School 2.0 in South Africa

When I look at what teachers get up to in our online Maths Literacy community of practice (www.mathsliteracy.co.za), I find that they mostly download tests and exams. This is quite understandable as we as educators are pushed for time and are always stressed and forced to assess our learners’ progress. In the old days we used to “cut and paste” from old exam papers, study guides and exam booklets by photo copying and typing in the missing bits (if we had access to a computer)and physically gluing diagrammes or questions to pages . When we painstakingly re-typed test questions, there were always the few rogue gremlins that sneaked in and if we were lucky we could exterminate them before the learners actually wrote the test. But, sadly, sometimes we only picked up the mistakes when we did the memorandums after the fact. I know (I know) we should have done it before they wrote, but, alas time, time, time and dreadful deadlines on top of extra help sessions and extra murals in the afternoons and over weekends, did not allow us with must time to spare.
We shared tests and resources at district meetings and other subject functions and if we were sociable we made the effort to get to know the “sharer bees” and regularly visit them with spare stiffy disks (remember those and no, floppies were before my time) to capture some of their hard work to use with our learners. Mostly, however, we worked in isolation, tirelessly creating our own material which we kept in endless files for which we did not have space in our classrooms. Our learners could, if they had any brains at all, collect the tests and exams from previous years, work through the various study guides and question booklets and pretty much predict what to expect while collecting their A’s as they passed Go.
Then the internet kicked in with all the amazing promises of easy sharing and collaboration. Even though e-mail meant that we could actually send resources around far more effortlessly, it still did not happen. We still did not have time to remember to actually send that e-mail with our latest test, and even if we remembered, to keep track of who we have to send it to, were also a hassle. There was also the problem of connectivity. The privileged few had it. The rest ran around with their flash drives (no more stiffy’s to be seen, thankfully) spreading viruses and all kinds of other hazards along with the sharing of tests and exams.
Then social media came along as well as a more constant stream of connectivity (still for the privileged few but getting better) and provided a means to quickly share and download material with the click of a button. Within our Maths literacy community we have managed to collect quite a substantial amount of resources. More and more teachers are starting to share their work in a format that can be edited without the need to re-type and re-invent the wheel. A big hurray to those sharer bees that valiantly put their work out to scrutiny without getting much in return!!!
One of the biggest requests and point of discussion in our teacher community is the issue of thinking levels. How do we know if our questions are pitched at the right level? Especially in mathematical literacy, which is a relatively new subject, this comes up time and again. What we dreamed for was an assessment tool where we can submit individual assessment questions, of high quality, according to learning outcomes and assessment standards as well as an indication of thinking levels with suitable contexts in place. And it would be extra nice if we could pick and choose questions and it could automatically generate the test for us. Sounds like just a dream? Not anymore.
When I related this dream to Mark Horner of the Shuttleworth Foundation, he listened, smiled, told me he could not promise me anything, and went off and created the tool. Tomorrow morning we will launch the Fullmarks (www.fullmarks.org.za) assessment tool which will endeavour to go a long way to making this dream a reality. Mark mobilised great teachers to submit their questions across the whole curriculum and all the phases and even if it still in fledgling mode, it will grow up to be a swan yet.
If we want this Assessment bank tool to become something that we all can be proud of and use, we need to get stuck in, not only in using the tool, but also in submitting good quality assessment items that can be modified and expanded on. I for one will try to galvanise the teachers in our maths literacy community to take some of the great resources from our database and feed it into the Full marks system. Mark and his team at the Shuttleworth Foundation have created a great vehicle for us, and now we need to make it fly!!
Here is a quick overview of how the Fullmarks system work. Please give them some feedback (you can leave comments below. Most of all- the proof is in the pudding- use it, share it and modify it- it was created for you!!! You can now FINALLY throw away your glue…..
Now I just want a tool to automatically, at a click of a button, will make our learners think beyond assessment…..Any ideas Mark and Neels???????

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Social media (web 2.0 tools) presents lots of learning and teaching opportunities for the maths/maths literacy teacher. In this workshop presentation for my workshop at the Amesa 2009 congress, on how to use web 2.0 tools in the maths/ mathsliteracy classroom, I explore some of the uses for the classroom. It has been designed as a learning  journey with examples and tutorials for those who want to incorporate and learn how other maths teachers are using social media in their classes and for professional development.

The presentation with animation and links can be downloaded from
http://www.box.net/shared/j4kmpdsgip

The AMESA 2009 congress is upon us once again! It is happening from the 29th June to the 3rd July and the theme is: Mathematical knowledge for teaching. It will be held at  University of the Free State, Bloemfontein and you can find more information at the AMESA webpage (http://www.amesa.org.za/AMESA2009/) This year I will be doing a web 2.0 whirlwind workshop to entice mathematics teachers to use social media tools in their classroom. Here is my workshop abstract, I will load all my workshop links onto a list in Diigo which can be accesses from here: http://tr.im/o0j3

WEB 2.0 TOOLS IN THE CLASSROOM

This workshop will show teachers how to use “FREE and FRIENDLY web 2.0 tools” to engage a new generation of 21st century digital native learners in a more interactive and collaborative way. We will learn how social networking, bookmarking, RSS, podcasts, videos, wikis, blogs and twittering can be used in the classroom to create vibrant and exciting lessons and help us to stay up to date with learning practices and professional development for the 21st century. We will brainstorm some ideas on how to use every tool practically in the classroom, share resources and have discussions on the fly!

MOTIVATION FOR RUNNING WORKSHOP

Our learners grow up in a digitally enabled environment and will be required to use computers and digital media responsibly when they leave our care. We therefore need to learn how to use these tools ourselves in order to support our classroom activities and engage our learners in interactive and meaningful ways. Social media tools encourage

• Group-centred learning
• Project-based learning
• Problem solving
• Inquiry learning
• Collaborative learning
• Experiential learning

These tools can also assist us to stay on top of our subject through learning networks and professional development. We can use it to teach smarter not harder!

DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT OF WORKSHOP:

During the workshop we will register for some of the tools and brainstorm ideas around how to use it practically in the classroom :

• Discuss what web 2.0 tools are and why it is important for us to use it in our classrooms (Tool: Social network (www.mathsliteracy.co.za , www.youtube.com, www.voicethread.com, www.skype.com , www.slideshare.net ).
• Register for a twitter account (Tool: www.twitter.com) and use it to give feedback and ask questions during the workshop. Follow fellow teachers!
• Discuss a given maths/mathsliteracy topic by creating a blog post (Tool a blog: http://mathsliteracy.wordpress.com) and using it to comment and keep track of twitter questions.
• Create a collaborative mindmap (Mindmapping tool: www.bubbl.us ) about a classroom topic and embed some of the mindmaps in the blog.
• Demonstrate what a wiki and RSS are and how to use it. Teachers can then add and change pages. (Tools: www.wetpaint.com, Google reader: http://google.com/reader )
• Subscribe to and use a social bookmarking system to track and store collaborative resources (Tool: www.diigo.com) (20 minutes)

The workshop presentation can be downloaded from here: http://www.box.net/shared/j4kmpdsgip

Comments on the Amesa conference can be found here:
http://mathsliteracy.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/amesa-2009/

Paul de Wet from Michael House was sponsored by Casio to come and do a workshop with the maths/literacy teachers on how to create stunning assessment tasks using Word 2003, Autograph, Geometers Sketchpad, Mathtype and the stunning Casio emulator.

As quite a few of the mathematical literacy teachers where in Durban for the Maths lit IEB conference I did a tweet summary of his presentation and propably killed my entire twitter network with all my tweets which must have been very irritating for my non-maths twitter followers. Next time I promise not to be so cruel and have learnt from Frznguru that I could use Chatzy to create a backchannel chatroom to do this kind of thing. The good thing about using Twitter is that those “listening in” helped me to get other information and the maths teachers said that they did learn a few new tricks. So Paul, your passion was extended on a global scale (give or take the few people that I drove crazy).

The feed for the session can be found here using the hashtag #casiowshop. Tweets are stored in  reverse chronological order – so read them from old (at bottom) to new.

Here is what we got up to in the afternoon session:

Find more photos like this on Maths Literacy Teacher’s Network

As a parent I have been horrified at the level of addiction my children (3 of them) embraced virtual world gaming with. I have had numerous heated arguments about “what these games are doing to their brains”, not to mention the fact that it was turning them into anti-social maniacs. As a teacher I wondered about how we can channel such “addictions” towards learning. Then, after they turned out to be relatively well balanced, happy, socially adapted, achieving young adults, I was forced to re-evaluate virtual gaming as “not such a totally bad thing”. (Okay sure, my incredibly good parenting might also have played a role..;-) )

I tried to make the effort to spend time with them finding out what all of the hype, that is keeping them up weekends, is all about. Apart from the absolutely horrendous use of language, the endless violence, and people screaming and shouting at one another, there existed an incredibly fair team structure where everybody had an important role to play in authentic (though bizarre) virtual circumstances, for which they were valued and got rewarded. They have to think on their feet and work together or get killed (which is maybe one of the reasons girls are not such avid gamers as boys- we do not like being killed).

This made me think that, if we define education as preparing learners for real life, then surely virtual gaming has all the ingredients of a great educational tool ? Sitting there with the kids I definitely felt that they were using higher order thinking skills that left me feeling both intellectually and technologically impaired! I also realised that they were engaging in very involved social relationships based on not only friendships but skills and expertise that make my face to face bring-and-braai relationships look rather boring!

I was recently pointed in the direction of a blog article which really created a WOW moment for me. It was about how teenagers have used mathematical modelling to figure out how to defeat “the bosses” in their virtual online game. A definite must-read: “Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today….”

So maybe we need to rethink the role collaborative video games can play, before we go all out to protect our children from becoming “screen kids”. Or maybe we need to become even more pro-active and use video gaming as an essential tool to support our teaching efforts in our classrooms?

One such a virtual world environment totally dedicated to educational goals within the confines of a safe space is Quest Atlantis:

“Quest Atlantis is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-15, in educational tasks. QA combines strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. It allows users to travel to virtual places to perform educational activities (known as Quests), talk with other users and mentors, and build virtual personae. Over the last four years, more than 15,000 children on five continents have participated in the project. Students conduct rich inquiry-based explorations through which they learn particular standards-based content, and at the same time develop pro-social attitudes regarding significant environmental and social issues. Rather than just placing work and play side-by-side, QA strives to make learning fun and to show kids how they can make a difference. We have demonstrated learning gains in science, language arts, and social studies, and students have completed literally thousands of Quests, some of which were assigned by teachers and many of which were chosen by students to complete in their free time. Teachers have also reported increased levels of student engagement and interest in pursuing curricular issues outside of school”

You can learn more about the project at http://QuestAtlantis.Org).

They are currently looking for brave teachers, within the Southern African context, to emerge themselves and their learners in the virtual world learning explorations. So get more information. Go to our wiki for SA schools at http://saschools.wetpaint.com/page/Virtual+worlds+and+education  

The new thumbtribe generation has embraced an innovative way to slay their age old enemy- maths, using their cellphones and the much debated and severely fouled, Mxit!

Mxit has been getting a lot of bad press ever since it became the craze of the teen (and pre-teen) generation with parents and teachers alike, calling for Mxit to be regulated. In the midst of “slut-lists‘ and paedophile phobic verbal attacks on the popular cellular chat-client, Dr Maths is emerging as a ray of hope!

There is no doubt that Mxit is incredibly popular. This free service has grown by word of mouth to over 2000 learners country wide! So Laurie’s Butgereit of the Meraka Institute’s brainwave to use our learner’s favourite tool for teaching and learning, was indeed not only a stroke of genius, but an incredibly brave move in the face of adversity. I, for one, was initially sceptical about whether the learners will allow us to use their favourite tools for something like (…uhmmm) learning maths, but the popularity of this maths helpdesk speaks for itself.

To test the service and to catch up with the latest Mxit-maths “craze” I dialled in on this here lazy Sunday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to found the friendly maths tutors on hand, ever so professional, helpful and oh so knowledgeable. I have it on authority that they are well trained not to just provide answers, but to guide the learners through the meaning making process. The fact that there is also a delay between responses also makes it possible for learners to “give knowledge a try” and most of the time, they get to the answers themselves with just a little nudge from the tutors. The tutors can assist with maths and maths literacy problems and even help out with a bit of science hassles along the way as well. Truely remarkable!

So how does it all work?

First off, you need to install Mxit on your cellphone and/or computer. For more instructions on how to do this….

• Give your cellphone to a member of the thumbtribe (the closest teenager around you) and tell them to set you up (Quickest and easiest method)
• Or you can follow the instructions from the Mxit website
• Add Dr maths as one of your contacts 27799923960 thru 27799923969
• When they come online, you will hear a little sound and there will be a green dot next to their name
• Then go ahead and ask away!
• The Dr Maths team is online after school hours i.e. Mondays to Thursdays 2pm-10pm and Sundays between 11am and 8pm. They are even considering extending the service to Saturdays as well. How amazing!

They also have introduced a maths game which can be played when the team is not online when there are no tutors on. The learners can then compete in different categories, like addition, subtraction, factorials and others, to see who can get then highest score. The champion and the previous champion are notified to defend their title. Positive peer pressure at work!

So bravo to Laurie and her Dr Maths on Mxit team! Let us learn from their enthusiasm for creating authentic learning environments using the oh so dreaded Mxit on cellphones!

A few more articles regarding DR Maths on Mxit:

• Maths is cool when you MXit – South Africa – The Good News
• Using MXit to learn
• Learning and Support using MXit
• MATH ON MXIT: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE (Laurie’s Amesa Paper on her brainchild- a must read!!!)

What do we do about cellphones in a school context? Do we ban it or embrace it as an educational tool?

The tendency in our country (and pretty much world wide) is to ban the use of cellphones in schools. They complain about the disruptive ringing of phones in their classes, learners using their phones to share test answers as well as learners distributing compromising photos and videos of fellow learners (and even teachers) . We know that we are dealing with a new generation of “thumb tribe” learners who can Mxit in their pockets while listening to lessons (Mmmm….)

Then there is the personal safety concern of learners being mugged outside of schools for their cellphones. Media coverage of learners being kidnapped after giving out personal information as well as more recent “slut-lists” making the round on Mxit, implores us to take the general use of cellphones (in or out of schools) more seriously.

There are definitely educational advantages to allowing cellphones in and out of the classroom. The learners have a ready calculator and encyclopedia in their hands. They can get help with their maths from Dr Maths on Mxit, Mlearner or MyMobi. How about getting the learners to video science experiments or summarise Shakespeare using Mxit? Maybe if we keep them busy with educational experiences on their cellphones, we will actaully manage to keep their attention?

Then there is also the advantage for parents to keep in touch with their children using cellphones. I am also glad to see that nmore and more schools are using SMS technologies to advise parents of school functions and their children being absent from school.  So to say that the tool is all bad, is just not giving the whole picture and we need to work towards finding a middle ground between learning and abuse of the tool.

My feeling is (as with the rest of the new technologies doing the rounds) to be pro-active. Isn’t it our job as educators to educate our learners about safe use practices? Can we do this if we ourselves are not informed?  So the first step is for us to use the tools. We need to get connected to Mxit, use it critically before we ban it outright.

So let’s get the debate going, voice our fears and more importantly start using the tools ourselves so that we can be informed, prepared and educated! We have created a wiki page for educators on this very topic, see http://saschools.wetpaint.com/page/Cellphone+use

Some articles to get the discussion going:

I am at the Amesa Conference at my first session and the topic under discussion is:

IMPACT OF DVD TECHNOLOGY ON IMPROVING THE MATHEMATICAL PERFORMANCE OF LEARNERS

The abstact is:
In an effort to enhance the mathematical performance of grade 12 learners, before enrolling at Higher Educational Institutions (HEI), various intervention initiatives were implemented by the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Programme (GMMDP) over a period of five years. During these interventions, various delivery models were utilized in order to optimize the impact of presentations to educators and to learners. In this paper we report on the DVD-driven model that was introduced during the past two years and which seemed to have been the most effective.”

Hennie Boshoff and Werner Olivier descibe how this DVD programme has made a material difference to learners wanting to enter into university. The pass rate of the learners improved dramatically (by 20%) and they were not only taught using these PowerPoints, but were also encouraged to use the DVD’s to teach their fellow learners. Cascading, however, unfortunately did not happen

The 28 topics,which can be used for grade 11 and 12 learners as well as university bridging programmes, will be made available for distribution and sale shortly.

Handy little resource for maths teachers…

| View | Upload your own

I have decided that it is time to take the maths lit teachers into the arena of having REALTIME online meetings. Of cause I went off on a tangent wanting to just throw them into the deep end with some high tech web 2 tools like WizIQ and was then horribly brought down to earth by my ever present friends….bandwidth and dialup.

When I tested my room with a dial-up….well lets say that I had to go back to the drawing board.So I have decided to KISS (keep it simple stupid) and then inserted a little  Cbox chat box into my ML NING network. It is very basic but works quite effectively. We will have to see tonight how effectively. The reason why I decided not to use SKYPE or any of the other Chat agents (IM, Google chat…) is that the last time I tried to have an online meeting, we ended up chatting across 3 different platforms with some of us being relay agents. Chaos. So at least nobody will have to install anything and can just jump in. I do think the teachers will probably be a bit confused with such a small chat window and a myriad of conversations that will probably take place. I expect that it will be a first for most of them.

In combination with the chat window, we will do the resources discussions in a forum next to the chat window (rather asynchronously) but it will be a little more organised and the teachers can then upload their resource for discussion as well. So hold thumbs for me! I will report back on how it went…..If you know any maths lit teachers in South Africa, please tell them about the meeting at:http://www.mathsliteracy.ning.com

Time: 19h00- 21h00 (or there about…..) Time goes past so fast if you talk about maths…