from the previous site and created <a href="http://www.thedigitallearningden.co.uk" target="_blank">The Digital Learning Den</a>. Extremely simple to build pages (no more html!), add my content and videos are now hosted within the platform. It also allows me to create and sell online courses, definitely something that my previous platform couldn't do. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vN3O-FKhDUE/YC44pOsAxeI/AAAAAAACMj4/wdsjqj0vnt4lWUg-9wkKDBaspCKhBZZoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/Screenshot%2B2021-02-18%2Bat%2B09.50.12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Digital Learning Den screen grab" border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1440" height="322" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vN3O-FKhDUE/YC44pOsAxeI/AAAAAAACMj4/wdsjqj0vnt4lWUg-9wkKDBaspCKhBZZoQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h322/Screenshot%2B2021-02-18%2Bat%2B09.50.12.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><a href="https://www.thedigitallearningden.co.uk/bundles/digital-competence-school-bundle" target="_blank">The Digital Competence School Bundle</a> contains all the year group course solutions from nursery through to Year 6. Each of these solution are split up into six sections:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Data, Data Everywhere! - (data handling)</li><li>It's Good to Talk - (digital communication)</li><li>Let's Create! - (digital creativity)</li><li>Put On Your Thinking Caps - (computational thinking)</li><li>Show Me The Code - (coding)</li><li>Working Together - (online collaboration / word processing / DTP)</li></ul><p></p><p>Online safety is also reinforced throughout each of the sections and in each year group. The suggested activities are cross referenced to the DCF, and increasingly to the new Science & Technology AoLE, particularly the coding and computational thinking element. These are being regularly reviewed and updated. There are also packages of video support for specific applications, such as Google applications, 2Simple's Purple Mash and Just2easy. </p><p>Cost for a years access to The Digital Learning Den is £250. If you would like temporary access please contact.</p>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-1147450692326503142020-08-27T13:51:00.004+00:002020-08-27T13:57:41.350+00:00Passing The Buck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pqJsvOifE2k/X0e4zXzNh0I/AAAAAAACIUk/4GbiQuduzRIjnl7ASa9ElNovc5yntGblQCLcBGAsYHQ/w555-h640/Screenshot%2B2020-08-27%2Bat%2B14.40.00.png" title="BBC Website - 27/08/20" width="555" /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p> I think it's fair to say that the Welsh Government have 'bottled out' on this<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-53930223" target="_blank"> important decision</a>. Grow some balls for goodness sake. Disappointing but possibly not surprising.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-73592523834376756742020-08-27T12:25:00.001+00:002020-08-27T12:25:13.582+00:00New Online Courses for Primary Schools<p> I mentioned in my last post that I was creating a new online course platform called The Digital Learning Den. This is due to be launched very shortly with schools. At the same time I've also been using the same <a href="https://www.thinkific.com" target="_blank">Thinkific platform</a> to build an online course area for <a href="https://www.collectivelearning.co.uk" target="_blank">Collective Learning</a>. Collective Learning is a fantastic organisation who provide education focused courses to schools across Wales. For the same Covid related reasons as myself, they recognised the need to be able to offer to schools an online version of their courses that are traditional carried out face-2-face. The building of their platform has involved the design and build of the user front end and then supporting colleagues in the design and build of their online courses. It's been great to be able to sit with primary curriculum experts over the last month or so and support them in the construction of their courses. If you'd like to see the website or are interested in courses and resources currently being offered have a look at <a href="https://online.collectivelearning.co.uk" target="_blank">https://online.collectivelearning.co.uk</a> Big focus on supporting primary schools in Wales on understanding the new areas of learning and experience. New courses will be in development over the autumn term.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xSaQ1NP2kTU/X0ej7-1bwRI/AAAAAAACIUQ/a3hCUstxezgrC1CuvyjwBcFhEwez5m25wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Screenshot%2B2020-08-27%2Bat%2B13.13.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xSaQ1NP2kTU/X0ej7-1bwRI/AAAAAAACIUQ/a3hCUstxezgrC1CuvyjwBcFhEwez5m25wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot%2B2020-08-27%2Bat%2B13.13.27.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-24529907335215001732020-08-18T13:40:00.000+00:002020-08-18T13:40:11.582+00:00New Online Course Platform!I haven't posted anything about the Covid 19 pandemic. To be honest I was afraid that most of it would just be too negative and whining therefore my silence on the matter. However, here's something that been a positive over this difficult period. I've been spending my time building a brand new online course delivery platform! 😀 The reason being that I need to prepare my business for all eventualities in the future. Currently it looks like in-school support and face to face courses are going to be few and far between this side of the new year. No one can predict what's going to happen week by week at the moment and things could possibly get worse again before they get better. Therefore the need for the platform to help me to work with schools and teachers at a distance. <div><br /><div>To be honest I've been doing this for a couple of years with my <a href="https://thedigitalden.co.uk/" target="_blank">Digital Den platform</a>. Primary schools who have subscribed get access to a structured approach to delivering DCF skills and coding from nursery to year 6. Activities are focused generally on the use of cloud based applications from Google, Microsoft, Just2easy and Purple Mash, along with reference to iPad applications especially for developing creativity. There are over 160 help videos showing teachers how to use a particular application in the context of the skill being covered. So, teachers can get access to some online application training. However, the platform is quite 'clunky' to maintain and doesn't work at all well on a variety of the digital devices. Also, I need something that can deliver online courses. Courses that can be easily created with the right e-learning tools and a simple method of receiving payment. After a little research I plumbed for a course delivery platform called <a href="https://www.thinkific.com/">Thinkific</a>, which I'm really impressed with. I've spent several weeks transferring and where needed, updating content from The Digital Den. Importantly I'm also going to be making online courses that schools will be able to purchase. Can also integrate Zoom (which I've also subscribed to) into the courses. It's not quite ready to launch yet but will be for the beginning of September. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_sGF9GpBgQ/XzvZAg3-lUI/AAAAAAACIJo/dcunYa90B9U9DFZdydY1t6nsVjtVz05mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2488/Screenshot%2B2020-08-18%2Bat%2B14.33.37.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1157" data-original-width="2488" height="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_sGF9GpBgQ/XzvZAg3-lUI/AAAAAAACIJo/dcunYa90B9U9DFZdydY1t6nsVjtVz05mwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h298/Screenshot%2B2020-08-18%2Bat%2B14.33.37.png" title="New platform to be launched in Sept 2020" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div></div>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-69809355710767638302020-06-26T17:39:00.007+00:002020-08-18T13:41:21.311+00:00Making Sense PodcastI really look forward to listening to the <a href="https://samharris.org/podcast/" target="_blank">Making Sense podcast</a> from the fantastic Sam Harris. If you haven't heard it could I suggest you look it up and download. Brilliant guests and always calm, thoughtful and considered in his questioning or commentary. Wish I could be more, Sam Harris. Just started listening to podcast #207 'Can we pull back from the brink?' and had to stop and post this wonderful statement in the opening 2 minutes about social media:<div><blockquote>We've all been enrolled in a psychological experiment for which no one gave consent, and it's not clear how it will turn out</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xX0uBHKO8U/Xzvac2XZ4sI/AAAAAAACIJ0/HrJdvuQMW1girNIU9bvA8tjA02uMUBLRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/makingsense.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xX0uBHKO8U/Xzvac2XZ4sI/AAAAAAACIJ0/HrJdvuQMW1girNIU9bvA8tjA02uMUBLRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/makingsense.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div> </div></div><div>This is a must listen to podcast. A podcast that Sam has found extremely difficult to post during these deeply troubling times. </div>Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-69217216029004387662020-03-13T10:22:00.000+00:002020-03-13T10:22:59.921+00:00Smartphone Experiment and Digital MinimalismUpdate on my dumbphone v smartphone 'experiment'. Looks like the smartphone won. A couple of weeks ago I had to revert back to my Samsung 8+ and put the Nokia 105 back in its box. It just became too difficult to manage both phones and realised that in order to do my job and day to day activities, I needed the smartphone. Sending messages on Nokia was painfully slow and frustrating and I really needed quick access to my calendar and often to my emails.<br />
So what did I learn from those two months? I learned that it's very difficult to completely break away from a device that has become integral to my working life. As I said in an earlier post, it was quite easy to use the Nokia over Christmas when I wasn't working. However, as soon as I was back working with schools it became more and more difficult to work effectively. I also appreciated how difficult it most be for our young people if we are asking them as educators to limit the amount of time spent on their smartphones and look for balance in screen time and non screen time.<br />
<br />
But I have learned several things. The issue is not so much the smartphone itself (if you ignore it's use as a tracking / surveillance tool!) but the applications that we are using and their highly addictive qualities.<br />
- I now haven't logged into Facebook for several weeks and to be honest feel much happier and haven't missed it at all. You should try it yourselves, I promise you you'll feel better in yourself and it's <a href="https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2020/02/29/top-economists-study-what-happens-when-you-stop-using-facebook/" target="_blank">not just me saying this</a>. The next step is to delete the account. Sounds easy but I need an account to post to a page I post to. I don't need to login into Facebook directly to do this as I use <a href="https://hootsuite.com/" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a> to manage social media postings to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but I still need an account. I may ask my wife if I can use her account details instead of mine to post to the page.<br />
- Stopped using my personal Twitter account and only use my <a href="http://www.twitter.com/gartmor" target="_blank">business related account</a>. I still need this to see what people are posting in the education world and for me to post out to my followers. I'm aware that I'm starting to read this quite regularly again and need to cut back a little on using it. I haven't installed the Twitter app and use it through a browser. The intention is to make it more difficult for myself to just simply click on an app and start pointlessly browsing.<br />
- Switched off app notification sounds and also switched off location services to those applications who don't need it.<br />
- With regards to privacy. Now using the <a href="https://brave.com/" target="_blank">Brave browser</a> on my laptop and smartphone and use <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/" target="_blank">DuckDuckGo</a> as my search engine. Using Brave and DuckDuckGo on my smartphone and iPad. DuckDuckGo also has a browser version which I use on my phone and iPad.<br />
- Slowly trying to remove myself from the Google universe, which is going to be a long job. I've now started paying to use <a href="https://protonmail.com/" target="_blank">ProtonMail</a>. It's a secure email based in Switzerland. All emails are secured automatically with end-to-end encryption. This means that even they cannot decrypt and read your emails. As a result, your encrypted emails cannot be shared with third parties. It's also built on open source software which I understand means that ProtonMail code is transparent allowing the open source community see how it's built and can't hide any back door access to others. I'm also using their <a href="https://protonvpn.com/" target="_blank">ProtonVPN</a> which can further safeguard online privacy. I've been cleaning up my data held by Google, removing search and location data. I've also set it to automatically clear every three months. Would love to start moving my personal files out of Google Drive but I'm waiting for ProtonMail to develop a cloud file hosting platform. I believe this is on their roadmap but may take sometime.<br />
- Changed passwords for nearly all websites I use to unique ones for each account. Yes, I know I should I done that before but I'm only human!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHaN8c4id_c/XmteawasLqI/AAAAAAAB7Dg/6fDEM6oFuF4pakl0UBWrsA7RFZ0-qCmoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/digitalminimalism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="778" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHaN8c4id_c/XmteawasLqI/AAAAAAAB7Dg/6fDEM6oFuF4pakl0UBWrsA7RFZ0-qCmoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/digitalminimalism.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I realise it's difficult, if not impossible to completely remove yourself from the digital world, especially when you've invested so much time and effort in the last 10 years or more in utilising many of the tools. Also, I'm not trying to be a luddite or technophobe, I'm just trying to get some balance back in my life. Technology has provided some amazing things. I couldn't have set up my business and run it the way I do without certain digital applications. We are in daily contact through digital applications with my daughter who is currently travelling through Australia - that's amazing. However, I never imagined I (we) would become so reliant or addicted to some of the applications used and ending up feeling so negative or exhausted after using them. So it was great to see that someone has a term for what I've been trying to do - <b>Digital Minimalism</b>. I've just started reading the book with that title by Cal Newport and it is about living better with less technology.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a better and more focused life.</blockquote>
I'll finish with this quote from Cal:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...we cannot passively allow the wild tangle of tools, entertainments, and distractions provided by the internet age to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel. We must instead take steps to extract the good from these technologies while sidestepping what's bad. We require a philosophy that puts our aspirations and values once again in charge of our daily experience, all the while dethroning primal whims and the business models of Silicon Valley from their current dominance of this role: a philosophy that accepts new technologies, but not if the price is the dehumanization <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/09/andrew-sullivan-my-distraction-sickness-and-yours.html" target="_blank">Andrew Sullivan warned us about;</a> a philosophy that prioritizes long term meaning over short term satisfaction."</blockquote>
Digital Minimalism - On living better with less technology, Cal Newport, 2019, Penguin Random House, page XVIIIGartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-40408335718331122682020-01-31T17:48:00.000+00:002020-01-31T17:48:12.003+00:00Curriculum for Wales - Update to the Digital Competence FrameworkNot only was the new <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/" target="_blank">Curriculum for Wales</a> released this week, today I noticed that Digital Competence Framework (DCF) had been updated too. The older version had a very nice online interactive tool to filter through the framework and view classroom ideas, not so with this one yet. From what I read this may appear later in 2020. Can only be accessed via a spreadsheet which can be <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/storage/fba53e47-3021-45f8-b673-8ee48659c5f9/curriculum-for-wales-digital-competence-framework.xlsx" target="_blank">downloaded here</a>. Spent a couple of hours copying and pasting the new Curriculum for Wales version of the DCF against the previous. What are the headlines?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>statements placed into 'Progression Steps (PS)' as per the new curriculum. PS1 (nursery / reception), PS2 (Yr1, 2 & 3) and PS3 (Yr4, 5 & 6).</li>
<li>statements written in the format of "I can....". The previous said, "With increasing independence learners are able to...." or "Learners are able to.....".</li>
<li>There are some changes to the new. From my initial view the statements appear clearer and easier to understand. </li>
<li>Some of the headings have changed. For instance, under 'Citizenship', <i>Online Behaviour and Cyerbullying</i> has changed to <i>Online Behaviour and Online Bullying</i>. Under 'Producing', <i>Planning Sourcing and Searching</i> has changed to <i>Sourcing, Searching and Planning Digital Content</i>. A couple of other similar changes under Producing also.</li>
<li>It doesn't look like anything major has been brought in or removed which I think would have happened if the more of the draft sections from the draft version of Science & Technology AoLE had been implemented.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Going to take another couple of days digesting what has been released before updating <a href="https://thedigitalden.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Digital Den</a> to reflect these changes.<br />
<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-75087853031493880672020-01-29T16:39:00.001+00:002020-01-29T16:39:59.411+00:00Dumbphone - A Month In & Wider IssuesSo, what's happened a month into my experiment of dumping my Samsung smartphone and using a really cheap, very un-smartphone, Nokia 105? Well, it has been a little tricky. I've stuck with the Nokia as my phone but I've also had to carry the Samsung with me, the reasons why I'll explain shortly. Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of using the Nokia.<br />
<br />
<b>Advantages</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Only had to charge the Nokia three times in the last month</li>
<li>Barely notice it in my pocket (unlike the Samsung 8+ which is almost like carrying a tablet around!)</li>
<li>It has stopped me idly browsing through Twitter, Facebook, emails or searching the web whenever I reached the limits of my attention span. Over previous months this had been about 2 minutes max. This was initially the main reason why I wanted to get the 'dumbphone' as I was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything for a long time with feeling for the smartphone. </li>
<li>I've pretty well broken my addiction to Twitter and generally feel much happier. I can still login through my laptop but I must have only done this about twice in a month and then only stayed online for a couple of minutes. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Disadvantages</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Texting. I generally don't have a huge number of texts to respond to but when I do it's tricky on Nokia. Firstly, I often can't tell who the text is from unless they are in my contact list on my phone which only has my family and close friends added. Every work contact I have, which is 1100+ at the moment is held in my Google Contacts. This has been brilliant in the past when I've moved phones. As soon as I've signed into the new phone with my work account everything comes with me. All my documents, emails, contacts and calendar. Not so with the dumbphone. If a text comes in from someone now, I have to quickly search for the number in my Google Contact via the laptop or Samsung to find who it is. Nobody adds their name to the end of a text anymore. Secondly, the process of texting is slow. There is no predictive text so I'm typing in every word, clicking each button several times to get to the correct letter or punctuation. The keyboard is also very small. </li>
<li>Having to carry two devices. In the first week of the experiment I was still on my Christmas break so wasn't engaging with schools. Once I started work in the New Year it became clear that I needed access to my calendar and contacts. In the first week back working I was in discussion with the headteacher and they needed a date for a follow up staff meeting. Not having my Samsung meant that I had to quickly login to my Google work account on a school computer to find the information I needed. It would have been so much quicker if my smartphone was with me. So this is the main reason why I now carry around the Samsung with me. I can still look at my calendar even though I might not be connected to the internet.</li>
<li>Can't connect the Nokia via Bluetooth to my car. Actually, I'm not sure if this is an advantage or disadvantage?? If my phone does go off in the car I just ignore it until I stop and can then return the call. How many calls do you receive that demand immediate attention? Not many I'm guessing. My average driving time when working is around 30 mins. I'm sure whatever the call is about it can wait until I've stopped.</li>
<li>Podcasts. I love listening to Podcasts when I'm driving on my own. Again, the Nokia can't help with this so this is another reason why I have to carry the Samsung. </li>
<li>Photographs. It's surprising the number of photos I take so this is another reason me to have to carry the Samsung.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So what have I learned from my experiment so far? I've learned that the Nokia is great just as a pure mobile phone and if I'm not working I'm happy to carry only this around with me. But I am struggling with sending text messages and knowing who I've received them from. When working I have to now carry a Nokia phone, a Samsung 8+ as a smart device (not a phone anymore, more a small tablet) along with my laptop. At the moment I'm ok with that. I've also definitely cut down on social media use that I was accessing via the smartphone and feel much better for doing so. It's not perfect but I'm going to stick with it.</div>
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<b>Wider Concerns</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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As I said in a previous post, the initial reason I started this experiment was because of my own concerns about how I felt I was becoming addicted to the smartphone. Always having it by my side, looking at it constantly and being drawn into reading and engaging with social media applications. It just didn't feel right. However, as I started to read more widely around this I realized there were much wider issues around the use of the smartphone that started to get me concerned - surveillance and privacy in particular. Your smartphone is an outstanding device in tracking every single step you make. As long as your smartphone is on your mobile phone company can track exactly where you are. If location services are switched on, your device is tracking you where ever you go. If you have a Google account have a look at your <a href="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fmoney%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F150722075140-google-maps-timeline-780x439.png&f=1&nofb=1" target="_blank">Google Maps Timeline</a> which has your location history - everywhere you've ever been on a particular day and time. Apps you install may ask for access to location services. Why does that app require location access and who are they then sharing that information with? I've now switched off location services on my Samsung and deleted off my Google location history which went back many years. Much of this is obviously linked with privacy issues too, why do these large (and small) tech companies want this information, what do they do with it and who do they share this information with? My digital life over about the last 10 years has been pretty much tied into the Google ecosystem, like many people having my own personal Google account, along with Google for Business accounts. But now I am really looking at how I might be able to disentangle myself from this due to Google and privacy. They have been aware of every search I've carried out through my Chrome browser, the emails I receive and send, the events I post in my calendar, my list of contacts and much, much more. I believe Google know me more than I probably know myself :-) Therefore I'm trying to 'fight back'. I've stopped using the Chrome browser and now access the web through the <a href="https://brave.com/" target="_blank">Brave web browser</a>, that blocks trackers embedded in the website you visit. I've also set <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/" target="_blank">DuckDuckGo</a> as my default search engine instead of Google. I've also started to look at the <a href="https://www.torproject.org/" target="_blank">Tor browser</a> which allows you to "<i>browse privately</i>" and "<i>defend yourself against tracking and surveillanc</i>e". I also began investigating into safe, secure email services and finally bought a years subscription to <a href="https://protonmail.com/" target="_blank">Proton Mail</a> and <a href="https://protonvpn.com/" target="_blank">Proton VPN</a>. I'm not using the email much at the moment but I am looking at slowly moving more across to this email and contacts. I chose Proton Mail as the interface is easy to use and I understand that their intention is to grow the product. They currently are running a beta version of a calendar application. It would be amazing if they could offer cloud storage somewhere in the near future. At that point I would definitely move all my personal GMail / Drive stuff across. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1T_WKFdX4E/XjGwZqAjVGI/AAAAAAAB0gY/FkVF-1EIpWE9YILvof_yGvc7orKh3OH9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/brave2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1330" height="352" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1T_WKFdX4E/XjGwZqAjVGI/AAAAAAAB0gY/FkVF-1EIpWE9YILvof_yGvc7orKh3OH9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/brave2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brave Web Browser - 18,614 ads and trackers blocked in the last couple of months</td></tr>
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<div>
I don't think I'm the only one feeling like this and wanting to make a change to their digital lives. Some people have spotted my phone and asked "Why?" When I explain my reasons many have said that they feel the same. Whether it's that I'm more aware of it, but there does seem to be more in the news about privacy and surveillance and our tech lifestyles. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/17/the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-changed-the-world-but-it-didnt-change-facebook" target="_blank">Facebook / Cambridge Analytica</a> story kick started many questions in the general public about the use or misuse of our data along with the hash tag <i>#deletefacebook</i> regularly trending on social media. A report titled "<a href="https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-14-out-of-control-final-version.pdf" target="_blank">Out of Control</a>" released two weeks ago from the Norwegian Consumer Council said:</div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In this report, we demonstrate how every time we use our phones, a large number of shadowy entities that are virtually unknown to consumers are receiving personal data about our interests, habits, and behaviour.<br />As we move around on the internet and in the real world, we are being continually tracked and profiled for the purpose of showing targeted advertising. In this report, we demonstrate how every time we use our phones, a large number of shadowy entities that are virtually unknown to consumers are receiving personal data about our interests, habits, and behaviour."</blockquote>
<div>
It's interesting to see a recent TV advert from Apple that was totally focused on how Apple are "<a href="https://www.apple.com/privacy/features/" target="_blank">committed to protecting your data</a>". I think 2020 is going to be a year of big tech fighting to prove that they have our privacy in mind. I feel that horse might have bolted already for some.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Py0acqg1oKc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Py0acqg1oKc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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New York Times - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/series/new-york-times-privacy-project" target="_blank">The Privacy Project</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.idropnews.com/news/apples-new-location-privacy-features-in-ios-13-are-working/127836/" target="_blank">iDropNews - Apple's new location privacy features in iOS 13 are working</a></div>
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BBC News - <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50460712" target="_blank">What can you use instead of Google and Facebook</a></div>
<div>
Vox - <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/17/21069417/privacy-international-bloatware-android-google" target="_blank">Privacy shouldn't be a luxury</a></div>
<div>
Privacy International - <a href="https://www.privacyinternational.org/explainer/56/what-privacy?PageSpeed=noscript" target="_blank">What is Privacy?</a></div>
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Privacy International - <a href="https://www.privacyinternational.org/advocacy/3320/open-letter-google?PageSpeed=noscript" target="_blank">An Open Letter to Google</a></div>
<div>
The Atlantic - <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/social-media-democracy/600763/" target="_blank">The Dark Psychology of Social Networks</a></div>
<div>
ZDNet - <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-protect-your-privacy-from-facebook/" target="_blank">How to protect your privacy from Facebook</a></div>
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Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-38612398472942753942020-01-28T09:53:00.001+00:002020-01-28T10:05:19.111+00:00Release of the New Curriculum for Wales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jRHAV1qeQ2k/XjAD7FPcHEI/AAAAAAABzAI/8wqlbzH_328Y6HItMcweDBki5hlVjqIRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/curriculum%2Bfor%2Bwales.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="983" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jRHAV1qeQ2k/XjAD7FPcHEI/AAAAAAABzAI/8wqlbzH_328Y6HItMcweDBki5hlVjqIRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/curriculum%2Bfor%2Bwales.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Finally, the <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/" target="_blank">Curriculum for Wales</a> has been released today. It's only been available for a couple of hours but I've had a quick look and for what it's worth, here are my initial observations on the What Matters 6 section of the <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/science-and-technology/statements-of-what-matters/" target="_blank">Science and Technology Area of Learning and Experience</a>.<br />
<br />
- quite a lot of change between the draft and final version in WM6<br />
- removal of Experiences, Knowledge and Skills section<br />
- The What Matters Statement or as they are now called, "<a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/science-and-technology/statements-of-what-matters/" target="_blank">Statements of What Matters</a>" have changed. Both the basic statement and the more detailed version. Less wordy.<br />
- Removal of the headings, <b>Algorithm</b>, <b>Data</b>, <b>Computational Systems</b>, <b>Cyber-security</b>. No headings at all.<br />
- Introduction of the words "beginning to" in nearly all the statements at PS1 and one at PS2.<br />
- Removal of many of the DCF cross over statements that annoyed me so much in the draft (<a href="https://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com/2019/05/science-and-technology-draft-curriculum_13.html" target="_blank">see my post from May 2019</a>). The Data section in particular in PS1 and PS2.<br />
- More statements at PS3 compared to PS1 and 2. Possibly better clarity on what's required with regards to coding skills (conditional statements, repeating patterns / loops).<br />
- Got rid of the horrendous statements that were in the Experiences, Knowledge and Skills section (PS3) around "Wales’ contributions to the continual development and use of computational technologies, and their influence on Welsh affairs" and others of similar ilk. Thank goodness for that.<br />
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I'm sure I'll be writing more about this over the coming weeks, months and years :-)<br />
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Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-54170364210249351872020-01-04T12:25:00.001+00:002020-01-05T17:19:47.711+00:00Dumbphone - 1st Week ReflectionsOne week into my experiment to see if I can live without my smartphone and things are going pretty well. So let's reflect on the pros and cons, starting with the cons first.<br />
<br />
There's still the odd app or two that I have to use which meant that my smartphone was switched on once or twice this week. I find my banking app much easier to use than the web version and had to use it four days ago to pay my wage. The only other app that I may have to use is What's App as there is <strike>no comparable web version </strike> (I believe there is and I'll check this out). However, in the last week I think I've only looked at it once and that was in the first couple of days and haven't looked at it since. There were a also a couple of moments where I would liked to have used my smartphone camera. Texting is still fiddly. No predictive text but at least I've now worked out how to do a capital letter. Finally, I found that for about three days my sleep was slightly affected. I found that I was waking up about 90 minutes earlier than normal and thinking about my phone! I don't know whether this anxiety had anything to do with what I doing but it's a bit of a coincidence.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oxPthw5zHsU/XhCDlXBNYHI/AAAAAAAByKY/pCCktfi3XM8ubwijzmkIZvigsJAC1ZHMACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/XX-Cartoons-Ironically-Showing-Our-Smartphone-Addiction__605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="605" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oxPthw5zHsU/XhCDlXBNYHI/AAAAAAAByKY/pCCktfi3XM8ubwijzmkIZvigsJAC1ZHMACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/XX-Cartoons-Ironically-Showing-Our-Smartphone-Addiction__605.jpg" width="403" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.boredpanda.com/cartoon-smartphone-cellphone-addiction/">https://www.boredpanda.com/cartoon-smartphone-cellphone-addiction/</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The pros. Haven't charged my phone for 7 days and the battery icon is showing I still have at least three quarters charged! At this rate I should be able to get at the very least another week out of that one charge. I haven't missed constantly looking at my Twitter app, checking my emails and What's App messages, looking at my Fantasy Leagues team and searching Google to find the answer to any question that arises. Most the things I used to do on the smartphone can be done via my laptop through logging into the web versions. It's not as if previously I wasn't using my laptop. I was using my both my laptop and smartphone. But the pleasure is now being able to get away from the nagging, invasive smartphone. My boredom threshold was extremely low and found I would move towards it as soon as there was a lull in what I was doing. It could also be a huge distraction when I should have been working. It appears that I'm not the only one. A <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2018/decade-of-digital-dependency" target="_blank">2018 survey</a> found that the average UK user checks their phone every 12 minutes. What has become so essential that I have to look at this thing every 12 minutes? We are certainly addicted...<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201903/smartphone-addiction-revisited" target="_blank">well addicted to certain apps</a>. Even though it's only been a week, I love shutting my laptop lid so that no technology is then constantly demanding my attention. I'm also beginning to feel more relaxed and less restless. It will be interesting to see how the second week of not using the smartphone will go. With schools starting again after the Christmas break my school support starts again, with a greater amount of communication between myself and them.<br />
<br />
As footnote, I met my brother yesterday for the first time in a while. He spotted my new phone on the table and I told him what I was doing. Interestingly he said that he was wanting to do a similar thing, to cut down on his reliance on technology and that for Christmas he had bought himself a Filofax! Very retro. Might have to get one myself :-)<br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/21/cellphone-screen-time-average-habits" target="_blank">Shock! Horror! Do you know how much time you spend on the phone?</a> - The Guardian<br />
<a href="https://nypost.com/2017/11/08/americans-check-their-phones-80-times-a-day-study/" target="_blank">Americans check their phone 80 times a day:study</a> - New York Post<br />
<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/01/decade-smartphones-now-spend-entire-day-every-week-online/" target="_blank">A decade of smartphones.We now spend an entire day a week online</a> - The Telegraph<br />
<a href="https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/cell-phone-addiction/signs-and-symptoms/" target="_blank">Signs and symptoms of cell phone addiction</a> - PsychGuides.com<br />
<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/03/half-adults-uk-now-gamble-new-statistics-show/" target="_blank">Smartphones blamed as the majority of adults now gamble</a> - The Daily Telegraph<br />
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2019/08/30/the-mobile-phone-ban-in-french-schools-one-year-on-would-it-work-elsewhere/" target="_blank">The Mobile Phone Ban in French Schools, One Year On. Would It Work Elsewhere?</a> - Forbes<br />
<a href="https://uk.style.yahoo.com/up-to-one-in-four-children-are-addicted-to-smartphones-000143949.html?guccounter=1" target="_blank">Up to 1 in 4 are addicted to smartphones</a> - YahooGartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-79621486156780641962019-12-30T14:33:00.001+00:002019-12-30T19:39:58.257+00:00From Smartphone to DumbphoneIn my <a href="https://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-disrupted-year.html" target="_blank">last post</a> I wrote about how I was spent quite a lot of time over the last couple of months reading up and listening to podcasts on AI, digital surveillance and disruption caused to society by new digital products. Initially this interest was triggered by my own concerns over how attached to my smartphone I had become, or perhaps I should say, to certain apps on my smartphone. Twitter being a particular addiction of mine, or a quick browse through Facebook or Instagram. Perhaps it was just me, but increasingly I was finding that after a session of browsing on these platforms I was feeling annoyed or frustrated and that this really wasn't good for my own well being. My 'filter bubble' was reinforcing the things that could make me cross (politics, education) or increasingly I was seeing things being posted on platforms by friends and relatives and found myself starting to dislike them, which was a reaction I was then disliking in myself and a person I didn't want to be. I had also become very conscious of the surveillance element of using a smartphone in particular. I use a Samsung S8+ Android mobile and a mighty fine piece of tech it is too, but I'm also aware that like all smartphones it is also a superb tracking device. Through the Android OS and my various accounts, Google are fully aware of every step or journey I make, along with various apps installed relaying my location to goodness knows who. It does make you think that if your government said we are going to provide every citizen with a device that would track your every movement, recognize your face, has your fingerprints and can listen to what you are saying (Alexa, Google Assistant, Google Home) there would rightly be an outcry. However, that's exactly what we have allowed to happen with smartphones and also health tracking devices such as the Fitbit. Big tech now has an unbelievable amount of valuable and sensitive data on us all, and you can't vote them out of office! So, it's no good whinging about it, what could I do to address how tech was making me feel and behave? Was it possible to live without the smartphone attached to me?<br />
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Two days ago a bought myself a new mobile phone. A very un-smartphone or a dumbphone as I see them being called. It's a Nokia 105, bought in Re-Generate It for £12.99! I can make and receive calls, I can text. It has a basic calculator and I can play Snake Xenzia if I do get bored. It has the classic Nokia ringtone. It has no Bluetooth, camera, doesn't connect to Wi-Fi, no internet access and apps cannot be installed. Screen is 1.8inches, is 11cm long, 5cm wide and weighs 73g. I charged it two days ago and the battery indicator has barely moved. The last time I had a phone with this functionality was probably in about 2005! My Samsung S8+ is an absolute monster compared to this, with a 6.2 inch screen, weighing 173g and is basically a small tablet computer.<br />
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Two days in and what have I noticed? The lack of size and weight is very noticeable. The S8+ filled my pockets and would have to take it out of them when sitting down. I don't even notice the Nokia in my pocket. I'm also not worrying about dropping it. A couple of months ago I cracked the screen on the Samsung and because of it's size and the rounded edge to the screen it was going to cost £250 to fix! Thank goodness I had tech insurance. Making calls is ok, however I think I'm going to miss having my Google Contacts. All my contacts are saved in my Google accounts which is great when I move phones. I sign into my Google accounts and the contacts move across. No such ability with the Nokia, I had to manually add my family and some friends numbers in. I currently have over 1000 contacts in my Google Contacts list containing school and individuals numbers. There's no way I'm going to be able to manually add these! A couple of people have texted and responding has been a bit fiddly. No full onscreen keyboard. I text using the number pad, often having to press the button a couple of time to get to the correct letter. I haven't yet worked out how to create a capital letter! I'm sure I'll work it out soon. Have I missed not being able to access my emails, look at Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or search? As of yet, not really. In reality how urgent are any of these things and couldn't we all just wait until we get home and access them via your device. To be honest, I still had my Samsung connected to the Wi-Fi at home and did spend some time on it last night looking at Twitter but that's what I'm trying to get away from. Therefore today, the Samsung is switched off and if I need to access a social networking platform I'll be doing it from my laptop. Let's see how the next couple of days go :-)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.simplemost.com/smartphone-addict-dumb-phone-calls-texts-only/">https://www.simplemost.com/smartphone-addict-dumb-phone-calls-texts-only/</a></td></tr>
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Useful references around this topic:<br />
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<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90287074/the-one-feature-i-wish-apple-and-google-would-build-into-their-phones" target="_blank">The one dumb feature I wish Apple and Google would add to their phones</a> - Fastcompany.com</div>
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<a href="https://humanetech.com/resources/take-control/" target="_blank">Take Control</a> - Centre for Humane Technology</div>
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html" target="_blank">12 Million Phones, One Data Set, Zero Privacy</a> - New York Times (The Privacy Project)</div>
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/352982094" target="_blank">The Money Machine: What Google and Facebook Do With Your Data</a> - DuckDuckGo</div>
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-privacy-tips.html" target="_blank">3 Steps To Protect Your Phone</a> - New York Times (The Privacy Project)</div>
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<a href="https://spreadprivacy.com/android-privacy-tips/" target="_blank">How To Protect Your Privacy On Android</a> - DuckDuckGo</div>
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<a href="https://spreadprivacy.com/iphone-privacy-tips/" target="_blank">How To Protect Your Privacy On iPhone</a> - DuckDuckGo<br />
<a href="https://policies.google.com/technologies/location-data?hl=en" target="_blank">How Google Uses Location Information</a> - Google Privacy & Terms<br />
<a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-maps-privacy" target="_blank">How to stop (or limit) Google maps from tracking your location</a> - Wired UK<br />
<a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/a-google-fitbit-means-new-possibilities-and-questions-for-the-smartwatch/" target="_blank">A Google Fitbit means new possibilities and questions for the smartwatch</a> - CNET</div>
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Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-3786147650522446802019-12-29T16:00:00.001+00:002020-01-05T17:28:11.751+00:00A Disrupted Year?So we're coming to the end of 2019 and this is as good a time as any to take a brief look back on my year. I could spend the time talking about the draft framework for the Science & Technology AoLE. Spent much of the autumn term talking to schools about this and getting myself up to speed on what the framework could possibly look like in the primary classroom. But I won't waste time here talking about it, let's see what is dropped on our desks when the final version is released sometime in January 2020.<br />
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Much of my spare time over the second half of 2019 was spent reading up on issues around artificial intelligence and 'big tech' and privacy. This interest was sparked by my own questioning of how I personally use technology (in particular mobile technologies and social media). Like many of you I'm sure, I use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with using Google applications and platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. As much as these applications radically benefit the way I work and communicate with friends and colleagues, along with the ease in which I access film and music and purchase whatever I want and have it delivered to my door next day, I was becoming far more aware of the 'disruption' these technologies have caused. Disruption to the creative industries (film, music, photography, literature); disruption to commerce with the negative effect on our high streets; disruption to politics (need I say more!); basically disruption to virtually all areas of our lives today. I'll look at disruption to education in another post.<br />
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Here's a sample of books, podcasts and articles I've been reading or listening to over the last couple of months. Lots of fantastic background information here for teachers (and others) wanting to gain a better understanding of this incredibly important area that touches our day to day lives. It has certainly made me re-evaluate and question what I do and say.<br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/22/life-30-max-tegmark-review" target="_blank">Life 3.0</a> by Max Tegmark - The Guardian Book Review<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULLJ_2MR0Ok" target="_blank">Roger McNamee</a> on Sam Harris 'Making Sense' Podcast<br />
<a href="https://www.zuckedbook.com/" target="_blank">Zucked</a> website<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/07/zucked-waking-up-to-facebook-catastrophe" target="_blank">Zucked</a> by Roger McNamee - The Guardian Book Review<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C74amJRp730" target="_blank">Tristan Harris</a> - TED Talks "How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day"<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/17/move-fast-and-break-things-review-google-facebook-amazon-exposed" target="_blank">Move Fast And Break Things</a> by Jonathan Taplin - The Guardian Book Review<br />
<a href="https://humanetech.com/" target="_blank">Centre for Humane Technology</a><br />
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-undivided-attention/id1460030305" target="_blank">Your Undivided Attention Podcast</a> - from the Centre for Humane Technology<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooiJ4Grrx5A" target="_blank">Joe Rogan Sam Harris</a> on Social Medias Negative Impact on Society<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html" target="_blank">Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy</a> - New York Times (The Privacy Project)<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/opinion/privacy-surveillance-video.html" target="_blank">You Should Be Freaking Out About Your Privacy</a> - New York Times (The Privacy Project)<br />
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/series/new-york-times-privacy-project" target="_blank">The Privacy Project </a>- New York Times<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3lmSOCHDY&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Privacy and Power: Your Digital Footprint</a> - NBC Nightly News<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmexjykdNP8&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Privacy and Power: What Your Apps Say About You</a> - NBC Nightly News<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr-7egSoios&feature=emb_logo" target="_blank">Privacy and Power: The Illusion of Choice</a> - NBC Nightly News<br />
<a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/12/23/alexa-facebook-google-and-others-chipped-away-privacy-decade/2687455001/" target="_blank">How technology made us bid farewell to privacy in the last decade</a> - USA Today<br />
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/24/colleges-are-turning-students-phones-into-surveillance-machines-tracking-locations-hundreds-thousands/" target="_blank">Colleges are turning students' phones into surveillance machines</a> - The Washington Post<br />
<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/education/the-threat-circling-human-teachers-and-their-profession-20190820-p52iu1.html" target="_blank">The threat circling human teachers and their profession</a> - Neil Selwyn<br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/352982094" target="_blank">The Money Machine: What Google and Facebook Do With Your Data</a> - DuckDuckGo<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/commentisfree/2019/aug/07/its-time-for-tighter-regulation-of-how-facebook-and-google-use-our-data?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank">It's time for tighter regulation on how Facebook and Google use our data</a> - The Guardian<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/20/the-great-hack-cambridge-analytica-scandal-facebook-netflix" target="_blank">The Great Hack</a> - Netflix<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/28/tech-industry-year-in-review-facebook-google-amazon" target="_blank">A brutal year: how the 'techlash' caught up with Facebook, Google and Amazon</a> - The Guardian<br />
<a href="https://www.papermag.com/escaping-the-algorithm-2641571995.html" target="_blank">No, you're phone isn't listening to you</a> - David Carroll<br />
<a href="https://www.techspot.com/news/80729-complete-list-alternatives-all-google-products.html" target="_blank">The complete list of alternatives to all Google products</a> - Techspot<br />
<a href="https://nomoregoogle.com/" target="_blank">No more Google</a><br />
<a href="https://brave.com/" target="_blank">Brave </a>- Internet Browser. Brave fights malware and prevents tracking, keeping your information safe and secure.<br />
<a href="https://duckduckgo.com/" target="_blank">DuckDuckGo</a> - an internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and avoiding the filter bubble of personalized search results.<br />
<a href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/" target="_blank">Mozilla Foundation</a><br />
<a href="https://www.eff.org/" target="_blank">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a><br />
<a href="https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/privacy-security" target="_blank">Common Sense Education</a> - Privacy & Security<br />
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<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-3264138990321388102019-05-15T15:57:00.000+00:002019-05-15T15:57:07.789+00:00Curriculum for Wales 2022 - WorkshopYesterday afternoon (14th May) I attended a Curriculum for Wales 2022 event at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Organised by the Welsh Government, the event provided stakeholders who had no input into the construction of the draft curriculum with the opportunities to find out more and importantly, communicate their own thoughts on the draft. The afternoon event was well attended and appeared to be a mix of people from FE/HE, business and some teachers. I understand that teachers / schools are also being offered similar events via their regional consortium.<br />
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For the first hour, the Welsh Government delivered a presentation on the background to the draft curriculum. Much of what was outlined is already in the public domain, but it was helpful to hear the details again and will certainly help to form a background to subsequent meetings or courses I provide to schools. Consistent messages are definitely helpful for schools. Delegates then broke off in workshops focused on a particular area of learning and experience (AoLE).</div>
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Science & Technology AoLE Workshop</h4>
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If you have read my <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com/2019/05/science-and-technology-draft-curriculum_13.html" target="_blank">previous blog post,</a> then you will know that I have many unanswered questions about the draft curriculum in WM6 (computation) specifically. I imagined that this workshop would be the WG representatives introducing what they had done and possibly explaining their thinking behind the proposed content, with stakeholders asking questions and debating points. If I'd have thought through this properly, this was never going to be the approach as we only had a couple of hours and there would be too much to go through. However, it was still a very interesting and hopefully worthwhile session, even if I did leave a little none the wiser in some ways, but at least was able to communicate my thoughts and ideas. <a href="https://proftomcrick.com/about/" target="_blank">Tom Crick</a> (Professor of Digital Education & Policy at Swansea University) and <a href="https://twitter.com/barcelonapat" target="_blank">Pat McCarthy </a>from the Welsh Government, led the session. The workshop was basically centred around working with colleagues sat in your group, completing several feedback forms on different aspects of the AoLE. I made sure that all the concerns I had, were written down during these paper-based tasks. </div>
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But we did also get a chance to talk to Tom and Pat about a couple of things:</div>
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<b>DCF / WM6 overlap</b> - I mentioned that I couldn't really understand why current DCF skills, from Data and Computation Thinking primarily (although there are other examples too) were also being highlighted in WM6. I wanted to get to the bottom of this because I was beginning to think that I had misunderstood what was trying to be done in WM6 and that they could enlighten me on what I had missed. But no, the verbal feedback was very much that the group were aware of this and were already working on it. Also that I should make sure that I fed back my concerns to WG. I was also able to speak to another colleague who had worked alongside the pioneer schools in writing this section, who said something very similar. </div>
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<b>Terminology </b>- by it's very nature, science and technology is full of words and phrases, that to the average person, may find difficult to fully understand. There was some discussion around the language used, specifically whether it was understandable to many non subject specialists in the primary phase. The potential problem as I see it, is in the 'unpacking' of exactly what is meant by the word or phrase. I provided a fairly long list of statements at PS3 in my last post that I felt would challenge most Yr4, 5 and 6 teachers. Firstly "what does this mean?" and when fully understood, "how do I teach it to my class?" I don't think we really got to the bottom of this, although I did make the point that a lot of work would be needed in supporting teachers and providing suitable age related teaching resources. A very experienced Yr6 teacher did say at one point that she was having difficulty in understanding the language in the document. </div>
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So, as far as I could gather, the main point of the afternoon was for the Welsh Government to collate our thoughts on each AoLE. I obviously can't speak for the other AoLEs, but in our Science & Technology group it was good that both Tom and Pat were actively encouraging feedback, however large or small. I think I got my points across, both verbally and in writing...but who knows? Let's see if they listen to the concerns around terminology, content and the DCF related skills. I can't be the only one thinking that these are concerns at WM6? We'll now only know when the new curriculum is finally released in January 2020. </div>
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Final thought - It's interesting that the DCF overlap is something that the pioneer group were already aware of. If they were aware of it at this relatively early point after launch, why did they release this peculiar version? Were things not quite finished and there a touch of panic to get something out? Are we going to see WM6 in the final curriculum looking considerably different? If so, have we really had a chance to consult on that? Just a thought.....</div>
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<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-24972054531215077322019-05-13T20:44:00.000+00:002019-05-13T20:51:24.966+00:00Initial Thoughts On The Science and Technology Draft Curriculum - WM6The following post is my attempt at beginning to understand and reflect on the proposed Science and Technology Area of Learning and Experience. It is only focused on the computer science statements in What Matters 6 (WM6) and more specifically on the statements that relate mainly to the primary school - Progression Steps 1, 2 & 3.<br />
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At the end of April we finally got to see the long awaited <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/draft-curriculum-for-wales-2022" target="_blank">draft Curriculum for Wales 2022</a>, to much fanfare from the Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams, the Welsh Government and the teachers and pioneer schools involved in its development. So it was with professional interest, tinged with trepidation, that I downloaded and began reading the proposals for the Science and Technology Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE). Before I go any further, for colleagues reading this blog outside the bubble of education in Wales, the draft curriculum is another step along the <a href="https://gov.wales/new-school-curriculum-overview" target="_blank">major changes to education in Wales</a>, initiated by Prof Graham Donaldson and his <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.com/2015/02/successful-futures.html" target="_blank">Successful Futures report </a>back in February 2015. If you’re interested in this you can read several posts I wrote on this and the subsequent introduction of the <a href="https://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?lang=en" target="_blank">Digital Competence Framework</a>.<br />
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The new curriculum will consist of 6 Areas of Learning and Experience:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Expressive arts.</li>
<li>Health and well-being.</li>
<li>Humanities (including RE which should remain compulsory to age 16).</li>
<li>Languages, literacy and communication (including Welsh, which should remain compulsory to age 16, and modern foreign languages).</li>
<li>Mathematics and numeracy.</li>
<li>Science and technology.</li>
</ul>
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We are now in a period of consultation in which schools and other relevant stakeholders are being encouraged to read the new documents and provide the Welsh Government with <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/draft-curriculum-for-wales-2022/have-your-say/" target="_blank">feedback </a>by the 19th July, 2019. After considering the feedback the new curriculum and assessment arrangements will be available from January 2020.<br />
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The Science and Technology AoLE “<i>draws on the disciplines of biology, chemistry, computer science, design and technology, and physics to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the world.</i>” It is structured into six ‘What matters’ statements which according to the Welsh Government, “<i>capture the key aspects of learning for Science and Technology. They are designed to operate together, and support settings and schools to develop a more detailed and holistic curriculum for learning and teaching.</i>” Schools are therefore being encouraged to make connections between what matters statements in developing their own school curriculum, along with more widely any possible and relevant connections with other AoLEs.<br />
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As I outlined at the beginning of the post, I am only going to focus on one particular 'What matters' statement in this post - WM6 (<i>Computation applies algorithms to data in order to solve real-world problems</i>), which is focused to the computer science related statements. More specifically, looking at the statements that focus on the primary school phase - Progression Steps 1, 2 and 3 which relate broadly to expectations at ages 5 (nursery & reception), 8 (Yrs1, 2 & 3), 11 (Yrs 4, 5 & 6). However, there are further Progression Steps 4 and 5 which relate to pupil expectations at ages 14 and 16 respectively. Note that WM1 to 5 focus on ‘curiosity’ about Science and Technology and searching for answers, Design and Technology, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.<br />
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Lastly, each what matters section is broken up into three parts:<br />
<b>Learning </b>- which contains ‘I can…’ statements e.g. I can follow instructions to build, test and control a physical device, for each Progression Step (PS). With the exception of PS1, all other Progression Steps are structured under the headings:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Algorithms</li>
<li>Data</li>
<li>Computational Systems</li>
<li>Cybersecurity</li>
</ul>
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<b>Planning for Learning</b> - this section suggests where WM6 could be enriched by making links with other WM areas within Science and Technology, and also suggests links to the other five Areas of Learning and Experience.<br />
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<b>Experience, knowledge and skills</b> - finally, in this section, we are introduced to what the learners need to:<br />
<ul>
<li>experience</li>
<li>know</li>
<li>be able to do </li>
</ul>
These are found under the same four headings as can be found in Learning (see above).<br />
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<h3>
Initial Thoughts, Comments And Questions On WM6 (PS1, 2 & 3)</h3>
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1.<b> DCF Overlap</b> -There appears to be a clear overlap of WM6 statements and the DCF. The cross over appearing in the Algorithms and Data sections of WM6 which relate closely to the DCF areas of ‘data and computational thinking’. There is also some cross over between the Cybersecurity section and some aspects of DCF ‘citizenship’. Why is there a repeat of the DCF statements in WM6 when similar/same tasks are meant to be carried out in a cross curricular context across all the AoLEs?<br />
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2. <b>Year Group Mismatch </b>- There appears to be a mismatch between when something is being introduced in WM6 and when a similar skill is being introduced in the DCF. There are also slight differences in the wording. For example:<br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="50%" style="width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr> <td>Science and Technology WM6</td> <td><div style="text-align: center;">
Digital Competence Framework</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>PS1 Cybersecurity - Learners need to experience keeping digital information safe and private.</td> <td>Yr1 <i>Citizenship > Identity, image and reputation </i>- “understand that some websites ask for information that is private and personal, e.g. identify private and personal information and discuss how to handle requests for private information – not disclosing full name, address, date of birth, school.” Nothing explicitly mentioned about keeping digital information safe and private until Yr1.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>PS1 Algorithms - I can identify errors in simple sets of instructions.</td> <td>Yr 3 <i>Data and computational thinking > Problem solving and modelling </i>- “detect and correct mistakes in sequences of instructions, e.g. identify mistakes in a solution that would cause it to fail (debug)” Nothing explicitly mentioned about identifying errors in the year groups prior to Yr3.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>PS3 Algorithms - Learners need to be able to predict the outcome of sequences of instructions.</td> <td>Yr2 <i>Data and computational thinking > Problem solving and modelling</i> - predict the outcome of simple sequences of instructions, e.g. predict what will happen if instructions are followed accurately. This is the closest DCF statement, mentioning simple sequences as opposed to just sequences. However, nothing similar is referred to in Yr3, 4, 5 or 6.</td> </tr>
<tr><td>PS3 Algorithms - Learners need to be able to detect and correct mistakes in their own and others algorithms.</td> <td>Yr3 <i>Data and computational thinking > Problem solving and modelling </i>- detect and correct mistakes in sequences of instructions, e.g. identify mistakes in a solution that would cause it to fail (debug).This is the closest DCF statement, mentioning correcting mistakes. However, nothing similar is referred to in Yr4, 5 or 6.</td> </tr>
<tr><td>PS3 Algorithms - Learners need to be able to apply a range of appropriate methods to validate and verify data.</td> <td>Nothing mentioned in the DCF <i>Data and Computational Thinking > Data and information literacy </i>section at KS2, referring to validation and verification of data. Validity is currently mentioned in the DCF Yr7 section in the ‘classroom tasks’ section. The word verify is only mentioned in the ‘classroom tasks’ section at Yr11.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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3. <b>Unsuitable / Inconsistent terminology </b>- In PS2 we are introduced ‘coding’ in the Algorithm section and ‘programming’ in Computational systems. Do both words mean the same thing or are they different things? Both of these words are not referred to in the Glossary at the end of the Science and Technology AoLE booklet. At PS3, the word ‘programming’ appears but not ‘coding’.<br />
PS1 - Under Computational systems, it says that “I can experiment with and identify uses of a range of computing technology in the world around me.” Instead of using the words “experiment with..”, would a more age appropriate phrase such as, “I can play with..” or “I can tinker with..” which would also be introducing computational thinking terminology, be more suitable?<br />
PS2 - Under Algorithms, the sentence beginning, “coding a simple programme to create and refine a set of instructions...etc.” is in my opinion, a difficult sentence to understand. Could it be changed to something like, “create and debug a simple unplugged sequence”?<br />
PS2 - Under Data, learners need to be able to “communicate data in a range of formats”. However, the word ‘present’ is used in the Learning Outcomes. Couldn’t the same word be used, whether it’s present or communicate?<br />
PS2 & 3 refer to inputting data into a “computer system” - Is data inputted into a computer system or into a computer ‘program or application’?<br />
PS3 - several instances of language, technical phrases and concepts which would challenge most subject non-specialist primary school teachers (see point 7.).<br />
4. <b>Data At PS1</b> - Why is Data missing from PS1? It is in both PS2 and 3 which are generally following similar DCF data statements. Data is referred to in the DCF at nursery and reception.<br />
5. <b>PS1 Cybersecurity</b> - Why is Cybersecurity missing from the Achievement Outcomes section of PS1 when reference is made to it in Experience, Knowledge and Skills?<br />
6. <b>Learning Outcomes / Experience, Knowledge and Skills </b>- Do the Learning Outcomes fully reflect the Experience, Knowledge and Skills section? For example:<br />
PS1 Algorithms - Experience, Knowledge and Skills refers to learners needing to experience “controlling programmable devices during their play”, however reference to this doesn’t seem to appear in the Learning Outcomes. Under Computational systems, learners need to be able to use digital equipment appropriately, but again there doesn’t appear to be a suitable achievement outcome covering this.<br />
There are a couple of other similar instances in PS2 and PS3.<br />
7. <b>Expectations At PS3</b> - PS3 in general, appears to ‘ramp up’ what pupils in Yr4, 5 and 6 need to either experience, know or be able to do. I’m sure that some will debate whether what is being introduced at this age is either needed or is age appropriate for the pupil. I can also foresee concerns with the ability of the non specialist primary school teacher being able to teach many of these aspects without some support, training and the development of suitable age appropriate resources. The following statements from the experience, knowledge and skills section, I think could be particularly challenging:<br />
(Algorithms) <i>Learners need to experience using <u>machine-learning applications.</u></i><br />
(Data) <i>Learners need to know that <u>individual, commercial companies and government agencies use data within algorithms</u>.</i><br />
(Data) <i>Learners need to know a range of <u>appropriate methods to validate and verify data</u>.</i><br />
(Data) <i>Learners need to be able to make informed decisions by using <u>scientific methods to interrogate and analyse data.</u></i><br />
(Computational systems) <i>Learners need to know <u>how the virtual and digital worlds connect</u>.</i><br />
(Cybersecurity) <i>Learners need to know about <u>Wales’s contributions to the continual development and use of computational technologies, and their influence on Welsh affairs.</u></i><br />
(Cybersecurity) <i>Learners need to be able to b<u>ase decisions about the use of computation on ethical and legal considerations.</u></i><br />
(Cybersecurity) <i>Learners need to be able to describe the <u>key parts of consent ownership and accountability of data.</u></i><br />
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As far as I’m aware, none of the above have been taught in Welsh primary schools before. There could well be simple answers or approaches to teaching these areas. However, on initial reading I believe that the overwhelming majority of primary teachers will struggle to either understand the terminology or if they do, how they go about teaching it.<br />
8. <b>‘Pioneer’ Examples</b> - My understanding is that pioneer schools, working on this AoLE, have been trialling this curriculum. If so, it would be very helpful to see how this draft curriculum has been delivered in the classroom. I’d be particularly interested in seeing how PS3 has been taught.<br />
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<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
What do I think? It’s really difficult for me to answer as I still many questions about it. The overlap with the DCF, especially in the Data section seems peculiar. Does the Data section need to be in here? Surely the Welsh Government could just update the current DCF to reflect some of the new Data related statements in WM6 as many of them attempt to replicate what's in the DCF? Likewise with some of Cybersecurity statements around credentials, they could just update the relevant DCF Citizenship aspect. Conversely, I would suggest <u>the removal </u>of <i>Data and computation thinking > Problem solving and modelling </i>section from the DCF and bringing it into WM6. This DCF section is focused on computational thinking and like the Data statements, some of it is being replicated in this draft WM6. Taking this section out of the DCF and placing it all in WM6, alongside the introduction of coding, would in my opinion make more sense. Computational thinking activities that would then lead to a coding output. At present, while it’s in the DCF and being highlighted across curriculum subjects, very rarely (if ever) does it lead to any coding.<br />
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Tomorrow afternoon (May 14th), I’m attending a Welsh Government Curriculum for Wales 2022 meeting in Cardiff and attending the Science and Technology workshop. Hopefully, things will become a little clearer?Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-60716977641457803672018-03-23T14:56:00.002+00:002018-03-23T19:45:57.126+00:00GDPR / Cloud Storage - Clarity Please<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Ge1NNNu-c/WrUOg7Gmz8I/AAAAAAABY_c/AjkVPgSsCKAb4qIcZOllvvx4rUpbD9NuQCLcBGAs/s1600/europe-2021308_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Ge1NNNu-c/WrUOg7Gmz8I/AAAAAAABY_c/AjkVPgSsCKAb4qIcZOllvvx4rUpbD9NuQCLcBGAs/s320/europe-2021308_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I seem to be spending much of my time talking to head teachers at the moment about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which is implemented on May 25th 2018. It is an issue that is certainly vexing many. However it's not just GDPR per se, but around related issues in what schools can and cannot save in the cloud, and the usual 'Google isn't safe’ mantra that is still being trotted out by some. Let's look at the GDPR issue first. From discussions I’ve had, there seems to be a lack of good information or advice about exactly what this means for a school, especially primary schools that I mainly work with. <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/education/" target="_blank">Here’s a link to GDPR education section</a> of the Information Commissioner's Office website. Here schools can find out more information about GDPR. However, what I would really like to see is some concise information coming out from local authorities, regional consortia or the Welsh Government. Spelling out simply (if that's possible) what head teachers need to do or start thinking about.The void that's left because of the lack of good, clear information encourages rumours to spread, which leads me neatly onto my next points, cloud storage and safety. <br />
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The issue about whether Google is 'safe', should have been put to bed a long time ago. <a href="https://www.halo.support/blog/2018/3/1/google-and-online-security">Tom Lewis</a> and <a href="http://mraaron.wales/en/oh-you-cant-use-g-suite-in-schools-its-not-secure/">Guto Aaron</a> have recently written excellent articles about this, outlining the security of the platform. If companies such as <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/14/airbus_ditches_microsoft_for_google/" target="_blank">Airbus</a>, Morrisons, Ocado and Nippon Airways, to name just a few, are happy to use G Suite for their companies and feel that it is 'safe', then I'm confident that my data must be safe and secure for my primary school. In Wales in particular, I think this is being raised more than other countries in the UK because of our focus on the Hwb national platform and the drive to ensure all schools in Wales use it. The unsafe rumour is then a useful message to spread to schools as it will put doubt in people's minds. Schools will then move to using Hwb more often because our regional consortia have told us it's apparently safer. "I've been on a course and was told that Google wasn't safe", is the comment I'm hearing from teachers....still. Apparently it’s going to be made ‘safer’ once it’s inside the Hwb platform! My response to this is to now tell teachers if they hear this comment, ask the person exactly what they mean by 'safer' and also to email them after the meeting asking for a written explanation. And this to me is the crux. Local authorities and regional consortia appear to be happy to have the uncertainty being generated through word of mouth about safety, but no one in a position of authority would ever have the confidence to stand up in front of all head teachers or write to all schools expressing the same concerns and telling them not to use this. They know they would be on shaky ground to say the least.<br />
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My final point is around clarity on what files are ‘allowed’ to be hosted in the cloud. There is still a concern that sensitive data shouldn’t be uploaded. Here are my basic thoughts around this. I don’t pretend to be a data security expert, but here’s me thinking out loud. Always dangerous :-)<br />
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<i>Are OneDrive or Google Drive servers secure?</i> I believe so. Both those companies hold vast amounts of data of the most sensitive nature for organisations and companies around the world. I’m not saying that they are not open to the most sophisticated of hackers, I’m certain that there are countries and individuals who regularly attempt to hack them. But I’m confident that there is the expertise at both Microsoft and Google who do everything to protect my data. If there was a major breach of data from either of these companies, then that would have a serious impact on their reputation. Look at what has just happened with <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-facebook-cambridgeanalytica/uk-investigates-facebook-over-data-breach-to-raid-cambridge-analytica-idUKKBN1GW0WV" target="_blank">the reputation of Facebook</a> and that wasn’t even a data breach of the type I described above.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://www.cnet.com/pictures/peeping-inside-googles-data-centers-pictures/</td></tr>
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<i>If I didn’t believe that OneDrive or Google Drive servers are secure where would I hold my school sensitive data?</i> Most schools would save this to their school internal network server.<br />
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<i>How secure is this?</i> I was told of a recent conversation between a head teacher and a local authority ‘techy’ who laughed when the head teacher said he’d store sensitive data on the school network. His reason for laughing was that it is much easier for someone to break into your school and steal the server than it was for someone to break into Microsoft or <a href="https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/index.html" target="_blank">Google data centres </a>and steal their servers! Even if they did, I understand that Google for instance break up the data across several data centres. In the past I’ve also talked to schools whose servers have crashed and weren’t backed up properly and lost most of their files....just before an Estyn inspection! <br />
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<i>Whether you think cloud storage is safe or whether your school server is safer, what’s the weakest part of this system?</i> In my opinion it’s the user. It doesn’t matter how secure your system is from sophisticated hacking, the easiest way to get into any system is ‘through the front door’. If I know your username and password then I have access to your stuff, whether it’s in the cloud or on your network. I’ve just introduced <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/2step/">two factor authentication</a> across all my Google and G Suite accounts to provide an extra level of security. Something that G Suite for Education schools can introduce now which provides another level of ‘front door’ security that Hwb users don’t have. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66IpkTAxzYo/WrUPA-tAfQI/AAAAAAABY_k/2G_VWBtntfoVlJQ-cfEHA_cIAXYc1IyXgCLcBGAs/s1600/2%2Bfactor%2Bauth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="265" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66IpkTAxzYo/WrUPA-tAfQI/AAAAAAABY_k/2G_VWBtntfoVlJQ-cfEHA_cIAXYc1IyXgCLcBGAs/s1600/2%2Bfactor%2Bauth.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://support.google.com/a/answer/184711?hl=en</td></tr>
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So, the point of the previous questions was to think about how secure are your systems when saving sensitive data. It can be argued that the cloud storage system is equally (if not greatly) more secure than your school network. However, both have the problem that humans are the weakest link. A couple of school examples:<br />
<ul>
<li>Usernames and passwords to login to the school network or various online platforms on Post-It notes stuck to monitors or laptops. I think that a quick look inside the front cover of many teacher notebooks or field notes, which are often on a desk, can also often reveal these details too!</li>
<li>USB pen drives moving a variety of data (sensitive or not) between home and school. Always the issue of these being lost in transit or corrupted.</li>
<li>Staff logged into the network or online platforms and not fully logging out when away from their machines.Interestingly, I've noticed that if a user logs out of Hwb but doesn't shut down the browser, if someone else logs in, sometimes the previous users O365 account will be accessible not yours.</li>
<li>Usernames and passwords stored in the web browser. If I go to the landing page of many online platforms in a school, the teacher will have stored their details allowing me to login as them.</li>
<li>Pupils knowing and using the teachers username and password.</li>
</ul>
In my opinion, much of what we’re talking about here is just about getting into the habit of good data security practice. Not just digitally but also making sure that any sensitive paper based materials are locked away securely and not pinned to notice boards in the staffroom or classroom! <br />
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So, what would I like to see that would help to lower head teacher stress levels?<br />
<ul>
<li>A simple and concise overview of GDPR, implications for schools and what they need to do. Good advice and support is urgently needed as head teachers are very unsure who to turn to for this.</li>
<li>A clear steer on whether cloud platform storage is ‘safe’ or not, regardless of whether it is through Hwb OneDrive or Google Drive. If we agree that these are safe and secure, is there still an issue with what’s being uploaded?</li>
</ul>
Please, let’s cut out rumours being spread once and for all and for the appropriate education authorities to provide some clarity to schools on GDPR and cloud storage.</div>
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Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-62103051123817040402017-12-01T17:36:00.000+00:002017-12-02T08:51:29.646+00:00Rolling Out Google - Rolling In Hwb+This week we finally <a href="http://gov.wales/newsroom/educationandskills/2017/google-for-education-to-be-rolled-out-in-welsh-schools-next-year/?lang=en" target="_blank">got confirmation </a>from the Welsh Government of the <a href="https://edu.google.com/?modal_active=none" target="_blank">Google for Education</a> implementation into Hwb, the end of the Learning Possibilities Hwb+ virtual learning platform and further investment in school broadband. Kirsty Williams, cabinet secretary for education, is quoted as saying:<br />
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"We want our teachers to have access to the best digital tools and resources and the best quality superfast broadband. We have listened to the feedback we’ve been receiving from schools and I’m very pleased that, as a result of their feedback, we will be rolling out Google for Education in 2018. This will give our teachers a much wider range of digital tools and resources and will lead to greater collaboration and communication within the classroom."</blockquote>
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No date for the implementation was mentioned, only that teachers will "soon have more choice about the digital tools they use". As I outlined in <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/hwb-g-suite-for-education-announcement.html" target="_blank">my post at the end of October</a>, it looks like G Suite for Education will probably be brought in April 2018, albeit without GMail. This caveat causing much comment among colleagues and slight concerns for the functionality of the G Suite platform within Hwb (see comments at end of the October post). I still can't imagine existing G Suite for Edu schools moving their data for Hwb to manage, for several reasons. However, for those schools who are currently using Hwb O365 with their pupils I predict there will be a big move towards the use of G Suite, especially when they see how easy it is to use Google Classroom. This brings me neatly onto Hwb+.</div>
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As some of you are aware, I've been blogging about Hwb+ for some time now. It's been pretty clear for at least the last two years that its days were numbered. Hwb / Hwb+ were launched with much fanfare in December 2012<a href="http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/raisingstandards/hwb/?lang=en" target="_blank"> with it being heralded</a> as transforming the way schools "communicate with learners and their parents, through their own Hwb+ individual learning platforms." At the time, education minister, Leighton Andrews, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20691184" target="_blank">spoke of a "world class system"</a> and Hwb+ being described as a secure area which only schools and colleges(?) can access. However, the hype certainly didn't live up to the experience in schools. Eight digital leaders were employed by the Hwb team to support its roll out across Wales. I have a lot of time for these men and women and each deserve a medal the size of dinner plates because their their job was difficult to say the least. It was their role to deliver training to key members staff from each school in Wales, typically the ICT coordinator and head teacher. If my memory serves me well, this was carried out over about four days. I don't think it would be too unfair to say that the majority of ICT coordinators leaving the training never went near Hwb+ again. Not because of the training, but because of the tool itself. I attended the training and left with a 120 page book on how to use the platform. A book that I would have to refer to to carry out the simplest of tasks, e.g. insert a video, upload a photograph. I like to think of myself as fairly computer savvy, but I struggled. This certainly wasn't a platform that was intuitive. In my opinion the 'Hwb brand' was severely tarnished after the round of training and has taken some time to recover. Some could argue that the contracting of <a href="https://www.cdsm.co.uk/blog/2015/august/25/the-hwb-project-in-wales/?tag=Hwb&page=1" target="_blank">CDSM</a> to redevelop the Hwb platform and with the introduction of new tools, might have rescued the project for the Welsh Government, if not breathed some life back into it. About 18 months ago the digital leaders contracts finished, removing what expertise there was in showing schools how to effectively manage and use Hwb+. Local and regional consortia seemed to refocus onto Just2Easy, Microsoft O365 and a variety of other new tools, with little input on Hwb+. Tools such as <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/the-beginning-of-end.html" target="_blank">Hwb Classes</a> were being introduced and then in June this year the announcement of <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/hwb-another-nail-in-coffin.html" target="_blank">Hwb+ workshops</a> to "explore the current use of the Hwb+ learning platform" and wanting to "hear your views". All building to the announcement this week on the non-renewal of the Hwb+ contract when it runs out in August 2018. I don't think there'll be too many tears from schools in Wales at its demise. </div>
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A final note on this saga - the cost. I've been scouring the web to find some reference to the cost to the Welsh Government of procuring this platform, but with no luck. However, looking at the figures available on this <a href="http://gov.wales/about/civilservice/how-we-work/facts-figures/ourfinance/expenditure-over-25k/?lang=en" target="_blank">Welsh Government website</a>, up until June of this year just over £8million has been paid out to Learning Possibilities. By next August I estimate this figure will be around the £9million. Maths was never my strong point, but that's what the spreadsheets seem to indicate. As far as I can tell that doesn't include the costs of the digital leaders who supported the project which would probably add another £1million to this figure. I'm sure some people will be looking closely at whether Hwb+ was value for money. </div>
Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-76182983992731315082017-10-28T11:42:00.000+00:002017-10-28T11:47:05.711+00:00Statutory DCF?Once or twice during my recent visits to schools, confusion has arisen over whether the <a href="http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?lang=en" target="_blank">Digital Competence Framework</a> is a statutory document or not. I've always explained that unlike the literacy and numeracy frameworks, it is not. I've posted below something on this from the <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/hwb-team-storage/ContentTeam/NDLC3-04+Minutes+(22+June+2017).docx" target="_blank">National Digital Learning Council minutes from June 22nd 2017.</a><br />
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Jane Peffers - Welsh Government lead for the DCF was presenting to the NDLC on the Digital Competence Framework:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>4.5 The potential for the DCF to be made statutory was raised. At this time, this is considered unlikely and it is hoped that encouraging its use, rather than prescribing it, will support and encourage a more significant change in culture, for teachers to adapt to the new ways of working.</i></blockquote>
<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-40666947660081275352017-10-23T18:10:00.000+00:002017-12-02T08:53:16.177+00:00Hwb / G Suite for Education AnnouncementLast Monday, Chris Owen (head of digital learning unit, Welsh Government) announced at a Google Leadership Symposium in Cardiff, that <a href="https://edu.google.com/intl/en_uk/products/productivity-tools/" target="_blank">G Suite for Education </a>will be included in the <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/" target="_blank">Hwb</a> platform possibly from April 2018. For those schools in the room this was great news, many feeling finally vindicated that their Google approach to developing cloud student learning was finally being recognised by the Welsh Government. Up until this announcement, several local authorities and regional consortia had made it quite clear to schools in their areas that they didn't want them using G Suite for Education, that basically Hwb was the only show in town and Google "wasn't safe".<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Owen - Google Leadership Symposium, Cardiff</td></tr>
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As you might have picked up from my previous posts, that's fine as long as what is being provided through Hwb are the best set of digital tools and resources that are available. In some instances this has arguably not been the case. Hwb+ being the prime example of an 'online classroom' that certainly didn't live up to the expectations of the majority of teachers across Wales and most probably the expectations of the Welsh Government themselves. I would argue too, that the version of <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/office/default.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Office 365 </a>provided through Hwb, quite possibly hasn't provided the sort of collaborative opportunities that was hoped. My own experience and also that of others, is that it feels 'clunky' to use, prone to glitches and I still think that the browser based tools (Word, PowerPoint, etc) are an after thought. I'm sure Microsoft would rather you used a locally installed version of Office! Microsoft Teams has just been introduced as a way of pulling teacher and student communication and collaboration together but in my opinion it's a bit late coming into the game and again initial impressions are that it's a bit 'clunky'. <a href="https://edu.google.com/intl/en_uk/products/productivity-tools/classroom/" target="_blank">Google Classroom</a> on the other hand, has been a game changer in the schools using G Suite. Chris Owen particularly highlighted this tool and interestingly <a href="https://gsuite.google.com/products/sites/" target="_blank">Google Sites</a> during his announcement.<br />
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So what did Chris Owen announce?<br />
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- G Suite for Education would be included in the Hwb work stream and that they are looking for a possible April 2018 launch.<br />
- The version of G Suite for Education available through Hwb, <u>would not include</u> GMail.<br />
- Schools that are currently using G Suite for Education could have their data transferred into the Hwb domain. These schools would then sign into Hwb to gain access to G Suite and all other tools and resources (except GMail).<br />
- The G Suite 'Admin Panel' would still be available to those schools who wanted it. Some features would not be available but much of the control would still be there, including the ability to add users and control passwords.<br />
- Hwb are working with Google to get the core set of apps translated into Welsh.<br />
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I think I've covered the main points, apologies to Chris Owen if I've missed something. I'm still waiting to see an official announcement via the Dysg newsletter. After having a week to mull this over and I'm sure I'll be coming back to it, here are my initial thoughts.<br />
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- For schools already actively using the Hwb platform, I think this is really good news. You will now have access to Google Classroom and associated cloud tools like Docs, Sheets and Slides. This should really help you in addressing many aspects of the Digital Competence Framework.<br />
- If you are an existing user of G Suite for Education would you really hand over control to Hwb? My feeling is that schools would be reluctant. I spoke to three schools at the symposium and all said that the announcement made no difference to them. They would carry on as they have been and would not be 'handing over the keys'. Schools would lose GMail in particular which is an integral part of communication for them. The Welsh Government want all schools within Hwb to be using Outlook mail through O365, because it has been through thorough 'certifications'??<br />
- This issue around O365 Outlook and no GMail would have to be carefully explained to schools, local authorities and regional consortia or they could be again giving the impression that Google is "not safe" for schools to use.<br />
- As well as existing schools losing GMail, I would be concerned that some of the functionality would be lost in handing over control to Hwb. For instance, will I still be able to set up my own groups allowing me to easily share documents to all of my teachers or SLT? Something that you currently are unable to do through O365 within Hwb. Ease of use and functionality is one of the reasons schools like using G Suite over the Hwb O365 tools. I really hope this isn't lost during the integration into Hwb.<br />
- If, as Chris Owen mentioned, schools can set up users within the Admin Panel, does that mean the new user has access to the whole of Hwb? That would seem strange as currently the platform is mainly only available to those who work in schools (teachers / support staff), pupils and individuals from regional consortia and local authorities.<br />
- Nothing mentioned about the possibility of single sign on to many other web platforms that schools may subscribe to, e.g. Giglets, 2 Simple's Purple Mash, Times Tables Rockstars, Reading Eggs to name but a few. Wouldn't this make life much easier for schools if they could login to one place and access all their online tools? Is this too difficult to set up?<br />
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So, in my opinion, a really positive move by the Welsh Government to include G Suite within Hwb. It's obviously still very early days but many will be watching events closely, with their fingers crossed and hoping that what is eventually delivered meets everyone's hopes.Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-7229185815929545612017-07-21T15:23:00.001+00:002017-07-21T15:26:02.279+00:00DigComp UpdateBack in <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/digital-competence-framework-september.html" target="_blank">June 2015 I wrote a post</a> about the announcement from the then Welsh education minister, Huw Lewis, about the introduction of a new <a href="http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?lang=en" target="_blank">Digital Competence Framework</a> (DCF) for schools in Wales. As many of you will know, that framework has since been written and is beginning to be implemented in schools across Wales. In the post, I provided a list to several digital literacy or competence frameworks already in place across many countries, highlighting to the digital pioneer schools who were writing the framework that they didn't have to start from nothing and that they didn't necessarily have to 'reinvent the wheel'. Therefore it was interesting to see this morning an update to one of the frameworks mentioned.<br />
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The European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, also known as DigComp, was first published in 2013 and "consists of detailed descriptions of all competences that are necessary to be proficient in digital environments and describes them in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes." <a href="http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC106281/web-digcomp2.1pdf_(online).pdf" target="_blank">DigComp 2.1, published in May 201</a>7, now focuses on expanding the initial three proficiency levels to a more fine-grained eight level description as well as providing examples of use for these eight levels. Note that this particular framework is not necessarily aimed at schools, but are competencies that are applicable for all people. Examples are highlighted for school and the workplace. The framework is split into these five competencies (I've also included the Digital Competence Framework strands and elements as a comparison):<br />
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<th class="tg-baqh">Digital Competence Framework - Wales</th>
<th class="tg-baqh">DigComp 2.1</th>
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<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>Citizenship</i><br />
Identity, image and reputation<br />
Health and well-being<br />
Digital rights, licensing and ownership<br />
Online behaviour and cyberbullying</td>
<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>1.0 Information & Data Literacy:</i><br />
1.1 Browsing, searching and filtering data, information and digital content<br />
1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content<br />
1.3 Managing data, information and digital content</td>
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<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>Interacting & Collaborating</i><br />
Communication<br />
Collaboration<br />
Storing and sharing</td>
<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>2.0 Communication & Collaboration</i><br />
2.1 Interacting through digital technologies<br />
2.2 Sharing through digital technologies<br />
2.3 Engaging in citizenship through digital technologies<br />
2.4 Collaborating through digital technologies<br />
2.5 Netiquette<br />
2.6 Managing digital identity</td>
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<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>Producing</i><br />
Planning, sourcing and searching<br />
Creating<br />
Evaluating and improving</td>
<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>3.0 Digital Content Creation</i><br />
3.1 Developing digital content<br />
3.2 Integrating and re-elaborating digital content<br />
3.3 Copyright and licenses<br />
3.4 Programming</td>
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<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>Data & Computational Thinking</i><br />
Problem solving and modelling<br />
Data and information literacy</td>
<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>4.0 Safety</i><br />
4.1 Protecting devices<br />
4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy<br />
4.3 Protecting health and well-being<br />
4.4 Protecting the environment</td>
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<td class="tg-yw4l"><i>5.0 Problem Solving</i><br />
5.1 Solving technical problems<br />
5.2 Identifying needs and technical responses<br />
5.3 Creatively using digital technology<br />
5.4 Identifying digital competence gaps</td>
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A quick comparison highlights similarities between the two frameworks, especially around Interacting & Collaborating /Communication & Collaboration; Producing / Digital Content Creation. In fact, if you look at the variety of frameworks mentioned in that previous post, these are very common to all and not surprising that they were included in the DCF. <br />
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One thing I do particularly like about the DigComp framework is that the competence descriptors, similar to the Citizenship elements of the DCF, are spread out between the competencies. This in my opinion provides a better context for the learning of these increasingly important skills. Currently schools are being encouraged to use a range of resources from the <a href="http://onlinesafetycymru.org.uk/Home.aspx" target="_blank">South West Grid for Learning and Common Sense Media</a> to support the Citizenship strand. As many people are saying (including myself), "You don't even need to use a computer to teach the Citizenship strand." This is because these lesson plans from Common Sense Media, very much have a PSE approach in their class delivery. However, as I go on to explain to schools, what is the point of learning about this strand if you're not going to then model what you've learned in context? For example, '3.3 Copyright and licenses' relate closely to the 'Digital rights, licensing and ownership' element of the DCF. However, the DigComp framework places this within the '3.0 Digital Content Creation' competence, arguably the natural place to learn about ownership and digital rights. Likewise 'Online behaviour and cyberbullying' and 'Identity, image and reputation' from the DCF could be developed through the 'Interacting and Collaborating' strand of the DCF. Here, while using a variety of communication and collaboration tools, pupils can look at how they are managing their identity, netiquette and engaging in citizenship through digital technologies. In my opinion it would be more helpful to teachers to have placed those Citizenship elements into the other strands. DCF could then look something like this:<br />
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<i>Interacting & Collaborating</i><br />
Communication<br />
Collaboration<br />
<b>Online behaviour and cyberbullying</b><br />
<b>Identity, image and reputatio</b>n<br />
Storing and sharing<br />
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<i>Producing</i><br />
Planning, sourcing and searching<br />
Creating<br />
<b>Digital rights, licensing and ownership</b><br />
Evaluating and improving<br />
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<i>Data & Computational Thinking</i><br />
Problem solving and modelling<br />
Data and information literacy<br />
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Mmm....not too sure where 'Health and well-being' would go.Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-74656753397428061522017-07-13T10:03:00.000+00:002017-07-13T10:03:27.737+00:00Digital Competence / Computer Science - Refreshing ViewsIt was interesting to read this on the BBC news website a couple of weeks ago, '<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40322796" target="_blank">Computing in schools - alarm bells over England's classes</a>.' At the heart of the report is that experts are concerned that since the introduction of the computing curriculum in England, there has only been a modest rise in students taking the new computer science GCSE. By 2020, the British Computer Society warns that the number studying for a computing qualification could halve. The other major concern is that only 20% of the entrants were girls, down from around 40% taking the previous ICT qualification. There were those at the time who were concerned with the change in focus of the curriculum and talked of, 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'. As Drew Buddie says in the BBC article, he felt that ICT was unfairly maligned and was far more creative than its critics assumed, and that "it is clear that many 14-to-17-year-old students, particularly girls, are not attracted to such a specific and narrow course." To be fair, digital literacy and ICT elements are still in the English curriculum but all the emphasis appears to have gone into the coding aspect. This was pretty apparent during my recent visit to the <a href="https://www.computingatschool.org.uk/conf2017" target="_blank">Computing at Schools conference</a> in Birmingham, where the overwhelming majority of keynotes and workshops were focused on coding, with little input on the other aspects of the computing curriculum.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Learning Computer Science is surprisingly hard." - CAS Conference, Birmingham 2017.</td></tr>
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I've written a some of posts over the last couple of years mentioning my concerns with the pressure that I could see coming from different quarters (<a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/skewed-bbc-reporting-surely-not.html" target="_blank">including the BBC</a>) for the introduction to coding. I have no problem with its introduction but wanted a sensible balance between it and digital literacy (see <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/a-balance-between-coding-and-digital.html" target="_blank">The Balance Between Coding and Digital Literacy</a> and <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/restoring-balance.html" target="_blank">Restoring The Balance</a>). Yesterday I listened to a presentation by a teacher who was involved with the development of the DCF (digital competence framework) and who is one of the digital pioneers working on the new curriculum. It was refreshing to hear him express similar views to myself. He talked about the importance of DCF for all our students, that being digital competent was an essential part of all our lives. He explained to attendees that coding is not mentioned in the DCF (although Computational Thinking is) and that computer science will be part of the new Science and Technology area of learning and experience. I precis what he said somewhat, but basically being digitally competent is essential for <b>all our young people</b>, whereas computer science only appeals to a small number of students who then hopefully go on to become coders. If his views are similar to the rest of the digital pioneers, hopefully we will have the right balance in Wales.Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-59993833177143197452017-07-07T16:58:00.000+00:002017-07-07T16:58:11.699+00:00NDLC Minutes Provide Glimpse of Hwb+ 'Future'Update to my last post <a href="https://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/hwb-another-nail-in-coffin.html" target="_blank">Hwb+-Another Nail in the Coffin?</a> As I've said previously, I do like to read through the agenda and minutes of the <a href="https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/community-ndlc" target="_blank">National Digital Learning Council</a> meetings. These are freely available to the public on the Hwb website. Below you will find a section from the minutes dated 4th April, 2017:<br />
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<i>5.7 The Hwb+ / provisioning contract with Learning Possibilities ends on 31 August 2018 and there is no contract extension option. Officials are already exploring exit strategy arrangements to ensure continuity of service specifically around the provisioning service which underpins the user authentication for all Hwb services.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>5.8 CO (Chris Owen, Welsh Government) outlined the current thinking around the next phase of the provisioning, authentication and user management for LiDW users. NDLC members stressed the importance of ensuring the replacement service offered high-availability levels as this is such a pivotal element of the programme. CO confirmed that this was fully understood and already part of the planning.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>5.9 The other aspect of the contract with Learning Possibilities is the delivery of Hwb+, the individual school’s learning platform. Statistics indicate that there are low numbers of schools in Wales demonstrating embedded use of Hwb+ (e.g. 30 learners logging in once a day). <br /> <br />5.10 It was agreed that a sub-group of NDLC members would be established to explore options for engaging with stakeholders over their use of the Hwb+ platform. This information would be used to inform the next steps and to present options to the Cabinet Secretary for Education. <br /> <br />5.11 Any change in provision needs to be carefully managed and the Welsh Government will work closely with schools to minimise any disruption at the end of the current Learning Possibilities contract. <br /> <br />5.12 NDLC members queried whether a learning platform was required as blending the centrally offered services such as Hwb, J2e and Office 365 now potentially provides a range of suitable options. This will be considered as part of the engagement with stakeholders. <br /> <br />5.13 A draft stakeholder survey which would seek to find out what worked well and what didn’t work so well with Hwb+ is one option to engage.</i><br />
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What have we learned from these minutes?<br />
- No contract extension option for Hwb+ or their provisioning tool and officials are exploring exit strategy options. *The provisioning tool is the software (owned by Learning Possibilities) that sits in each local authority and creates the user accounts from schools SIMS data.*<br />
- The NDLC noted how pivotal that provisioning tool is to the success of the programme. Any change needs to be 'carefully managed' to minimise disruption at the end of the Learning Possibilities contract. *This provisioning tool is in my opinion, certainly core to the success of the programme. I mentioned in a comment exchange on my last post that I felt the real success of the programme had been to get all users accounts set up for staff and pupils across Wales. If WG are not careful, any disruption to that 'continuity of service' could/will damage Hwb's reputation.*<br />
- A low number of schools using Hwb+. *As I've said, it's a platform that certainly hasn't been at the top of my 'top 10 learning platforms', but it's been interesting to observe the way support to schools in its use, appears to have been withdrawn over the last couple of years. It's been a slow death.*<br />
- Survey to seek what worked well and what didn't work so well. *We now know that <a href="https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/news/article/85ebb9f1-8636-41d3-a675-86fd5fc3a172" target="_blank">a survey</a> is one option and the regional workshops are another.*<br />
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<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-57322919457756027192017-06-30T18:13:00.000+00:002017-06-30T18:13:34.675+00:00Hwb+ - Another Nail in the Coffin?<a href="https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/news/article/c2e81966-148f-4a37-b0da-168c15294a68" target="_blank">This post on the Hwb News</a> page caught my eye this afternoon. In early July, the Welsh Government (WG) are running four Hwb+ Workshops to "<i>explore the current use of the Hwb+ learning platform</i>" and wanting to "<i>hear your views</i>" before planning the next steps in the LiDW programme. If you've read some of my previous posts about Hwb+ you'll know I've never been its biggest fan and in '<a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/gazing-into-my-crystal-ball.html" target="_blank">Gazing Into My Crystal Ball</a>', suggested that maybe the contract for Hwb+ wouldn't be renewed. Dare I propose that the only reason these workshops are being held by the WG is that they already have a very good idea what the feedback from schools will be like - overwhelmingly negative. Therefore it appears that these events are an opportunity to gather further evidence of why the contract with Learning Possibilities for Hwb+ shouldn't be renewed in August 2018. I'd be extremely surprised, in fact astonished, if a different outcome arose from these events and from the national Hwb+ stakeholder online survey. This is another nail in the coffin for Hwb+. There was the loss of the Hwb Digital Leaders who initially supported schools in its national implementation; the ability to <a href="http://ictineducation-gartmor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/the-beginning-of-end.html" target="_blank">create classes and assignments within the Hwb platform</a> and a perceived lack of regional consortia encouragement to schools to use Hwb+, focusing their efforts on other Hwb tools, therefore starving it of support. All of which, in my opinion, has helped to contribute to it probable demise. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of months.<br />
BTW, I can't seem to remember a similar set of LiDW workshops being run for the other tools available in Hwb - Office 365, J2e, Encyclopedia Britannica ;-)<br />
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<br />Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4323413430877625088.post-72454387073687803702017-03-01T21:39:00.001+00:002017-03-01T21:39:54.961+00:00Hwb J2launch and OneDrive Files?In my recent meetings with primary schools, inevitably our discussions will turn to the evidencing and marking of pupils work. More pupil work is now being completed online through tools such as Office 365 and <a href="http://www.just2easy.com/" target="_blank">J2e</a> (via the <a href="https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Hwb platform</a>), along with <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/edu/" target="_blank">G Suite for Education</a> and<a href="https://www.purplemash.co.uk/" target="_blank"> 2Simple's Purple Mash</a>. Therefore how does a teacher easily find and mark work when it's being held in two or more different places? Especially if you factor in that pupil's work could also be held on the school network and on individual iPads. It's all a bit 'messy' to say the least. Recently I've been looking at j2launch which is part of the Just2easy set of tools and freely available to all schools in Wales via the Hwb platform. J2launch is a Content Management System (CMS) within J2e. Work created online using the many J2e tools is automatically stored here along with any other file type you'd like to upload. Files can be searched for and organised using folders. All done, in my opinion, very easily.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tGsoAyZpiv0/WLML2cqLNQI/AAAAAAABLko/_fBG11PCNW4RaN4UyIIbC8KZUtWGms8JgCLcB/s1600/j2launch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tGsoAyZpiv0/WLML2cqLNQI/AAAAAAABLko/_fBG11PCNW4RaN4UyIIbC8KZUtWGms8JgCLcB/s400/j2launch1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teacher view of pupil files in j2launch. Uploaded PDFs and a J2e5 resource</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It was simple to upload a video file created on my iPad and some Comic Life PDFs. Once in j2launch, teachers can assess pupil work against the <a href="http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/nlnf/?lang=en" target="_blank">literacy and numeracy framework</a> and the <a href="http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?lang=en" target="_blank">digital competence framework</a> statements. Teachers are also able to, among other features, engage the pupil in a learning conversation and create a QR code to share the work with others. All very impressive. However I do have a gripe. I would love to be able to see my pupils files stored in OneDrive in j2launch. I would then have Office365 files (Word, PowerPoint, Excel Online), J2e files and any other uploaded files all in one place, with the ability to assess, feedback and share pupil work. If my understanding is correct, a school that had bought J2e would have the ability to single sign on with their Office365 or G Suite for Education account. OneDrive and Google Drive files will then appear in j2launch allowing for marking, etc as described above. However, that option doesn't seem to be possible with the version available to schools through Hwb. That's a pity. I think teachers (and pupils) in Wales would find it really helpful if this version offered that solution. It would make the assessment and feedback of pupil's digital work, created on different platforms, so much easier.Gartmorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08810895035049882322noreply@blogger.com0