MANAGING ICT


Let’s get connected M


Fiona Aubrey- Smith on the rise of web 3.0 and 4.0 technology


ore than 7.2 million students, teachers and parents across the UK log in to their learning platform every week, forming one of the largest active online communities globally. While many schools


are already seeing an impact, others are just starting to think about how to make them work in an efficient way for their school. recent advances in the wider-world of Web 3.0


technology now helps shift the emphasis away from the teacher doing all the work, creating a classroom where the administration, logistics and classroom management are all taken care of, so that the teacher and learner can focus on meaningful dialogue and interaction; thereby extending learning and raising standards. Web 3.0, when brought into education, is about


supporting teachers’ professional skills by removing the administrative burden so teachers can get back to teaching.as highlighted at Inside Government’s recent Future of education conference, supported by both government and key public sector bodies, it is vital that technology is designed to empower the teacher to be the professional they deserve to be and the learner to access the learning that they deserve.


Web technology in education


technology has evolved dramatically since the implementation of learning platforms more than 10 years ago, incorporating more and more useful features.


this began with Web 1.0 which sees one person publish to everyone else, and the recipient reads and digests. It equates to a classroom where students copy from


the blackboard.honiton Community College in Devon is an exceptional example of how Web 1.0 technology is being used to empower students to take ownership of their learning. Josh Wright, head of ICt, works with staff to


ensure that every element required for students to work independently is meticulously uploaded to the learning platform, helping to ensure that students of all abilities


can access information on their assignments, resources and achievements anytime, anywhere. this approach helps to free up teacher time to focus on personalised intervention and support and there has been a surge in usage of the platform by the whole school community. this is helping to create confident, motivated learners ready for life beyond school. the next step, Web 2.0 (social web and social


networks), also centres around one person publishing to others – for example on a forum or blog where there is still a hierarchy – but allows people to interact. It equates to a classroom where the teacher assigns


11–19 Mixed Comprehensive Technology College. N.O.R: 1300 (including 260 in the Sixth Form)


Technician for Required for 1 September 2011


Technology Faculty Full-time, Scale 5 £22,290


Head of Year


We are looking for an enthusiastic, imaginative and hard working technician to support the Technology Faculty in their journey towards outstanding.


You should: • Be committed to inspiring and motivating students to achieve their best • Be a team player with excellent communication skills • Be enthusiastic and optimistic in your approach to students • Have a high level of emotional literacy • Be highly literate


Have you got energy, vision and a ‘can-do’ attitude?


An enhanced CRB is a requirement for this post.


For details and an application form, please see the school website, or contact us by telephone or email.


For details and an application form, please see the school website, or contact us by telephone or email specifying which post you are interested in.


Closing date for applications: Midday on Monday 11 July 2011 Interviews will be held on Thursday 14 July 2011


Head: Jacques Szemalikowski Westbere Road, London NW2 3RT Tel: 020 7794 8133 Fax: 020 7435 8260 Email: vacancies@hampsteadschool.org.uk


Closing date for return of applications: Midday Monday 27 June 2011 Interviews: Thursday 30 June 2011


The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced CRB check. Checks will be made with previous employers.


We need:


40 weeks per year (term time + 1week) Grade PO3/4 £31,213


• A team player with excellent communication and organisational skills


• An enthusiastic and optimistic approach to dealing with young people


We want an inspirational person to take up this position in our progressive and dynamic school. You will be responsible for the welfare, guidance and support of a Year Group of over 200 students.


• Flexibility • Immediate start


differentiated maths problems to students, and the students then work semi-independently or in peer- groups to submit their versions of how they solved the problems. More educationalists than ever are now empowered to own and publish content and as a result, thousands of students are now interacting with it. Many of our schools are embracing wikis as a tool


to support revision and best practice of this can be seen at Bradon Forest School in Wiltshire where teachers are creating wikis and discussion forums to help prepare key stage 4 students for their GCSes. During class, teachers upload mock exam questions


to the forum for students to post their responses. these are then peer reviewed and discussed to help students reflect upon their learning. In business studies, teachers at the school are also


working with key stage 4 students to create revision wikis. each student is assigned a different element of a topic and tasked with populating their wiki with research and resources to help their peers revise. Both the forums and wikis are available online 24/7 through the learning platform, enabling students to access them during study leave in the run up to exams. Critically, both routes allow for students to take


a leadership role in their own learning, while also supporting their peers through peer review and mentoring. this frees up teachers to add professional expertise to boost student understanding and ultimately raise standards. Many of our schools are successfully embracing


Web 2.0 to help students and teachers collaborate. however, technology is now moving on and it is no longer just about blogs, assessment, wikis, quizzes or forums anymore. It is about joining the dots, adding intelligence, making the virtual world, the global community and resources that work for the user. the most important thing is to understand where the web is going – making the tools work for you.


Self-discovery


new advances in Web 3.0 technology now provide students with the tools and opportunities to self-discover (think amazon’s “you might like” suggestions), reach out (think Facebook’s “add friend” function), gather knowledge (think Wikipedia’s “co-construction of information”), and apply that knowledge (think vocational skills and LinkedIn’s self-evidencing of achievements), while providing the teaching community with a range of tools to really support their objectives; simplifying the administrative burden and improving the quality of teaching and learning. Some online learning solutions now act like a


www.hampsteadschool.org.uk 10


personal assistant, recommending the most relevant tools, resources, content and people to help further their study. this helps to dramatically reduce teacher resource preparation time, freeing up time to focus on differentiated support and learning outcomes.


For example, if a student is working on a project


about rivers and lakes, online technology will automatically recommend a range of age-appropriate materials they might like to view, helping to boost their enthusiasm for a topic and allow them to progress at their own pace. It is a bit like theapple iStore Genius.


Connectedness


Web 3.0 technologies help to connect all of a student’s learning experiences. It can analyse connectivity between experiences. Intelligent semantics enable it to identify strengths and challenges for the learner. For example, if they learned about the romans at school and then subsequently go on a family trip to a historic site at the weekend, Web 3.0 technology deduces that this individual is interested in history and pushes further information (projects, materials, experts and resources) to them to broaden the learning experience.


Assessment for learning


assessment is generally viewed as the domain of the teacher and something that adds significantly to their workload. although it has historically been a task for the teacher, it does not have to be.as use of the internet and Web 2.0 continues to blur the line between formal and informal learning, confining assessment to one room at one time is no longer reflective of a student’s progress. technology helps present the bigger picture,


enabling teachers, parents and students to record all of their achievements, whether they take place in school, during after-school clubs or at home. Web 3.0 will take this one step further by intelligently analysing and measuring not simply the student’s individual progress, but also how they interact and contribute to the discussion and work of their peers (for example, the value they are adding to a conversation or their original thoughts during online debates). rather than looking to see if students can simply complete an assignment, Web 3.0 will help teachers evaluate.


The future


the future will see Web 4.0, or the ubiquitous web as it is known, build upon Web 3.0 and make connections between communities – offering joined up knowledge to the teaching fraternity. at the moment, Web 3.0 technology pushes content to the learner. the ubiquitous web technology watches what users


are doing and pushes information to the user, carefully tailoring the material to suit their learning needs. the information is more individual, it is based on user profile and will enable schools to determine individual learning plans based on usage. It will ultimately provide students with different routes to obtain knowledge – connecting global intelligences together and new content. as educators, we are helping to develop the


global workforce of tomorrow so we must embrace technological change to equip learners with the skills, to complement their qualifications, so that they can compete in the world outside of school. Students access information using an array of technologies every day, from mobile phones and personal digital assistants, to social media and the internet. Web 3.0 and forthcoming Web 4.0 technologies can deliver the interactive learning experience that students of today and tomorrow have come to expect.


SecEd


• Fiona Aubrey-Smith is head of educational development at UniServity.


SecEd • July 7 2011


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