Thursday, October 25, 2012

Communication

All aboard is an article by David and Margaret Carpenter that introduces us to a new version of Honk Kong International School (HKIS) than the one that existed a short time ago before a major infusion of new technology. The first task at hand seemed to be aligning all the stake holders under a common leader. Naturally, this responsibility fell to the current teachers at HKIS. The various teachers spearheaded the effort to transform the curriculum. The technology team included instructional technologists and the library media specialist, and a coordinator. Initially the program focused on social studies and sciences. The thinking seemed to be that these were easier to digest and transfer to a technology high level. Another innovation that was well thought out was the use of a curriculum mapping tool. At the end of each curriculum, an assessment driven improvement system was implemented. One novel benefit of this approach was that the teachers learned the technology that the students had already been using. This exposure of the teachers allowed them to ask what else they could do with the technology and a new wave of learning is set to take off. The peer review process is very functional with changes being directly noted to moodle for the next teacher to review. Because so many educators have access to the information the feedback loop is particularly effective. This article and approach seems to lend itself very well to the ISTE NETS and performance indicators for students communication and collaboration (Bullet point 4). The communication aspect that must be brought to a wide audience effectively using a variety of media and formats is what I thought of as I read the article. I feel that the feedback loop of the process used by HKIS is perhaps the most important part of the whole lesson. Carpenter, D and M. (2008-2009). All aboard! How a new curriculum-development review process brought teachers, administrators, and learning specialists to the table and resulted in some innovative uses of technology. Learning and leading with technology, 36( 4). 14-17. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200812#pg20

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