coming from the cold…

Change, time, seasons, and our days are immersed with information and environments which are changing faster than we can keep up with or learn about  ~as highlighted in this engaging Tedtalk by Eddie Obeng.  If the rate of change is accelerating faster that the rate we can learn and synthesis information, how as an organization and community of learners can we keep up? The feeling of time slipping away and  being in an information overload world becomes a bigger challenge for schools and educational organizations to manage. Are we coming to a point where we need a complete paradigm shift in the way we facilitate learning to support and ensure we are preparing our learners to engage in a world where this rate of change is accelerating beyond our capacity to manage information and change alone. The video a great talking point to share with your community of learners.

The Learning Event Generator

John Davitt who was our keynote and critical friend last year in Lisbon as part of the ECIS Conference special IT pre-conference shares out about the Learning Event Generator which he featured in his keynote last year  This excerpt of this interview is from John’s  blog

“The Learning Event Generator came out of a desire to nudge learners out of the conventional “listen to me and write it down” learning pathway that can become the default in countries with a “full” curriculum..  I wanted a tool that gave teachers and learners a chance to rock the learning boat a little and nudge learners into deeper learning” says inventor John Davitt warming to his theme.

So John settled on the perfect grammar of the imperative mash – “do something as…” in the random form of over 250 different activities – that run across the full range of media types and artistic endeavors. The first version of the Learning Event Generator was a paper-based game, the next a Flash app that is still in use by 1000s of teachers around the world. There was also an app called the RAG that took the concept to the iPhone & IPad. This has now been rewritten and updated by the new Learning Event Generator that features over 120,000 learning challenges & lesson ideas. What’s more, the new LEG app allows you to select from 10 different subject areas. Want a science challenge? Just select on the subject slider and give the phone or iPad a shake. The next upgrade will allow learners to type in their own DO challenge.

“Recently on my travels I have begun to realise that the LEG is more than an app, it’s an approach to learning that gives implicit permission to show your understanding through a number of different activities – and for all learners that can be a delightful shot in the arm.”

In the past, learning activities have been the afterthought. “We need to turn them into an art form,” says John.  “We need to get beyond ‘just write it down!’ –  it doesn’t work as the exclusive diet.  At first the idea of “Do Heisenbergs’ Uncertainty Principle as a dance” seems bizarre but once a group of learners get together they are taken away from the shallows of cut and pasted computer text without understanding into ‘how do we represent this in a media that is so different from our textual research?’

“I think there is a PhD here into how much difference dancing, miming, sculpting their understanding might have on learning performance for some learners” says Davitt

The central idea is to generate tasks that led to deeper engagement by tweaking the approach path to the learning. Schools and School boards (particularly those using IPads) are welcome to discuss bulk purchase agreements. With this app on one machine in the classroom students can self medicate in their learning – it’s finally an antidote to the old lament – “Sir I’ve nothing to do!” – “just shake yourself up another challenge …”

What next

“The desire now is to build the corpus of possible challenges and also to build the back channel of videos that we hold of 100s of LEG challenges that have already been completed by educators – we are currently tagging them and they will feature in future updates to the LEG app

To find the app visit  ‪http://bit.ly/LEGwork

The LEG is a fruit machine for Learning invented by John Davitt for teachers, parents and learners.
Features
•120,000 lesson ideas & learning challenges
•Subject selection for 10 curriculum areas including English,Math & Science
•Unique Shake & Learn interface
•Hyperlink help options for all challenges
•Swipe options to flip individual cards
•Email a Challenge eLearning option
•Web portal to videos of past learning challenges

or https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learning-event-generator/id570779853?mt=8

Contact John via www.m.davittmedia.com

ECIS Conference Nice, France: 21-25 November 2012
http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=558
Pre-Conference and Conference Program

Please note: ECIS ICT Committee session: INTEREST GROUP FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY meeting will be at the following location: Calliope from 11:00 to 12:00 on Friday Nov 23, 2012
Agenda items:  if you have items you wish to have on the agenda please contact me directly jmikton(at) isp.cz

Pre-Conference IT options to consider

• Podcast Like a Pro—(this is in prepartion for iTunesU)  http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=525
• Google Apps— http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=528
• The International ITC Leader—Vision and Development Planning http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=545

DO NOT MISS!!  ACS Cobham  ECIS Tech Conference 14 to 16 March, 2013

We are delighted to be hosting at ACS International Schools the ECIS Tech Conference at our Cobham campus, west of London, from 14 to 16 March, 2013.
The theme of the conference is ‘Learning to love the iGeneration – Is education ready to embrace the irresistible IT vision of tomorrow’s classroom.’ In developing the theme the ACS team felt it was important to provoke and engage delegates into thinking beyond the accepted. In return, attendees will find an event where powerful keynote speakers, collaborative breakout sessions, and hands-on experiences collide to further the integration of IT in education.

Conference website and information
http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs/ecis-tech-conference-2013.aspx

Keynote Speakers
http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs/ecis-tech-conference-2013/keynote-speakers.aspx

Registration
http://www.acs-schools.com/about-acs/ecis-tech-conference-2013/registration.aspx

Innovate 2013 Sao Paulo Brazil: http://www.innovate2013.org
Graded School’s commitment to re-imagine the school that best serves and inspires students for tomorrow.  Please join us and innovators from across the globe to engage in a dialogue designed to ignite new ideas resulting in building a foundation for the change our students deserve.
In partnership with Un-Plugged at the American School of Bombay, the Lausanne Laptop Institute at Lausanne Collegiate, the European 1-1 Learning Institute hosted by the Frankfurt International School, and the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA), Graded School is honored to launch the conversation in South America.

Prague Geo Summit at the International School of Prague
For years, Google’s Geo products have been identified as a powerful learning toolkit that can help students conceptualize, visualize, share, and communicate information about the world around them.
The Prague Google Geo Summit
June 1 and 2 2013 at the International School of Prague Czech Republic
This event is a professional development experience designed to help educators get the most from Google’s geo products and technologies. The event is an intensive, two-day event where participants get hands-on experience using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp, including a focus on features like Ocean, Mars, Moon and Sky in Google Earth. We have sessions lead by some of the worlds leading Google Geo experts including Google staff and Google Certified Teachers and trainers.