With changes recently in funding for arts, with governments appearing to reduce funding for science and journalism and the rise, indeed, of mock news stories, it’s been heartening to be in New Zealand after the big earthquake in the Kaikoura/Huranui regions.
Wonderful explanations are coming at us from GNS Science Te Pu Ao
This earthquake simulation is only one of the many pieces of information we’ve seen. This fantastic one about the tsunami comes courtesy of the MacDiarmid Institute.
The Spinoff, an interesting website that carries a variety of items about ‘pop culture’ carried this great story that kind of sums up our week.
But the hero of the hour, in my opinion, was Radio New Zealand, whose funding is alas, under some threat. They were there in the night, and all through the Monday and Tuesday following the quake, when news was scarce and information rare. There were interviews with a seismologist, fine caring interviews with people whose houses had fallen off bases and farmers who were out helping neighbours. There were regular news items and in-depth discussions. National radio shows itself, in these occasions to be a national taonga.
So. My not very subtle message? We need scientists AND communicators.
The Wellington part of the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) has finished. While there are often films about art, poetry or dancing in these festivals there are not usually many about education. This film crosses the art/education/culture boundary and explores the impact that one man, with the support of others, had on art and craft education in the late 1940s and 1950s in New Zealand. The film is directed by former director of the National Art Gallery, Luit Bieringa.
Gordon Tovey was appointed art and craft supervisor in the Department of Education in 1946 under Director General of Education Clarence Beeby.
Both men saw that education practices, policy and philosophies needed to change after the depression and World War Two. Tovey, in his role as supervisor of art and craft initiated roving art and craft advisors and supported the idea that children needed to be creative in order to learn. He also believed that Māori children should be encouraged to explore their heritage and its art forms. He created a course at Ruatoria and wrote The arts of the Māori (1961) and monographs like this which may be familiar to many New Zealanders. The names of many of his students and acolytes may also be familiar: Whiting, Webb, Cath Brown, Hotere, Aldridge, Lusk…
The film also looks at the work of Elwyn Richardson whose book In the early world influenced me while I was at training college. Like Beeby and Tovey Richardson believed in the inherent power of creativity and his work at Oruaiti School in Northland can be seen in this film, displayed in the words and feelings of some of the people who speak of him.
It’s a film that all of us, especially those who work in the education industry, should see for images of children in the 1950s dancing, singing, wearing masks, making textiles using Māori patterns, making clay pots and using kilns, making etchings and lino cuts.
And as Otago University announces a review of the humanities department and we see falling rolls in these areas, it is, in my opinion a time to reflect on what education is for and how important creativity, art and the arts are in our lives.
It was very good to see an intelligent article on TV the other night (TV3 World Class: Inside Education. A special report). While mostly about the compulsory sector the comments and opinions in the programme are of interest to those of us in the/polytechnic sector.
One the main ideas revolves around whether or not education is a community good or an individual right.
It’s a Scot (bless him), Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Scottish Parliament who says:”….education is not just an individual good it’s an investment in society”. University education is free in Scotland and not a commodity which individuals pay for.
Another idea is around choice. While the changes in New Zealand over the last 30 years can be seen as beginning with the Picot report (1998), Minister Lockwood Smith’s decision to end school zoning in the early 1990s , Bryan Bruce argues was the beginning of a form of social control. The Labour Government reintroduced zoning in 2000 but John Morris (School zoning may seem fair but in reality it fails. Herald, Feb 8, 2006) says that it is not the right policy for the 21st century. “….we are being regulated as if nothing has changed”. For me zoning helps moderate the excesses of competition.
Being able to choose is great: But in the end who can choose? Usually only the people who have the money, the status or the skills to make the choices. If I want my children to go to a ‘good school’ I have to be able to afford transport, uniforms and possible fees. If I haven’t got the means I can’t choose. Offering choices about schooling has provided ample room for competition. You can’t, says reporter and researcher Bruce, provide equity and fairness by competition.
A third idea is about testing. It’s usual now in New Zealand and other countries to test. Frequently. Testing provides data, supposedly about how students are doing and how schools are doing. Schools that have high test results attract students through parental decision often) who believe that high test scores equal quality education. The programme shows some horrific examples of schools that train for tests and some pretty inspiring examples of students at Manurewa Intermediate who learn through inquiry based learning.
Whatever your perception on the role of education I think this programme asked some questions worth considering. And while the programme is designed to question what is working, we acknowledge that some aspects of the compulsory system do work well. It’s not all broken.
Robert Bok, pastry tutor and WelTec Staff Award recipient 2015 (Emerging Teacher category), explains how he follows the progress of each of his students. With simple but thorough organisation, and using online and hard copy methods, he monitors each learner’s development.
Gerard Duignan speaks to him on this YouTube video for Spark
If your job is to teach stuff to students, then to do it well you need to be constantly monitoring what they are making of your teaching. Hopefully they will be learning something to do with their purpose for being in your class, but how do you know? Here are some ideas.
Ask them. Say “How are you doing?” and listen to the answer. Or better, ask them the Three Magic Questions: “What is one thing you understand, one thing you are not sure of, and one question you have”.
Even better, make these questions into a three question questionnaire so you can take what they say back to your desk and ruminate on it.
Watch them. When they are doing an activity, watch what each student is doing. How do they organise their work space? How do they choose and handle the tools? How focused do they seem?
Listen to them. What things do they say in discussions, in the workshop or on the job? What questions to they ask? How are they expressing ideas or using the words from the subject? Who is confident and leads the talking, who is thoughtful, who is silent?
Look at the work they do. Whatever it is, how well is it done? Have they missed anything? How well do they describe their work to you? Get them to tell each other things, or hand work in to you.
If you don’t know how well your students – each one of them – are doing, it is very hard to be an effective teacher. Knowing where your learners are at gives you a place to start from which to build their skills and knowledge.
I’m still buzzing about the conference I attended almost two weeks ago: EdTech for Export conference held in Te Papa. A gathering of educators, industry and investors connecting the influencers of how Education Technology can change the world.
I left the conference thinking about two questions that lingered in my head:
Why is the conference mostly attended by businesses? Where is the other side of the party – the education providers? Out of perhaps a group of 100, there were only 3 institutes there, WelTec included. I thought that the education sector would snap up this opportunity to team up with the businesses who are trying to get their product outside of our beautiful country. After all, we all have the same intentions, internationalisation of our products, our branding, our reputation.
Allow me to take it as it is and leave the question for you to ponder on as well. Is there a major disconnection or lack of united front with the education and business sector? Do they talk to each other much? Perhaps we need to strengthen our relationships with each other before we head out to make sure we have a united approach. After all, aren’t we all in this together?
There was only one Asian keynote speaker, Professor Siah Hwee Ang. He’s the The Bank of New Zealand Chair in Business in Asia at Victoria University of Wellington.
I found it rather strange that the focus is how to penetrate the Asian market and yet, we only have one speaker from Asia? Don’t get me wrong, he’s a very a knowledgeable person who is right smack in the middle of it all where changes and bridges can be made between Asia and the rest of the world but I expected more of us 🙂
Although Asia was the canvas, China was the central focus – no contest there given that they play a huge chunk of the market. I found it highly interesting the points and tips that Prof. Siah mentioned in his keynote speech. It made me wonder, “does the rest of the world truly know how Asia works?” Another speaker, Allison Baum of Fresco Capital, from a business point of view, delivered a highly motivating presentation on the Asian market and the crucial timing of getting in now. Frank Catalano presented a wealth of information on the US market, trends and fads to avoid in the technological world and education.
This is all great and exciting but I think it is important that we remember to drop any prejudices or presumptions we may have if we haven’t sincerely immersed ourselves to get to know the potential customer. Are we trying to approach it with “we know what’s best for you, here’s what you should do” or “how can we contribute and do work together to benefit each others’ strengths?”
Asia is huge, its culture and sub-cultures have to be studied deeply to understand how it differs from the western world. Regardless of where your market is, isn’t one of the foundations of a business to understand your customers and the value you are trying to add to their lives?
If by now you’re wondering… my answer is yes. Filipina. Yes, I do feel that some things got lost in translation :). At the end of the day, as the world gets smaller with all the technologies that enable us to connect beyond borders, everyone should be treated truly without judgment except for the benefit and effort they bring. We have to up our game, quality, and aim our focus at the end results. To get there, we have to leave all inhibitions, face the challenges with much gusto, enough of the ‘bring-others-down-to-get-ahead’ syndrome, we’re all heading the same way, it’s faster and easier if we help each other.
I’m used to attending teaching and learning type conferences, so it was good to attend the GLAMs focused event. (Work it out “Galleries, Libraries…). Having also just attended the Unconference I became a little jaded by sitting and listening on somewhat uncomfortable seats. But this trifle on the second day was pretty much worth the uncomfortable seating. And of course the content of the presentations.
I enjoyed the speakers: Brewster Kahle who talked about the Internet Archive and threw some astounding and retweeted facts our way (the internet in a shipping container); Burns & Pokel who shared their experiences of Minecraft in the Auckland Museum; Lake & Lee who talked about the Wellington Punk archive Up the Punks, Transmedia (again, with Brenda Leuwenberg), the Dowse and Wikipedia, Augemented Reality (again – my first experience in 2010 but now improved). Derek Kawiti – exploring digital modelling of buildings so that their connections are shown (community, history, people). Overall a concern about communities and people. Human Centred Design and user experience (Heath Sadlier) and Reid Perkins talking about popup museums where elderly explore ideas on paper (now there’s an idea) – and sit and talk over coffee and tea. Rick Shera scared us with talk of digital assets and how we should ensure they are taken care of in our wills, as well as providing insights into legislation about digital property.
It is useful to understand how much content is available online and how hard these institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand work to provide access to their collections.
I started thinking about how these ideas could be applied to tertiary education. For me human centred design ideas follow the same kind of logic as learner centred teaching and learning and are part of the same philosophical approach as student directed learning. (I’m hoping that our manager can supply us with a history of a recent project). Shera’s presentation about digital property reinforced my concerns about using Facebook for educational purposes (communication – yes; sharing content or even assessments? No)
I’d love to try Minecraft with students, transmedia is an interesting idea to pursue (we do it already in a way in education but can expand). Let’s think about HOW students find this content and what they do with it. How do they evaluate it? How do they incorporate it into their lives, learning and courses? How do we get them there?
And I’m back to my old saw about museums and tertiary institutions having closer relationships and exploring ideas.
We are supposedly about process (the how of learning) but we are often about content. GLAMS have lots of content.
Museums and educational institutions, I have long believed, have many things to share. It’s a happy coincidence (or plan) that the Hocken Library in Dunedin is part of Otago University.
Staff from the Hocken Library and faculty worked on a project, that by any account must have been a huge logistical nightmare at times.
The archivists measured, sorted key words for metadata and scanned documents, the interns added the metadata. There were also decisions to be made about software that would provide the best access for users, the best protection for documents and the easiest update methods.
This collection, being online, provides public access to Samuel Marsden’s letters and documents from the days of his arrival in New Zealand and his work establishing the Church Missionary Society’s missions in New Zealand.
Like public collections already online: National Library of New Zealand and Alexander Turnbull Library the Marsden collections, being online, will allow more people to read the original letters and to understand the relationships between Maori and Pakeha in the 19th century.
It’s exciting to know that we can now read what Marsden said for ourselves, rather than rely on the (trustworthy but second hand) words of Buick “So far as the darker side of their history is concerned, we have it on the irreproachable authority of the Rev. Samuel Marsden that the tragedies in which the natives made war upon the Europeans were in almost every instance merely acts of retaliation for earlier outrages.[3] ” (Buick, T. L. The Treaty of Waitangi or how New Zealand became a British colony.Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41800/41800-h/41800-h.htm).
And as an aside – anyone interested in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi should consider reading Buick’s description of the events of the day. I have always found it stirring reading, as long as I recognise that he may be embellishing some of the drama. But who knows?
Reading history like this helps us understand the mind set and world view of our ancestors, and helps us find our place in this world.
Congratulations to the Hocken Library. A fantastic resource.
ormation we’ve seen. This fantastic one about the tsunami comes courtesy of the MacDiarmid Institute.
of the day, as the world gets smaller with all the technologies that enable us to connect beyond borders, everyone should be treated truly without judgment except for the benefit and effort they bring. We have to up our game, quality, and aim our focus at the end results. To get there, we have to leave all inhibitions, face the challenges with much gusto, enough of the ‘bring-others-down-to-get-ahead’ syndrome, we’re all heading the same way, it’s faster and easier if we help each other.
edtech. ako 