Connected Learning Schools
A case study of the New South Wales Australian Partners in Learning Program
2006 - 2008
prepared by dk2
for the
Microsoft Australia Partners in Learning Project
December, 2008
I feel that being part of this project has changed my outlook as a teacher and been hugely rewarding. (I am learning) To have the confidence to forge ahead and test your ideas with actions.
Collaborative planning and implementation works. It’s good to be challenged sometimes. Leading something is most rewarding even if not everything works all the time. We can all learn so much from each other. Technology is a great way to encourage Indigenous students to take some risks with their learning. (Significant events for me have been) Looking back through all the folders, discussions, reports, e-journals, wikipages, blogs, surveys, movies, podcasts, announcements that have been posted over the last couple of years and being able to track the developing confidence, connectedness and thoughtful expression that my and the other students were showing. It made me feel proud of what we have achieved together.
Michael Wilson, Drummond MPS
CONTENTS
Pedagogies integrating ICT can do more than enhance learning – they have the potential to transform learning.
Pedagogy Strategy, Learning in an Online World, MCEETYA 2006
pageIntroduction / 4
The project aims / 4
The context and project elements / 5
Connected Learning Schools is launched / 5
What schools were provided / 6
Expectations of participating school teams / 6
Project criteria / 6
Project management / 7
Academic support / 7
DET support – Strategic Initiatives Directorate / 8
Project processes and implementation / 8
ACER evaluation / 9
Project events / 9
Evaluation Forum / 10
Extending our Thinking Forum / 11
New Directions Forum / 11
Reflections Forum / 12
Gala Celebration / 12
Project plans and budgets / 12
Project plan review and acceptance / 13
School visits / 13
Reflection, Review and Improvement: Accountability / 14
New pedagogical approaches / 16
The school projects / 19
Statistical snapshot / 25
A growth in numbers / 25
Patterns of participation / 25
Qualitative data / 26
How I am feeling as a teacher / 26
What my students are learning / 27
School reflections of their journeys / 29
ACER Evaluation findings / 32
ICT appears to have helped students to connect with school / 32
Teachers have learned and developed new ICT confidence, knowledge and skills / 33
Changes in student engagement / 35
Success factors and indicators / 37
How things have changed / 38
Key enablers / 39
A focus group of cross school teams / 39
Problems and issues / 41
Conclusion – reflections on the project / 42
Bibliography / 44
Appendix 1 – Evaluation proforma / 46
Appendix 2 – Project Plan template and other planning templates / 48
Appendix 3 – Project team Monthly Report template / 64
Appendix 4 – Monthly Teacher e-Journal template / 65
Connected Learning Schools
A case study of the New South Wales Australian Partners in Learning Program
2006 - 2008
The project has been the single most important initiative I have been involved with in almost 40 years of education in redirecting both student and staff accepting the need to adapt to the emergent learning requirements of the 21st century.
There is a different and positive understanding of the need to adjust to our students needs. The project has been enthusiastically adopted by partner schools and community. The two key staff driving the project have rightly received Aust and State-wide recognition winning quality teaching awards. The school is invited to present at significant conferences relating to enhancing student engagement using ICT.
Bob Brenton, Principal, Bulahdelah Central School
Introduction
The current New South Wales Microsoft Partners in Learning (PiL) Project commenced in June 2006, involving 10 school teams and over 120 teachers.
The project was implemented as a partnership between Microsoft, the Department of Education and Training (DET) New South Wales (NSW), the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and dk2 pty ltd, a consulting group contracted by Microsoft to project manage the project for two and a half years.
The project aims
Connected Learning Schools was seen as a research and development project. The aim of the project was to “investigate how children in the middle years (5-9) can shape their own learning, by changing the emphasis from what they learn to how they learn and seeks to bridge the disconnect between ICTs used at home and in school.”
The first phase in the project involved benchmarking research by ACER, aimed at gaining new insights into how middle years students use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to engage with school in comparison with how they engage with it out of school, effective strategies for using new and emerging ICTs - such as Communication and Social Software/Web 2.0 tools - teacher and student perceptions of engagement and teacher confidence, knowledge and skills levels in using ICT. The results of the evaluation were fed back to schools and helped to inform their first phase strategic plans for their school projects.
Each school team then developed their projects based on:
§ findings from ACER’s 2006 survey;
§ the NSW Quality Teaching Framework;
§ professional learning opportunities, sponsored by Microsoft, which helped them realise new approaches to teaching and learning using communication and social networking tools; and
§ their own unique context.
A second round of ACER research in September 2008 allowed a comparative study of the impact of this project.
The context and project elements
As part of its Partners in Learning (PiL) strategic planning in early 2006, Microsoft approached the NSW DET to redirect PiL in that state to focus on connecting middle years students with using the types of technologies that engage them outside of school, with new technologies and pedagogical approaches they could use within school. The NSW PiL project then took on an entirely different direction to its initial iteration as a Mathematics/Numeracy learning object project. The Connected Learning Schools project was born.
In mid 2006, the 10 DET school teams were nominated by the DET through their regional School Educational Directors (SEDs). These teams comprised 20 schools, distributed across all regions and reflecting a mix of rural and metropolitan, primary, secondary and K-12 (central) schools.
Connected Learning Schools is launched
The school teams were brought together for the launch of the Connected Learning Schools Project in June, 2006. The focus of this forum was to discuss school expectations and explore the possibilities for how the new project might look in each school context.
What schools were provided
The project provided participating school teams with:
§ Project management, mentoring and coordination from expert consultants throughout the life of the project;
§ Seed funding for ICT-focused innovation in teaching and learning (Microsoft provided up to $15,000 per year to each school project team and the DET provided up to 10 relief days for 2006/2007);
§ Access to professional learning opportunities through attendance of school teams bi-annually at project forums;
§ Access to Microsoft self-paced learning tools;
§ Access to Microsoft-sponsored professional opportunities such as attendance at international conferences and access to the Microsoft Innovative Teacher Awards;
§ Access to MS Sharepoint and newly emerging software such as Marvin.
Expectations of participating school teams
School teams were expected to:
§ Participate in the project for 2½ years (to end of 2008);
§ Participate in the ACER research/surveys that occur periodically throughout the project;
§ Develop a project vision, goals and plan;
§ Provide a consistent point of contact/project coordinator;
§ Link/partner with other schools (either within NSW or beyond);
§ Produce monthly progress reports and monthly teacher e-journals and any other required documentation;
§ Participate in the project’s online professional learning community (PLC) and other communication networks;
§ Meet due dates of the project milestones;
§ Come together periodically to share and learn.
Project criteria
The projects developed by each school team needed to:
§ Take into account the ACER evaluation data (in terms of ICTs students are using, their perceptions, teacher perceptions and practices);
§ Link in with the goals of PiL as outlined in the Project Planning document;
§ Link in with DET Quality Teaching Framework (QTF);
§ Link in with any relevant DET projects (Middle Years and Centre for Learning Innovation (CLI) etc);
§ Build upon the Board of Studies Stages 4 and 5 Syllabi;
§ Link in with the school’s other strategic plans;
§ Involve students in planning and project implementation;
§ Involve innovative use of ICT;
§ Involve the school community;
§ Take into account the level of support provided by Microsoft, DET and dk2;
§ Be achievable, relevant and realistic.
Project management
dk2 consultants, Meredith King and Nikki Deighton, were engaged by Microsoft, following DET acceptance of this new approach, to project manage NSW PiL on behalf of Microsoft. dk2 mentored the schools and facilitated staff development throughout the project.
dk2 were responsible for:
§ representing Microsoft in all aspects of the project and liaising with the National Academic Programs Manager, Felicia Brown;
§ leading the project school teams and providing targeted mentorial assistance;
§ coordinating two professional learning forums each year;
§ undertaking 1-2 school visits to each school team each year;
§ instituting accountability and project tracking mechanisms;
§ recording qualitative and quantitative data over the duration of the project; and
§ liaising with the NSW DET.
Academic support
Professor Nicola Yelland represented the Microsoft PiL National Evaluation Team in the NSW PiL Project. Professor Yelland’s role was that of a researcher and mentor to the project managers. She provided advice on appropriate constructs for collecting qualitative data, assisted in strategic planning for the project, attended project forum events and attended some visits to schools. Her advice and expertise provided the project managers with the high level insights an academic partner brings, combined with a firm grasp of what was happening in the project schools.
DET support – Strategic Initiatives Directorate
NSW PiL was linked with the Strategic Initiatives Directorate. Senior Project Officer, Eleanor Igoe, was the central point of NSW DET contact for NSW PiL.
Ms Igoe liaised with the project managers and Microsoft and ensured smooth communications across the DET and with schools. She brought her experience with the Australian Government Quality Teaching Program (AGQTP) to PiL and managed to facilitate an academic partner for Drummond MPS, involvement of some staff in Quality Teaching and Learning (QTAL) training – focused on team building and action learning processes – and links with CLI Projects such as Macrobiotica for Hunter River HS / Raymond Terrace PS.
Ms Igoe also undertook Marvin training and provided workshop sessions for the school teams at the Reflections Forum. As the projects evolved, Ms Igoe assisted with focusing on building the capacity of the teacher teams as well as student centred, student-driven teaching and learning.
Project processes and implementation
The entire project model was based on a commitment to continuous improvement and action learning processes.
The aim was for schools to be exposed to a range of possibilities and new thinking and to apply new approaches within their individual contexts, with the goal of enhancing student engagement and building capacity – in the system and of teachers and students.
The project model was a cyclical one:
ACER Evaluation
The first round of ACER Evaluation followed the project launch and involved capturing preliminary results in August and September 2006. These descriptive results were intended to assist with the design of school projects as part of the PiL project. (More detailed Evaluation information and ACER’s work can be found in p. 31 of this case study.)
Project events
5 members of each project team were funded to attend each forum throughout the life of the project. It was felt that allowing 5 staff to attend would help to support the innovation back at the school level and provide impetus to uptake.
(I am feeling) Amazement! You don’t have to know it all. Let the kids have their heads and you won’t be disappointed…ever!!
Sally Thompson, Assistant Principal, Bulahdelah CS
The Evaluation Forum
The Evaluation Forum in September 2006, facilitated by dk2, was attended by all school teams, Dr Hamish Coates (ACER), Professor Nicola Yelland (Victoria University, Microsoft PiL National Evaluation Team) and representatives of the Strategic Initiatives Directorate (DET) and Microsoft.
At this forum, schools were given the report of their school evaluations conducted by ACER and provided with strategic planning tools to begin their project planning for PiL NSW. They were exposed to the latest thinking in terms of ICT in education (throughout Australia and internationally) with a focus on the possibilities presented by using Web 2.0 social software communication, collaboration and creation tools. With the first round of ACER research presented to them, schools were asked to explore the possibilities of what they might achieve in their projects.
Each school began to develop a project that involved teachers using ICTs to engage middle year students in their education and to connect with the types of ICTs they used outside school. (See Appendix 1 for sample planning and project planning templates.) The project plans emphasised powerful new pedagogies and links with the NSW Quality Teaching Framework (QTF), making connections between school and the wider community and focussed on student-driven, student-led learning.
The school teams developed different student-centred projects suited to their particular learning contexts. Across the range of initiatives, the common focus was on the use of social software tools to communicate, collaborate, create and make meaningful connections. Generally, this was achieved through the pilot of MS Sharepoint software. The schools used the secure Sharepoint environment to communicate with students, post/publish student work, develop wikis, blogs, lead online discussions, vote, set project work and school calendars and communicate with other schools linked into the project.
It has been the most powerful professional learning.
Graeme Ross, Principal, ex-Drummond MPS
(now Woolgoolga PS)