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(:toc#:) This page is the result of a workshop held with the secondary schools e-learning cluster coordinators, held on 14 November 2003. Summary of key pointsServices must be “learner-centred, digitally-minded” and support “teachers and students travelling together” — while allowing me to maintain my independence. Services must recognise me as a unique individual, push and pull, read and write, any time and place. They should give me access to all the things I’m allowed to know, using one password. Services must be integrated, so I can go to one place and find all the information relevant to my current learning context. They should integrate voice, video, sound, pictures and text. I want you to manage internet services centrally for me as your customer. I just want to use it — I don’t want to be the supplier or manager for my school; I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I want to know when it’s going to happen, so I can start believing it. I want it sooner, starting with prototypes that we can pragmatically build together. I don’t have much money, so services must be cheap. Current information-related problemsSharing information about students between schools and with other agencies is becoming more important. Systems don’t support the flow of information from school to school. When a student joins my school, I want to find out what happened before. When a student leaves my school, I want to pass information on. If one of my students is also taking courses by correspondence, I want to access information about it. Being learner-centred means having one continuous stream of connected information, from new entrants through to tertiary and beyond. When a student moves from primary to intermediate school, I want to select the relevant fields, press a button, and the information moves.
Schools are trying to manage education and manage IT services. Some things are better managed centrally. Currently, we can’t access all the information we know is out there. Is there a case for a centrally-managed database that stores student and school information in one place, that we all use? It would cover enrollments, attendance, assessments and transfers. If I provide services to someone else’s students, that’s also recorded. It would link to records held in related agencies such as CFYS, where authorised to do so. Why do we have to manage all these different local solutions? Although if we moved to a central or regional solution, it will be a challenge getting some people to let go of “my system”.
We need to be clear what’s IT, what’s process and what’s people — get the process right and the rest follows. People want more help deciding what packages to invest in for the future. I don’t know if I’m making the right decision. We need to be clear about what is the actual problem, so we don’t keep chasing our tails. We need to be confident that core data fields have the same meaning in all packages, so they can interoperate. We need to get the data quality right and have efficient data entry processes. Do we need a student version of the MARC record for books? We need to remember that many primary schools don’t store data electronically, it’s still on paper.
Future information-related opportunitiesI want to be able to access all the information services I need, wherever I am, on whatever device I’m using. By the end of 2004, I want one stop for sector authentication, administered at the school level. I want simple, web-based access to all my school students from anywhere. When I log on, the system knows who I am and knows the things I need or might want. My assigned roles determine my service entitlements and I can personalise the service so it’s unique to me. I can do one search and find everything that’s relevant, wherever it is, because everyone adheres to agreed Meta Data standards. I can log on once and get to all the different learning spaces my students use.
“Technology” will become an invisible part of the learning social fabric — computers are just another tool. Students move seamlessly between different devices — computers, phones, game consoles all have a place, whether in formal or informal learning processes. We can take the school into the home through the web, so we need to be able to present and accept information through a variety of interfaces. It’s interactive — I write and send as much as I pull and read. I want true multimedia capability — sound and pictures as well as words. I expect it to adapt to my learning style — I want to talk; you like to draw pictures; others prefer to write. There are no wires, so I’m no longer tied to a computer on a desk in a classroom. Schools have students from many cultures; will they be able to learn using their first language? It’s all about increasing the number of learning options.
Schools are social institutions and we need to see information in its social context to help connect people. Students experience ICT as another care-giver — learning my habits and working with me to support my learning. There is a lot of helpful information push: “Your physics assignment is due on Friday” or “Remember netball practice tonight”. I can review lessons again or catch up on ones I missed, in my own time at my own pace. Parents are more comfortable with information pull: I can find out information about my family’s achievements or problems in a safe setting. It’s another path for bringing parents into the school environment. Early intervention with problem learners, often arising from a problem at home, increases the chance of a successful intervention; this requires good information.
We are doing some of this today in our own clusters. Everything I need to know about my KAWM cluster is on our web site. How the school runs, how the kura operates — it’s all on-line and I can help myself to information. I don’t have to call someone up and ask questions or send them emails. We cover 7 distributed sites and it’s wonderful. It would be even better if I could focus solely on the information and using the network, and not have to set up and maintain the technology that makes it possible.
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