Contemporary trend in New Zealand or internationally

"Virtual platforms allow for professors and students to interact yet be in different physical environments" (OECD, 2016, p. 100)

If a global trend can be defined as a change that has continual movement and impact, which can be statistically monitored or tracked over time, then online learning is definitely a trend that captivates my attention. 

Narrowing this focus down to the online components of flipped and blended learning with the use of mobile technology has started to impact on my own practise as a teacher and therefore contributes to the interest I have to reflect on 'online learning'.

retrieved from, Parsons (2014)

The screen shot above of the development or progression of mobile technologies in education displays a significant growth and advancement of use within the classroom that seems to exponentially expand month by month.    

retrieved from Garcia, (2015)

In terms of how this has and continues to impact my own practice, the concept of flipped and blended learning has been the focus of both the Literature Review and Reflective Portfolio assignments for the Mindlab Post Graduate course. In doing so, I've come to realise that online learning has significantly entered my classroom with the use of tools such as Spelling City, Mathletics alone, but also integrating tools such as youtube, edupuzzle, blendspace to not only deliver and consolidate but in some cases assess my students, and I found this a beneficial addition, not only for myself as a teacher but more so the ease in which students can identify, set and work toward achieving goals. As the screenshot above suggests all flipped classroom courses are blended but not all blended are flipped. I would say, due to the level of my students and differentiated group and whole class time spent unpacking and building on content we access online, the approach I dominantly use is blended.  In our findings from the research the following statement accurately summarises the nature of the teacher/learner relationship as a result of flipped and blended learning.

Greater one to one time with the teacher not only enhanced student agency but also provided greater opportunity for teachers to identify learning needs, promote in depth collaboration, communication and problem solving amongst students (Fulton, 2012 in Herried and Schiller, 2013).

Basically the influence online technology has had on students ability to access information has moved from the teacher delivering from the front with all control, to one where they are the 'guide on the side'. The power increasingly falls to the student, but this is dependant on teacher confidence and skill, as well as curriculum. Does our current curriculum and/or delivery allow for students to take on this greater role of responsibility to lead their own learning journey? I actually think it does, but that doesn't mean to say it happens. I'm often torn between allowing the full on 'student lead' investigation take place and the 'must achieve the National Standard and tick it off - default = me controlling. I've found SOLE (Self Organised Learning Environment) a useful tool to implement intermittently, providing myself with the opportunity to really look at how my students organise and conduct themselves when fully responsible for their own learning, as well as the social interactions and engagement. It's been a great tool to identify learning habits that need addressing and to notice the ways in which my students obtain information and then process it online. Being that they're younger, a lot it youtube based and often above their understanding. I've been able to teach the 'how to' find online information that works for us as a result. IT'S A JOURNEY!

However with that in mind the challenges of online learning and responsibilities of us as educators are partly highlighted. Do students know how to find information that will answer their question - at their level? What age is really ok to start - is there a too young? - I'm starting to think not. How can we further empower our students to connect online with the experts to get the information needed 'first hand'? Am I even skilled enough to effectively educate my students online and what do we as teachers need to do to ensure this happens? There are a lot of teachers who do up skill and ensure they're on the cusp of the digital skills needed, but there are a lot who are not. Alternatively are all teachers who go the distance with digital technologies, effectively teaching the core learning areas? Like anything there are going to be variances in quality whatever side of the digital fence a teacher may sit. So how, in this growing age of technology, will the education system regulate or monitor effectiveness. I've got way more questions than answers.

What I do know is that the advantages are massive and necessary for the current and future world our students are heading into. The fact that AI (artificial intelligence) is increasingly eliminating manufacturing jobs means that there will be new occupations and career paths - which will no doubt require technology skills. Already there are jobs where employers and employees can 'go into work' without leaving the house. So what happens to face to face interactions, and overall mind and body health? We need to prep our kids for this.

If we can access information so easily then how do we know students will discern what is authentic and what's not? We need to teach our 21 century learners to critically think about content and delve deeper into growing their knowledge base in areas they are learning about. Then the digital citizenship and safety aspect comes into play - children growing up as digital natives have a lot to navigate and teachers need to help them learn these skills in the same way we teach skills like healthy eating, values and keeping ourselves safe.

I guess the impact online technology has on the world in general definitely impacts us in the world of education and as teachers we need to empower ourselves and our kids to navigate this to gain all the benefits that lay ahead.

Garcia, K. (2015). Student Engagement Strategies in STEM. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/kimarnold28/student-engagement-

strategies-in-stem-classes-20140202

Herreid, C. F., & Schiller, N. A. (2013). Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), 63. 

https://doi.org/doi.org.proxy2.lib.umanitoba.ca/10.1

Karataş, S., et al. (2016). A Trend Analysis of Mobile Learning. In D. Parsons (Ed.) Mobile and Blended Learning Innovations for Improved Learning Outcomes(pp. 248-276). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

OECD, (2016). Trends shaping Education 2016, OECD publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-3n

Parsons, D. (2014). A Mobile Learning Overview by Timeline and Mind Map. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 6(4), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.2014100101

Wilson, B. (2012). Trends and issues facing distance education. In L. Visser, Y. Visser M., R. Amirault & M. Simonson (2nd Ed.) Trends and Issues in Distance Education. International Perspectives (pp.39-54). North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Current Issues in my Professional Context

"Deciles are a measure of the socio-economic position of a school's student community relative to other schools throughout the country" (Ministry of Education, 2017, para. 2). 

The current system used by the Ministry of Education is the decile rating system which categorises schools according to the percentage of students from low socio-economic communities. It is stated however that a decile rating does not necessarily indicate the overall socio-economic mix of the the school, nor reflect the quality of education the school provides, (Ministry of Education, 2017). 

So while our school is rated within the decile 2 category, the socio-economic mix span is broader and does not necessarily categorise the nature of our students and families. Gargiulo, (2014), states that there are three factors a child's socio-economic status may influence their schooling, they are; 

• Student preparation for school, in the practical sense, such as clothing, food, health
• Home/School relationship, where schools are the authority, resulting in a passive relationship.
• Hidden Curriculum, Where the perspective and background of the teacher may either subconsciously or consciously perceive and therefore treat lower socio-economic students as less able and disadvantaged, often resulting in the inability to understand or relate to the students and/or families.

It would be ignorant of me to say these elements don't exist within our school to some extent and that socio-economic status influences our students in these areas. However as school we are on a journey to address these areas and break down the stereotypes and walls that can and have in the past easily encompassed our school. The strategies below are based at a Secondary School level, but programmes in place we have in commone are the provision of lunches and breakfasts, student achievement conferences and positive behaviour for learning. Our literacy programmes no doubt differ but are differentiated and in some cases specialised for learning needs, the youth and mentoring programmes in our school feature as social skills development courses.

retrieved from Gargiulo, (2014)

Using the Tataiako curriculum tool has been one way I have seen management break the 'hidden curriculum' barriers amongst staff. Our staff in general are pretty good and understanding where our students are 'coming from' when issues arise and approaching each student with the 'knowing' of how they will respond best in different situations. However this document has seen the residual perceptions addressed and with continual growth and development around this, the staff continue to grow as learners themselves, which is a HIGHLY encouraged factor within our staff culture.

retrieved from Stoll, (2000)

The above 'norms' or 'strategies' taken from the readings outline how some schools have or are expected to adjust or establish their climate in order to address disadvantages established by poor climate or culture and/or socio-economic influence - not that these are linked in anyway as poor climate and culture can and does exist in any school, and the negative flow on can be harmful to teachers, students and staff. 

The journey our school has been on has seen a drastic change in both culture and climate. In the last 5 years our school, due to various factors has seen not only seen 5 (some interim) Principals take on this role but also 4 Deputy Principals. With our current management  team having been established for approximately 2 out of the 5 years. As you can imagine the climate in the school when our current Principal and then Deputy arrived was less than stable, secure or functioning to it's full capacity. Upon the appointment and establishment of the Principal/DP team, the immediate shift in climate was noticed and it was positive. I guess you could summarise this as grateful. Grateful for stability, structure and positive, concise and wise direction.

There are always elements of resistance and fixed mindset when change starts to take it's full affect, however the expectations, guidance and ability to find common ground to move forward alongside staff, allowing our journey to operate as a structured yet 'living document/open process' has established a positive, collaborative and quite humorous (we had this to begin with however) climate between staff. Reflecting on the four teaching cultures of Individualism, Collaboration, Contrived collegiality and Balkinisation, mentioned in Stoll (2000), I personally think there are not only opportunities but necessity for each of the aforementioned teaching cultures to exist on some level. The dominant in our school would be collaboration, particularly in context to our current Mindlab postgrad paper that we are all completing as part of school wide professional development. With the establishment of new management after our turbulent time of constant transitions and waning climate, the list of 10 norms featured in Stoll's (2000) article started to establish themselves with greater dominance and impact. I would say all 10 started to disappear rapidly during the transition time, so that 'grateful' feeling previously mentioned was no doubt the result of the 10 norms being established back into the school. It started at staff and Board level and our Principal and DP worked hard to create and develop these norms amongst us all. The students were next and the current area for development is the focus on families and community. Our aim is to continue to break any barriers down to partner with families in the hope and expectation that growth and development of our children is at the core and requires active family/community participation. We have a core element of our community and families that are vital to this and contribute wonderfully. Those on the fringe are encouraged with relationships between class teachers and parents encouraged via regular communication about their child and events that continue to welcome our families through the gate. The expectations below I think are not only advocated for students but also their families. This is a journey and with anything in an organisation isn't always attended to consistently...yet.

retrieved from Gargiulo, (2014)

Our students have, and no doubt always will respond best to a relational approach. 

Although seen here as featured in Gargiulo, (2014), as a mental model for poverty, the concept of relationship when in leadership or in care of others across any structure in society (school, church, management etc), is vital for success. The elements within these models would be beneficial if shared across the  socio-economic divide and as as a school we strive to attend and broaden the scope for our students toward achievement particularly and connections.  This not only works in helping the students grow within themselves but also teachers and families. The basis for our current climate and core to the culture of our school has adjusted with the use of Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L), where are foundational values, in-consultation with students, teachers, parents and community are; Respect, Resilience, Identity and Integrity. At the cusp of Tier 2 the impact and changes seen have been considerable and are definitely not limited to a 'fly by night' phase within but now embedded within every aspect and element of our school. I believe this is something that will continue to grow and adapt as our journey continues.

Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal Sabbatical Report, (September).

Ministry of Education. (2017). School deciles About deciles What deciles measure Which funding deciles determine, 4–6.

Stoll, L. (2000). School culture. Professional Development, (3), 9–14. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242721155_School_culture

My Practice within the Community

Wenger & Treyner-Wenger (2015), recognise that organisations are recognising the importance of Communities of Practice (CoP) as key to improving performance by learning to 'do things better' through regular interaction.

Pollard & Crockett (2014)

Contemplating the CoP concept, I have realised that this year has seen my involvement in a number Communities of Practice, that in someways overlap or intertwine, feeding from or contributing to one another. Considering Wenger & Treyner's characterisation of a CoP, where the shared domain of interest implies a commitment and shared competence, I have come to realise the main CoP I am part of is the Mayfair School Staff, which consists of full-time teachers with sub-groups of the Junior Team I lead and the Senior Management Team I am a part of.  An 'off shoot' of this is the PLG I attend, that consists of Deputy and other Assistant Principals from schools within our area.  The binding commonality and major focus has essentially been our staff Mindlab group, which involves all teaching staff and our Deputy Principal. Being that we are a PB4L school, emerging into the Tier Two phase of the initiative, this shared investment has become a vehicle for many assignment and course task foci. Therefore the Community of Practise I will reflect upon with be Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L).

So the common interest for our shared domain is the desire to improve and develop the citizenship of  students. Teaching and growing our students in their school journey not only to enhance behaviour but also relationships and the school environment. The core members of the PB4L team are the full time teaching staff, with a lead team consisting of our Deputy Principal - Leader, Senior Teacher - Coach with our Principal in the role of support. The full time teaching staff are the core group who are directed in the process, but also actively contribute to planning, ideas, reflection and bring their own expertise in behaviour management, student and home relationship and other relative areas pertaining to PB4L. Support staff are also encouraged to contribute and participate, but do so to a lesser extent.
The peripheral members of this CoP could therefore be considered as students and families, as a key factor within the initiative is to consult with the wider community and students themselves, in a sense enhancing the 'collective competence' (Treyner & Wegner 2015). 

Pollard & Crockett  (2014)

I see collaboration and analysis as a main activity in which our CoP engage. We discuss regularly through small team meetings, whole staff meetings, lunchtime or anecdotal conversation identifying patterns of behaviour or incidents that we see occurring, alongside settings in which these take place. We consult regularly with the broader community and some staff attend the PB4L conference, feeding back to the core group their findings, which are reviewed and provide further discussion points for reflection.

Pollard & Crockett (2014)

       Through collaboration a natural yet structured shared repertoire has been produced by our core team guided by our leadership team. As a result our 4 values of Respect, Identity Resilience and Integrity have been established for our students and our school. These values have been promoted and flow into our broader community. This is the foundation for the culture of our school. A behaviour matrix that aligns with these values has been created by the team which has provided the foundation for us as a team to create lesson plans that explicitly teach to any identified or relevant needs of our students within particular intervals. Regular review of the matrix and data from behaviour is carried out.

Mayfair School - PB4L CoP (2017)

Pollard & Crockett (2014)

       The fact that CoP are more of an 'open space' concept than a group of people using theconcept, membership has fluctuated, and therefore  roles within said CoP have been quite flexible according the context or direction we are heading for each task or assignment and/or changes in staff. However within the environment of our School-wide initiative my initial role was that of an active member, this continues to be my main function, however as the school merges into the Tier 2 phase I have become part of the leadership team also. I contribute by sharing ideas, probing reflective questioning, providing support and expertise in various areas when and where required, including assisting with creation of lesson plans and other supporting materials. I as with the general CoP community have a natural connectedness. Ownership of the values and the initiative is high because the collaboration and consultation process within the CoP is also prominent. An appreciation or affinity toward the domain of our CoP - PB4L, I would say is felt strongly by the core group and in general, the students and families of the school, the outcomes of this programme and the resources established by the CoP have not only benefited the community but also improved the environment of the school significantly. 

Wenger, E., & Trayner-Wenger, B. (2015). Communities of practice: a brief introduction. April 2015, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2277/0521663636

Pollard, A., & Crockett, T. (2014). Creating Strong and Passionate Communities of Practice. Retrieved 

September 11, 2017, from https://www.slideshare.net/allisonpollard10/creating-agile-communities-of-practice