My recommendations for colleagues considering transformation in education

EDEM682 - Transforming Education in Canterbury

The following review is a synthesis of key understandings and learning experiences that have emerged throughout the year that I would recommend to my colleagues considering transformation in education.

Exploring transformation and scoping educational change
Change can be difficult and stressful as it often stems from a ‘shifting context’, where the status quo is no longer the best way forward. For positive and sustainable change to occur, a ‘road map for leading change’ (Jansen, 2015) is important and must start with the why (Sinek, 2009). This not only supports leaders to understand the why but also to consider the key elements that will need to be explored while working through the change process, like the where, how, who and what. Once leaders have this roadmap in place, they can and should share it with all participants to ensure a shared understanding of the context for change and what elements will need to be explored when moving from the business as usual or ‘current state’, to the new business as usual or ‘future state’ (Jansen, 2015).
When scoping for change, the drivers for educational transformation should be identified. These are the things that are pushing or pulling your school towards the need to make changes. I would recommend that all key stakeholders have the opportunity to identify what external factors e.g. the global impact of technology or the identified new skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow (OECD, 2012) and what internal factors, for example at my school, a whole school re­build due to earthquake damage, are influencing or already changing your educational context. Once these factors have been identified by all key stakeholders, you can then begin to see what potential risks/threats and what potential opportunities there are as a result of these drivers of change in action.

Visioning and systemic thinking in strategic planning
Strategic thinking must be systemic, in that we need to be able to see the big picture before we can understand the parts within it. To be able to make considerate and effective decisions around whole school change, understanding the whole comes before understanding the parts but the key element is actually in the interaction. If we do not consider the way in which decisions or change in one area can impact on another, we can be left with ‘unintended consequences’. An example of this could be where a school decides to change the hours of instruction, starting and finishing earlier in the day. This is based on good research that children will learn better in those hours but the unintended consequences could be huge e.g. increase of parents in need of after school childcare or out of sync timetables for siblings at different schools. I would recommend using key questions, relevant to your context, to create conversations and a shared understanding of the bigger picture, the parts within it and how the interact or influence each other. These questions could be used as a framework when working with staff, leaders, governance, whānau and students, “what does a successful school look like?” and “what are the factors that contribute to this and how do they influence each other?” Another reputable change model I would recommend schools research and apply to their own context by having staff collaboratively map out the change arena applied to their kura, would be Davis’ ‘Arena of Change’ (2008), a model that applies an ecological perspective to understand how teacher learning may be promoted for educational renewal, and clearly identifies that “teachers are the k​eystone species​in the education ecologies of the twenty-­first century world”.

Pedagogical shifts
Successful change to better meet the needs of modern learners in today's and tomorrow's schools will require some dramatic shifts to traditional methods and practice of teaching. ‘New pedagogies’ (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014) will present plenty of challenges but excitingly, lots of opportunities to better engage and prepare our students for a world that requires people with inquiry and problem solving skills, who can effectively collaborate, innovate, create and communicate and who are culturally responsive, digitally literate and globally aware. Derek Wenmoth (2013) from CORE Education talks about the drivers for change being agency, connectedness and ubiquity and these are driving some of the pedagogical changes that need to occur so that schools become an environment that values and fosters student agency, collaboration, co­-teaching, self regulated and personalised learning. I would recommend that when schools are considering pedagogical shifts, they need to begin with their students ­ what do they need to know, understand and do to be successful? Secondly ­ what does our learning practices and environments need to look like to accomplish this? Finally ­ how will we know what impact this is having on student engagement, enjoyment and achievement?

Community, whānau and iwi engagement
When considering transforming education in your school context, it is imperative that all members of your school community are included on this journey and can participate in the decision making process ­ h​e waka eke noa:​a canoe on which everyone can embark. One of the first steps needs to be identifying all key stakeholders ­ students, whānau, staff and Board of Trustees. As I identified earlier in the scoping process, it would also be recommendable to reach further abroad and look for other potential partners that could bring added value and richness to the transformation and future of the school through ‘civic engagement ­ t​he action through which citizens join in new conversations that have the capacity to alter the future’​, for example, libraries, community services­health, police, social services, local community businesses or other educational institutions e.g. Polytechnic or Universities.

Iwi engagement is also critical for all New Zealand educational settings. We know that traditionally we have not met the needs of many of our priority learners, specifically Māori and Pasifika tamariki and their whānau (MoE, 2013). Culturally responsive practices embedded into the culture of our schools will ensure that schools are upholding their obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and are providing educational experiences that are authentic, meaningful and relevant for all learners, that build on their prior knowledge and cultural connections and acknowledges and celebrates diversity and the potential each child has within them to succeed. I would recommend that schools reach out to iwi and build a reciprocal and meaningful relationship with them. You will need their input and guidance around what culturally responsive practices should be normalised in your school setting and perhaps even establishing a ‘cultural narrative’ for your school, where schools can ensure design and practice will reflect the rich history of your local iwi and whenua. More importantly, schools need to address will be their tamariki, whānau and staff can support the iwi. A reciprocal relationship built on respect and ongoing support for each other will reap rewards for all and ensure the vision for Ka Hikitia (2013) of ‘Māori enjoying educational success as Māori’ becomes a reality in your kura.

References
Davis, N.E. (2008). How may teacher learning be promoted for educational renewal with IT? In J. Voogt & G. Knezek (eds.), I​nternational Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, (​507­520) Amsterdam: Springer

Fullan, M., & Langworthy. (2014).​​A Rich Seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. R​etrieved from http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp­content/uploads/2014/01/3897.Rich_Seam_web.pdf

Jansen, C. (2015). Road map for change: presentation at lecture #1 of EDEM630 course. University of Canterbury.

Ministry of Education. (2013). K​a Hikitia­Accelerating Success 2013­2017.​Wellington, New Zealand:Learning Media.

OECD (2012). Education Today 2013: The OECD Perspective. Retrieved from
http://abdigm.meb.gov.tr/meb_iys_dosyalar/2013_12/20023619_educationtoday2013the oecdperspective.pdf

Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why: H​ow great leaders inspire everyone to take action.​ New York: Portfolio.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840)

Wenmoth, D., (2012) EdTalks; Ubiquity, agency and connectedness. Retreived from
http://edtalks.org/video/ubiquity­agency­and­connectedness 

Leadership and Change - a reflective memo

TASK: Write a reflective memo on 3 readings related to leadership and change, and introduce the focus of your case study and the models you have chosen to apply. 

What? 

A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning - Fullan & Langworthy.

This report discusses three new forces impacting on education today and going forward into the future.  The first force is 'new pedagogies' and relates to the new learning partnerships that develop between and among students and teachers when resources and digital tools become ‘pervasive’. The second force is 'new change leadership' which 'merges top-down, bottom-up and sideways energies to generate change faster and easier than anything seen in past efforts at reform'.  The third force is 'new system economics' where the essential and powerful learning resources and tools, which accelerate the first 2 forces, become more affordable for all.  The report gives the background to why change is happening globally, what the new pedagogies are all about, how they can be viewed in modern education and what the possibilities are if the new pedagogies model is developed in schools.

This report is an excellent resource for anyone in education.  It comes from a well respected and internationally known educator (Fullan) who has numerous highly regarded books and papers published in relation to key educational concepts within future-focused learning like change management, leadership, collaboration, digital tools etc.  The report is well structured and references a huge amount of research, both from international experts as well as New Zealand experts, which I found reassuring, to know there were links to our education system.  One of the most beneficial aspects of this report was the numerous school stories, including teacher quotes, statistics & data, tables of relevant information etc. as I was able to directly link and substitute these examples with some of our own information in relation to my school context.  I believe this report is an essential resource for education leaders and all teachers to read as it is engaging, informative and very motivating.  You come away for a better sense of the immediate need for change and the possibilities the new pedagogies model could provide us with.

Leading Quality Change - Fullan

This Core-Ed EdTalk video was filmed in March 2015 and is a recording of the presentation Michael Fullan gave to Canterbury leaders. During the presentation Fullan goes into detail about what quality change processes look like and links this to the international project he is involved in which includes clusters of schools from around the globe, including New Zealand.  The clusters are a part of a global collaboration called New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, which has the objective of bringing to life the new pedagogies model as described in 'A Rich Seam', in a variety of schools all over the world "creating a coherent suite of sustainable educational solutions, designed to achieve and support the strategic outcome of students reaching education success enabled by a technologically advanced society". 

I was lucky enough to actually attend this presentation in person. One of his key points is that the glue for successful change needs to come from leadership from the middle, where our principals and school leaders are participating and driving the change collaboratively - they should be a force for change but they must be a learner as well, where they can influence the climate of the school and create a non-judgmental culture, demonstrating how we are all learners, who make mistakes but value learning and are transparent about their own learning.  Fullan also shares the three keys to maximising impact, referencing Robinson's BES (2009) work and how leaders need to be moving towards the right drivers of capacity building, systems, pedagogy and collaboration. 

He acknowledges the unique context of education renewal in Christchurch as a result of the earthquakes and how the Ministry of Education's Investing in Educational Success initiative could dramatically change the landscape of education in our city.  He acknowledges that the key component of increasing collaboration and sharing expertise across a wider community of schools is a positive step and it will create many exciting benefits for our students however there are still things that need more thought and our leaders should be helping to collaboratively shape the best pathway forward wherever possible.

Positive Change Processes - Jansen

This video of Chris Jansen, a lecturer at the University of Canterbury was recorded at the Educational Leaders Forum 2011.  Chris explores the change process, and how to make this more of a positive experience. He describes the process of Appreciative Inquiry, which maintains a positive focus.  He shares the 4 Ds of appreciative inquiry and what the focus is for each step.  The first step is Discover - where leaders pair up, record a positive story from their own experiences and then share it with their partner.  Next is Dream - where the pairs now articulate their stories to the wider group, and all the participants pull together the themes. Following that is Design - which is where the strategic planning occurs, building on from the previous steps where the themes were identified of things that worked well and the final step is Deliver - which includes sequenced action planning, operational goals being established and the vision becoming grounded in the process.  

Chris shares examples of Canterbury schools and clusters that have used the Appreciative Inquiry process successfully and have also included the wider school community as part of this process.  This allows leaders to collaboratively take ownership and more importantly, 'authorship' (Breakspear, Sheahan, Thurbon, 2008) and has enabled leaders to collaboratively work on and implement a shared vision for their cluster of schools when they could be considered, in some aspects, competitors.

This video is a very easy watch and Chris explains things clearly and succinctly.  I particularly connected to what he was saying as I have a personal connection to both Chris and his work.  Chris is one of my lecturers for another course I am taking this year, EDEM682, and I have also been following the clusters and schools he discusses in the video so was already familiar with how they had been using the Appreciative Inquiry model to collaborate at leadership level.  This links beautifully with the Fullan video above 'Leading Quality Change' as it also references the need for inquiry and collaboration at a leadership level and how this can impact on the success and sustainability of change in schools.

So What?

Digging deep into these three excellent readings/resources, amongst many more and drawing on the findings of my review of the two change models; Davis' 'Arena of Change' (2008) and the Hall and Hord's CBAM model (1987), I have decided that the focus of my academic case study for assignment 3 of EDEM630 will be "What have been the benefits and challenges of implementing BYOD across Cobham Intermediate?  

As part of this case study, I will look closely at what the role of leadership has been throughout the pilot and whole school implementation phases and how this has impacted on what challenges and benefits have arisen for both staff and students at Cobham Intermediate.

I believe I will find strong links between the successes we have experienced and Fullan's findings in terms of what quality change processes look like, for example one huge success we have experienced has been the shift to using Google Apps for Education and Hapara Teacher Dashboard, an effective online tool to manage and monitor Google Apps for Education student activity.  One of the reasons this has been so successful is that it has direct links to many of the key drivers for successful change like enabling improved systems, increased blended (online and face to face) collaboration between staff and students, building capacity in terms of all staff being able to access and manage online student work and finally and most excitingly, this has been a learning experience for our teachers and leaders.  They were, and are still, all in the learners seat with this move and have been very transparent about how new this is for them, what challenges they are facing, what professional development they need and how they can tap into the strengths and expertise that their students may have to learn from them.  The Māori concept of Ako is common place throughout all of our BYOD journey.  Ako means both to teach and to learn and it recognises and values the knowledge that both teachers and learners bring to learning experiences.  This has been extremely prevalent in the area of learning with digital devices and it is exciting to see some of our teachers let go of their need to be in the dominant teacher role and embrace the learner role, while our kids lead the way forward!

Now What?

Being a part of the leadership team at Cobham, I want to look closely at how leadership has influenced the outcomes of our BYOD journey - what worked or did not work, how could things have been improved if different decisions had been made at leadership level and how has leadership decision making influenced other ecologies (Davis, 2008) within our context.

I would also like to examine what concerns were identified by staff in the early stages of moving to BYOD, if or how these were addressed and what their concerns are now, aligned to CBAM (1987), as we move towards the end of our first year as a BYOD school.

As part of my learning tasks and to assist with my case study research for assignment three, I would like to interview my principal with 3-5 carefully selected questions related to the BYOD journey at Cobham so I can apply the learnings from the interview to my findings for my case study.  This is particularly important as I only begun my job at Cobham in January this year and as with any major change to practice, the move to BYOD has been several years in the making, with several more to come I imagine.  The more we learn and discover about what benefits our students and staff are experiencing versus what challenges are being faced, the more leadership want to improve the current systems and processes in our BYOD strategy to ensure we are providing the very best BYOD experience our school community deserves.

I believe it would be valuable as part of my case study to draw parallels, where possible, between the successful elements of our BYOD journey and the links to the three forces with 'A Rich Seam' (2014).  I believe the three forces - 'new pedagogies', 'new change leadership' and 'new system economics' are intertwined with the rationale for BYOD and if we get BYOD right, it will be a great example of the new pedagogies in action.

REFERENCES:

Breakspear, S., Sheahan, P., Thurbon, D. (2008). Talent Magnets. Retrieved from http://www.simonbreakspear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Talent-Magnets.pdf 

Fullan, Michael. (2015). Leading quality change. EdTalk in Canterbury at CORE, April 2015.

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning, London: Pearson.

Hall, G. E., & Hord, S. M. (1987). Change in schools: Facilitating the process. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Jansen, Chris. (2011). Positive change processes. Educational Leaders Forum 2011, Christchurch.

Robinson, V., Hōhepa, M., & Lloyd, C. (2009). School leadership and student outcomes:  

Identifying what works and why. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Māori enjoying educational success as Māori

Ka Hikitia! Ka Hikitia!  The goal of Ka Hikitia to have Māori enjoying educational success as Māori is an admirable one. But one that does not happen overnight and not without a lot of time, effort and work.

When I think of what Māori enjoying educational success as Māori means to me, I think of the needs of Māori learners being met on every level.  Academically they are achieving to the best of their ability, socially they are connected and confident, their mana and wairua are strong and their potential is recognised and celebrated.  Their language, culture and identity is something to be proud of and the school celebrates and promotes this.  It should be cool to be Māori and our Māori kids know it, feel it and own it - our teaching and learning programmes are tailored to their strengths and interests and support is in place when and where needed.  Māori preferred learning styles are identified and teachers' practice strategies that engage Māori best.  What do you think it means?  Have you ever asked your staff and unpacked what it means to them, what is happening in your school currently and what you may need to improve on?  Have you ever asked whānau and iwi what this actually means to them?

Being a fully released Deputy Principal, I have several key responsibilities as part of my role.  Māori achievement is one I am passionate about.  When I interviewed for this position I had read the schools great ERO report and had noticed that one of their recommended steps for improvement was in this area, which appealed to me as I felt I could get my teeth stuck into that.  But where do you start?  This blog post is about documenting some of the things I have been able to get underway in what has and will be an amazing journey for our kura.

The school had identified meeting the needs of Māori as one of our key priorities this year, so we have dedicated the whole of Term 2 to this kaupapa.  One of the first places I wanted to start is with our key stakeholders and most importantly, our whānau and iwi. There had not been a whānau consultation hui at our school for several years.  This is where I wanted to start and being an intermediate, you cant afford to muck around, as we lose 50% of our student population every year.  So a whānau hui was planned to ask our whānau the following key questions and get their feedback, which was amazing.  We had a great turn out and here are some of my tips for ensuring a successful hui:

1. Hold it in a neutral space, not a classroom 
2. Provide a fantastic kai for your manuhiri, this shows them that you are good hosts who value manaakitanga and remember the mana of the school is at stake
3. Follow Māori customs if possible. We opened with karakia & waiata from our kaumatua, our principal then spoke in Māori and English and then we did mihimihi - all parents and kids together.  After this we had a shared kai as a whole whānau
4. After kai, the kids left and were supervised by a teacher while we held group discussions with the parents. Provide supervision for kids so parents can come & don't have to worry about a babysitter
5. Most importantly, LISTEN and ensure you follow up afterwards.  Often relationships break down with whānau because they only hear from you regarding negative things and then after a hui they have shared all their hopes and aspirations but don't hear back from the school again about whether any of these are being addressed

All of the parents and teachers who attended our hui had a fantastic time and were really enthused about what we could be doing for our tamariki.  We have now developed a whānau advisory group with Māori parents and tamariki.  They will meet with me once a term to firstly design an action plan, and then implement it, a step by step plan of how we will bring their aspirations to life.

Also during this term, my principal and I met with a representative from the education branch of Ngāi Tūāhuriri.  Ngāi Tūāhuriri, of Ngāi Tahu descent, are our closest hapū, who have mana whenua of this takiwa.  Our school is very keen to build a reciprocal and close relationship to our local hapū and so meeting with them was our first step.  We are sending most of our staff to a professional development day in the school holidays at their marae Maahunui II, in Tuahiwi, to learn about Ngāi Tahu history and Ngāi Tūāhuriri tikanga and protocols. It is important to us that we uphold the tikanga of our hapū and that our Māori learners are connected to the history, people and land where their school and home is located first and foremost, whether they are of Ngāi Tahu descent or from other iwi.  We intend to progress and develop our ongoing relationship with Ngāi Tūāhuriri by implementing some of the following ideas if possible:

1. Termly newsletters about 'Māori enjoying educational success as Māori' will be shared with all whānau, wider school community and Ngāi Tūāhuriri
2. Staff attending all PD offered by Ngāi Tūāhuriri and internal staff PD around Te Kete o Aoraki
3. Sharing of important school events and updates with Ngāi Tūāhuriri and also keeping informed of important events and updates from the hapū so we can support or attend any events that might be appropriate for our school to participate in
4. Encouraging our whānau to enrol our tamariki in events Ngāi Tūāhuriri are providing e.g. Kia Kūrapa, Taiaha Wananga
5. Sharing learning and achievements with Ngāi Tūāhuriri, especially those that are related to our Ngāi Tahu learners, Māōri students and any of cultural significance 

So with whānau and iwi relationships being developed, it was important to hear from staff and students at school.  This term, all staff PD has been planned around meeting the needs of our priority learners, in particularly Māori and as part of how we can best meet their needs, culturally responsive practice is also a main focus.  We began the term looking at what does the MoE mean by priority learners, who are our priority learners at school and what do we know about them.  We developed a google spreadsheet with all information and data collected about all of our priority learners right across the school.  This information includes national standards and OTJs but more importantly it includes information about home life, strengths, interests, iwi links, languages, support agencies, behaviour etc etc.  It is a holistic view of each child, shared with every member of the staff so at any time, all of us can read and add to the bigger picture of who this child really is.  This information is also used to support teacher inquiries into how we are meeting the needs of these learners.  The following week we were extremely fortunate to have Dr's Angus and Sonja MacFarlane present to our staff about cultural responsive practice and what this could look like in a school working with Māori learners and whānau.  This workshop was opened up to all schools and staff from our learning community cluster as it is such an important kaupapa and it was such an honour to have them work with us that it made sense to offer this opportunity to as many kaiako as possible!

Next I collected student voice to share back to our staff.  I wanted to hear from our Māori kids what it is really like being Māori at our school.  Some of their responses were insightful, informative and at times brutally honest.  I played the recordings back to our staff so we could hear what our kids thought and reflect on what things were working vs what things were not working.  We also broke into groups to work through a 'cultural audit' of things that we are dong well and gaps we think need addressing.  The senior leadership team will use all of this feedback, from staff, whānau and stduents to inform our action plan for what our next steps are.  We also have Dee Reid, a professional development facilitator coming to take a staff workshop on Ka Hikitia: Accelerating Success and Tātaiako, in preparation for staff looking at how they can utilise the cultural competencies as part of their own goal setting and our appraisal process.  

And this is just the beginning!  The kaupapa doesn't end after Term 2.  We made this the sole focus for this term but just so we could get going and start things off right, with the time and space to really assess where we are at and what we need to do.  We have started daily karakia in all classes and model this as staff by also saying karakia together for staff hui and in assembly.  I hope that soon when you visit our school, we will have developed our own protocols around how we welcome manuhiri, in line with Ngāi Tūāhuriri tikanga for mihi whakatau.  All staff will be learning their mihi and karakia and waiata because we know that unless teacher proficency and confidence is developed, te reo me ōna tikanga Māori in the class will suffer.  The whānau advisory group and myself will ensure our action plan is in place and being implemented so we can all develop our practice to better meet the needs of our Māori learners - it will be a journey for us all. And I can't wait!

Mā whero mā pango ka oti ai te mahi! 

“They said the classroom was a BYOD”

I hope all you Kiwi's out there were singing along when you read the title of this post... it is in homage to the great Billy T James’ skit/waiata “They said the party was a BYOG” to the tune (of course) of YMCA.  Every time I say BYOD I can’t help but think of that skit.  And boy have I been thinking and saying it a lot lately!

Next term, Cobham Intermediate is going BYOD (bring your own device) school-wide.  We trialled this in several classes last year and many students have already been bringing their devices to school this term but we officially become a BYOD school in Term 2. Yes, 640 odd Intermediate aged students have the right to bring their own digital device to school and use it freely (within reason) to support their learning - what are you thinking right now...chaos, asking for trouble or perhaps feeling jealous that you were schooled a generation too early? I have no doubt many of you will be thinking along the same lines as me, if we are to prepare our kids for their future and equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need for the workforce, then it is inevitable that technology and mobile devices will be part of that very future.

Cobham has done their homework and staff, students and community have had input into the decision as to why moving towards 1:1 mobile devices in the classroom is a beneficial and we believe necessary change to make.  There is plenty of fantastic research, support and advice online and I have learned so much from the Enabling e-Learning site, CORE Educations EdTalk videos and the VLN (virtual learning network) community discussions on BYOD.  Also you should all read this recent blog post by Warren Hall discussing which devices students might find best to support their learning - "Device choice in schools driven by the 'write' things".

A clear and consistent message was how the shift to BYOD needs to be strongly aligned with your schools strategic plan, student achievement goals and school vision.  It cannot be a stand alone initiative introduced solely to ‘Keep up with the Jones’, but rather a well planned and managed move to integrate wider and more effective use of different digital technologies to support and enhance learning, with the ultimate goal of improving student engagement and achievement.  

Creating a BYOD User agreement was done before my arrival but I can only imagine how much time went into creating something so detailed and explicit. All students and parents must sign this to be able to use the various devices at school. I understand the perceived risk schools feel they put themselves at when opening the doors to (possibly) hundreds of different devices being used at school.  This just reinforced the need to put the teaching of appropriate use and digital citizenship at the forefront for our learners, our staff and our whānau.  Cobham has kept our community informed at each stage of our thinking and prototyping and in support of our commitment to digital citizenship, cybersafety and professional development around the appropriate uses of internet capable devices, we have invited all of our parent community to a parents evening in week 1 of T2. We will have 2 guest speakers to discuss ‘Digital Citizenship’ and ‘Keeping our kids safe online’. Firstly, Janelle Riki from CORE Education (South Island Team Leader for Learning with Digital Technologies) will share her expertise and experiences about what digital citizenship is, what kids are doing online, cyberbullying-what it is, where it happens, prevention and what we can do if it occurs, safety tips-how to keep our kids safe online, parental controls, restrictions and how parents can be involved in kids online world e.g. set rules, boundaries, learn the language, having your own online presence. Our second guest speaker will be Senior Constable Richard Brunton, sharing his experiences as a police office and a parent of a Cobham student as to the importance of keeping our kids safe online. Our parents, BoT and wider community are integral to the success of our school going BYOD because our school believes that a positive home-school partnership will benefit all of our learners and that we need to be on the same page as to how to best support our students to appropriately use these devices for learning-at home and at school.

There seems to be a lot of debate and dare I say it, dramatisation, in the media (see here and here for starters) around schools going BYOD but I personally believe we are doing our kids a disservice if we don’t provide an environment where they can choose the right device or tool for each different learning activity.  And yes, sometimes that might just be a pen and paper and sometimes it will be an iPad, a laptop, a camera or a smartphone.  Whatever the tool is, as long as we have kids who are making appropriate choices about how to capture, create, publish and share their learning safely and proudly, then I am all for it!  

But it's not all hearts, flowers and rainbows... there has been a lot of work involved! Three of the biggest issues that we have faced in preparation for BYOD has been around infrastructure, professional development and equity.  But those huge issues are a post all in themselves so I'll tackle them next time...stay tuned!