My introduction to The Mindlab
Tuesday night was my first session of the Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Teaching (Digital and Collaborative Learning) through Unitec - otherwise knowns as The Mindlab.
The focus of the first session was on what is knowledge and the purpose of education.The course notes state:
[Students'] familiar means of information aggregation and distribution are not in sync with the education system and students are looking for flexible, more affordable and more relevant ways to gain the knowledge needed to apply ‘as needed’ skills for life-long learning.
At heart this challenges the whole notion of what schools do, hence the question we were focusing on: what is education? In a formal sense, education is the systematic transfer of knowledge and information, but informally we are 'educated' in various ways everyday - through what we read and listen to, who we talk to. What we do as educators is inherently governed by what has been done before, because change can be a slow and challenging experience. However, I do think that there have been changes towards more flexible models of education and greater emphasis on skills needed for life long learning, over traditional 'this is the information you need to know' teaching. I see this in my own school where we are having discussions about what we what our akonga profile to be when they leave us, whether Level 2 should be a two-year course (do our akonga need Level 1?) and a Friday timetable where students opt-in to different study/learning/experiences.
Our task in class was to discuss the nature of education and knowledge in groups, which is frankly a challenge for me. I am someone who tends to consider things before expressing an opinion about something, and when faced with assertive people who express their views freely (and quickly) tend to take more of a back seat and listen to what they have to say - and take the time to consider this. See the cycle developing? That is not to say that I don't have my own ideas and hold back from expressing them, because I do, I'd just rather think through what I'm going to say.
After our discussions we were given another collaborative task of creating a visual model of education and/or learning using playdough, within a strict timeframe. My group decided to create a spider's web as a metaphor for knowledge - the links/connections we make between ideas, the rebuilding and fragility of knowledge etc. We also had to create a video showing our understanding of the topics:
We only had half an hour and much of that time was spent figuring out the logistics of transferring that data and using Windows Movie Maker. I've used if briefly in the past, but obviously need more practise with video editing software!
The leadership component of the course asks us to reflect on how we lead/followed during these collaborative exercises. I'm not sure that our group of three offered much opportunity for leadership/following; everyone had their say about what we were doing and we listened to and responded to each other. There were group decisions and compromises, as you would expect, and I think that everyone was happy with the experience. At times I followed the others' leads but when this happened it was as a proactive follower, involved in discussions about what was being done. At other times I kept the group moving through the activity, encouraging us all to work to meet the deadline.
I don't think a short activity such as this gives us too much insight into the type of leader/follower we are, nor about what a good leader would be like. However, as we move through the course and develop our understanding and application of digital technologies and collaboration, we will by virtue of this be in a position to become thought leaders within our schools. Within my school there is a range of skills in using ICT and opinions about the future of education, and I'm not sure yet how I see my role evolving as a leader in this.
The focus of the first session was on what is knowledge and the purpose of education.The course notes state:
[Students'] familiar means of information aggregation and distribution are not in sync with the education system and students are looking for flexible, more affordable and more relevant ways to gain the knowledge needed to apply ‘as needed’ skills for life-long learning.
At heart this challenges the whole notion of what schools do, hence the question we were focusing on: what is education? In a formal sense, education is the systematic transfer of knowledge and information, but informally we are 'educated' in various ways everyday - through what we read and listen to, who we talk to. What we do as educators is inherently governed by what has been done before, because change can be a slow and challenging experience. However, I do think that there have been changes towards more flexible models of education and greater emphasis on skills needed for life long learning, over traditional 'this is the information you need to know' teaching. I see this in my own school where we are having discussions about what we what our akonga profile to be when they leave us, whether Level 2 should be a two-year course (do our akonga need Level 1?) and a Friday timetable where students opt-in to different study/learning/experiences.
Our task in class was to discuss the nature of education and knowledge in groups, which is frankly a challenge for me. I am someone who tends to consider things before expressing an opinion about something, and when faced with assertive people who express their views freely (and quickly) tend to take more of a back seat and listen to what they have to say - and take the time to consider this. See the cycle developing? That is not to say that I don't have my own ideas and hold back from expressing them, because I do, I'd just rather think through what I'm going to say.
After our discussions we were given another collaborative task of creating a visual model of education and/or learning using playdough, within a strict timeframe. My group decided to create a spider's web as a metaphor for knowledge - the links/connections we make between ideas, the rebuilding and fragility of knowledge etc. We also had to create a video showing our understanding of the topics:
We only had half an hour and much of that time was spent figuring out the logistics of transferring that data and using Windows Movie Maker. I've used if briefly in the past, but obviously need more practise with video editing software!
The leadership component of the course asks us to reflect on how we lead/followed during these collaborative exercises. I'm not sure that our group of three offered much opportunity for leadership/following; everyone had their say about what we were doing and we listened to and responded to each other. There were group decisions and compromises, as you would expect, and I think that everyone was happy with the experience. At times I followed the others' leads but when this happened it was as a proactive follower, involved in discussions about what was being done. At other times I kept the group moving through the activity, encouraging us all to work to meet the deadline.
I don't think a short activity such as this gives us too much insight into the type of leader/follower we are, nor about what a good leader would be like. However, as we move through the course and develop our understanding and application of digital technologies and collaboration, we will by virtue of this be in a position to become thought leaders within our schools. Within my school there is a range of skills in using ICT and opinions about the future of education, and I'm not sure yet how I see my role evolving as a leader in this.
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