Social Media: Just the messenger?

Social media both shares the goings and news of the world, but it also shapes and creates it.   This has become all the more apparent to me, but it worries me how we often we may not be concious of this.

Social media messages are short and simple.

The social media world relies on simple messages, on a single image, 280 character or a 60 second video.  The message needs to be simple as it is designed to be addictive and get our attention, to fit into busy lives and to encourage us to flick from one message to the next, then the next.   I know I have found myself wasting 20mins just flicking through amusing TikTok videos for example.   This is what the platform providers want us to do.  They want to keep us on their platform as this is how they achieve their revenue, via advertising, so the longer we are on their platform the more data they can mine and the more advertising revenue they can achieve.

The world is simple?

My concern is that the features of the medium, in this case social media, influence the messages which are being conveyed.  But what does this mean for how we perceive the challenges of the world, as shared via social media?    I would suggest this is encouraging us to increasingly see the world complex problems and challenges, as being simple.    Almost every problem whether it be global warming, the covid19 pandemic or racism can be boiled down into a social media message.   And for everyone message sent someone will be able to argue a counter position using the same medium and the same inherently short bite sized social media message.  As such I think we may become less aware of the nuanced nature of the problems we are faced with.   Seeing every problem being boiled down to a simple message may convince us that the problems themselves are simpler than, in the real world, they are.

Increasing binary viewpoints

This simplicity also makes it easier to see problems in terms of black and white or binary positions.   It makes it easy to see a statement on social media as either true or false rather than seeing the complexity and therefore the infinite number of possibilities which may exist between two extreme positions.   And again, for every post stating one position there is at least one person, and often many, many, people, able to reply with an opposing binary view.   This in turn could help to explain the increasing divisions in society whether this be in relation to Brexit in the UK or Trumps presidency in the US, or a multitude of other news stories.

Reinforcement learning

Social media also makes us hyperconnected.   Having identified data about our usage patterns, social media platforms will purposefully expose us to content which fits with these patterns.    As a result, we will be repeatedly exposed to consistent messaging which, through reinforcement, may strengthen our commitment to the binary viewpoints we are encouraged to develop.   This may make our commitment to our position, in relation to specific issues, and to defending such positions more fixed and immovable.     It can also impact on our world view including what we see as truth, how positively or how divided we see the world we live in.  

Social: Time to consider the medium and the message

Social media is here to stay.   It may not be Facebook, Twitter or TikTok in the future, but social media is highly likely to continue in some shape or form.   Watching the news reporting as to concerns in relation to social media, they tend to focus on the messages being shared.  They focus on what social media companies should be doing to prevent extremism, suicide, etc.   I agree work needs to be done here however I also think we also need to look at the vehicle for these messages and what this may mean for the society we live in.

Final Thoughts

Social media represents a magnified version of real life due to the nature of the medium.   This has its advantages in making it easy to consume and contribute to.   The flipside however is it lacks the detail, the nuanced nature and complexity of real life.   We need to be more concious of this, and to ensure our students are also concious of this. Only through being concious of the impact on the medium can we seek to adjust for and minimise it.

Online Teaching: More tips

Following on from my previous post on remote teaching tips, I thought I would post a little bit more on what works for me and on some of the things I have found in carrying out online teaching of students.

Keep it simple – Likes

I had been looking at ways to get feedback from students and had looked at MS Forms as a solution before I was put on to Polly as a solution.   It was then that Sarah Clark ( @sfm36 ) suggested using the Like functionality in Teams.   In my search for wiz bang and something fancy, I had missed the simple and obvious, being the ability to simply post a comment, question or learning objective in Teams and have the students use the available Like options to respond indicating if they were happy, etc.  

The moral of the story being, keep it simple!

Agility – Use analytics where possible

I have been using Stream to create some little 2 or 3min video guides and other support materials for students in addition to recording the lessons for students to review post lesson or where they missed or had trouble accessing the lesson.   I normally make the recordings available for a week before removing them.

When using stream I can easily see the number of views individual videos have received which can give me a steer on how useful or not they are.   I am always conscious of the need to work Smart rather than Hard, and therefore if particular resources are not being watched by students it doesn’t make sense to continue spending time and effort producing them.   

And this is exactly what I have found with my little additional support video guides; students simply aren’t watching them, and instead are viewing the recorded lessons instead.   As such am going to produce fewer of these video guides going forward, focussing more on guides for difficult concepts or key areas only.

I think Insights within Microsoft Teams is also worth a look, however as yet I havent played much with it so this may be for a later post.

Questioning

This is difficult in an online space, especially where cameras might have to be turned off for bandwidth reasons, or due to school policy regarding online teaching.  You don’t have access to the normal body language info you would have in a classroom to help however I think the tips for questioning in an online classroom are similar to those in a traditional classroom.

I keep a list of the students and record who I have asked questions to and who has responded; That way I can randomly pick students to answer while ensuring I try to engage all students.   I also record whether student answers were in line, exceeded or were below my expectations, which can help me in later questioning, allowing me to identify where certain students may need a little scaffolding of the questions, etc. 

I also acknowledge that some students don’t want to talk in live lessons and therefore I invite them to use the chat functionality in Teams if they prefer this to speaking via their mic (or maybe they don’t have a mic in some cases).   This also works for where the lesson is delivered asynchronously, with students leaving their answers/comments as posts within Teams.

Engagement

I have read a few posts from educators over the years talking about the importance of engaging the students and of the stage craft which teaching inherently involves much like the stage craft required from actors.    In our current world of online education, I think this isnt as easy for reasons similar to those mentioned above in relation to questioning, including the lack of access to body language and other non-verbal communication.     I think it is therefore important to try and find ways to add a little engagement, fun and comedy to lessons.    One of my approaches to this in face to face lessons has been to start lessons with lateral thinking problems; This is something I now plan to restart within my online lessons.   I am also planning to make use of different backgrounds to my video sessions and a “where is he now” style lessons segment.   Overall, this isnt an area I have done much with so far however it is something I plan to address in the coming weeks.

Conclusion

The above are a just 4 more thoughts or ideas in relation to online teaching.   They may work in some contexts, in some classes or some of the time.    As this lockdown progresses it may be that I may change my mind in future and suggest that some of the above no longer work for me.    This continues to be an evolving situation and my experience and understanding of it, of what works and what doesn’t, continues also to evolve.

Remote Teaching: Some tips

As we are once again in lockdown and doing remote teaching I thought I would share some tips and things which have worked for me.

Big pointer

It a simple thing, but resizing your pointer makes it easier for students to see what you are pointing to.   Simply type Mouse Pointer Size in the search bar in Windows 10 and you will then get the ability to make your mouse pointer as big as you would like.

Lesson Holding Card

I now start the video feed on lessons just before the allocated time, using a holding card to display some basic info about the lesson.    The holding card is created in PowerPoint and I have set PowerPoint to display the slideshow in a window, which allows me to have the holding card on screen while also having other things on screen at the same time as I prepare for the lesson.

I note I could also use this holding card to list a starter activity for students to do; This is something I will be experimenting with over the coming weeks.    This just makes the lesson start that little bit more polished and controlled.

Thanks to @HecticTeacher for this suggestion.

@Forms; Quick Learning Polls in Teams

Thanks to @IanStuart66 for this one.    In Teams it is easy to quickly create a poll for students to answer.   This is really useful for a quick learning check at the end of lessons.

Simply type @Forms ? , , ……. Into the Posts within the channel you wish the poll to appear.   A poll will then appear under your message with a summary of the results showing under this.

So, for example, I might use the below:

@forms Are you able to add formula to a spreadsheet? Very Confident, Confident, Not Confident

Students can then respond in MS Teams with an instant summary display of the results also showing up in Teams.

Stream; Creating pre-recorded content

I strongly believe that when teaching online, it is best to mix synchronous and asynchronous methods.   For the asynchronous and for pre-recording lesson content or support materials my current go to app is Microsoft Stream.   I particularly love the ability to record picture in picture meaning I can demonstrate something on screen or go through a presentation, but with the students able to see me.   I think the ability to see me as the students teacher makes the content feel that bit more personal when compared with simply recording a narration over the top of screen recorded content.

Stream also makes it easy to control permissions so you can make it available to all students in a class or just some students in a class, or to the whole school, as needed.

The one additional point I will make in relation to stream, but also in relation to any pre-recorded video content, is to simply get it done.   Initially I found myself re-recording the content again and again to try and get it perfect, leading to a 5 min piece of video taking hours to produce.   I quickly realised this was unsustainable and that, like in lessons where we make mistakes or say “erm” too often, I am human so there is no harm in these things being included in the videos.  The videos simply need to be good enough for the purpose for which they have been created.

Conclusion

The above are 4 reasonably simple ideas which I have found to be quite useful in my teaching over the last couple of weeks. I hope that you find them useful or at least they provide you with another couple of items for your teaching toolbox.

Pledges for 2021

It’s time for the 2021 pledges!  And this year I have referenced some of the 5 ways for wellbeing.

Am not sure how much use there is in setting pledges for the year ahead when 2020 quite simply proved we have little control over what the future may bring.  That said, it is very useful to be able to look back on what I planned at the start of the year, what happened during the year and what I actually achieved.   So, on that note, here are my pledges for 2021.

Dry January and maybe at least 1 other month

Ok so its not quite going to be dry Jan, as the old firm game on the 2nd came with a few drinks; So maybe mildly moist January?     I do like a drink however want to try a bit of detox, first trying to go without for most of January, and then depending on how that goes I may repeat the process at least once during the course of the new year. 

Update: Ok so after first week of term, another national lockdown and switch to remote learning, and also a severed fibre optic cable following an incident with a digger, I think I may have to accept “dryer (than December)” January for now!

Reading / Keep Learning

This is now a regular target of reading at least 1 book per month throughout the year.   My books continue to be non-fiction and I can see this continuing in 2021.   In fact, I have already filled my bookshelves with books to read in 2021, with 14 books purchased, so am ready to begin this pledge right away.

Exercise / Be Active

2020 saw me manage 100km in a single month which was amazing progress for me.   In the year ahead I need to build on this and ideally achieve regular exercise across the whole year.   My thinking is to try and manage 3 runs per week albeit I may take the occasional week off.   As such maybe 100 active days with 5km each would see me achieved 500kms in the year.  This sounds like a reasonable challenge but achievable.

Holidays and Breaks

2020 didn’t feel as if it had a real break in it, as my long-planned holiday to the US was cancelled.   As such I think it will be important to break 2021 up and to have some breaks away and maybe a holiday, assuming Covid19 restrictions allow for it.    I think having some breaks away are critical as they help signify the various parts to the year and to separate them; 2020 lacked this so the year seemed to melt into a single period of time.    I don’t see the breaks or holiday being anything particularly adventurous but simply having some family time away, somewhere away from home and work, will be an important part of the year ahead hopefully.     Also, I think holidays or other breaks serve as an important reward for all the hardware work, both personally and professionally, throughout the year.

Connecting and Contributing / Connect

In 2021 I want to make sure I continue to connect with fellow colleagues across the world and I continue to contribute to discussion where possible and especially in relation to EdTech, esports and Cyber Security in particular, as three of my particular focus areas of interest.    Ideally, I want to identify new ways with which I contribute to these themes including once again considering video blogs or podcasting; two things I have often considered but never made any really progress on.  I also hope to get involved in some virtual conference events or roundtable events.  I forever find these both useful and interesting.

Take Notice

I intend to keep a journal in the year ahead;  This is something I started doing last year but at times I fell away from this habit.  This year I would like to try and keep to this process, focusing on the positives but also less on a “done this” / “didn’t do this” approach, akin to a to do list, but more on the emotional side of things and how I felt about things.   I suspect this will be quite difficult for me given I have become so very task focussed over the last few years.

It is also worth mentioning my wife’s third charity endeavour, again supporting Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.  This year she has swapped her usual 100km walk over 2 days for a longer 200km but over 50 days.    I will of course be supporting and encouraging her in this effort.   She has raised over £1000 in each of the last two years so I am hoping she manages at least the same this year.   For anyone interested her Just Giving page can be accessed here.

And Finally….

2021 is likely to start of challenging as we continue to wrestle with Covid19, however I am determined to make the year as successful as I can and to be able to look back in a years’ time, happy with what I have achieved.

And so, on with 2021.

AI and Bias

I recently saw an article in the guardian regarding a call from an Artificial Intelligence expert to cease using AI in the UK due to concerns that they were “infected with biases” and couldn’t be trusted (McDonald, 2019).

I too have concerns in relation to bias in AI, particularly in relation to AIs as black box systems where we are unable to ascertain how an AI might have arrived at a specific decision.    For example, the guardian article references immigration related applications of AI, so an AI might decide to approve or reject an immigration application based on the data it has available to it.    The danger here, in my view, is the potential lack of transparency in relation to the AIs decision making process.  

Despite my concerns, I however do not advocate banning AI use, as the alternative to using AI is to use human decision making.    Human decision making is far from lacking in bias.   In Sway (2020), by P. Agarwal, the author states “we are all biased – to a certain degree” going on to discuss in detail human bias and particularly unconscious bias.   Agarwal also states that “we cannot erase our biases completely” plus in relation to technology use, suggests that technology solutions, which therefore includes AI, “incorporate the biases from the designers and data engineers” who design them.   As such it doesn’t seem fair to hold AIs up to a standard, that of being absent of bias, when the human designers, users, etc of such systems are themselves unable to achieve this standard.

For me the critical issue is being aware of the bias which may exist and seeking to mitigate and manage the resultant risks.   We have to accept that bias is unavoidable, it is unavoidable in we humans, and also unavoidable in the systems and AIs we may create.    It is due to this need for awareness that my concern regarding the potential lack of transparency arises.

References:

Mcdonald, H. 2019. AI expert calls for end to UK use of ‘racially biased’ algorithms. [Online]. [27 December 2020]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/12/ai-end-uk-use-racially-biased-algorithms-noel-sharkey

Agarwal, P (2020). Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

2020, the year with the pandemic

It’s been a year that I don’t think anyone will be forgetting in a hurry.   In my 26 years working in education, including my 4 years training, I have never experienced anything like it.  As such am hoping my review of 2020 might be something I find myself looking back on at some point in the future.   2020, the year with the pandemic.

The year started of normally with January including the usual BETT event that I briefly attended, plus an EdTech conversations event which I had the privilege to speak at.   I must admit I enjoyed the EdTech conversations event in particular, with my visit to BETT a little bit rushed plus, to be honest, I now find BETT to be similar year to year and lacking in any new ideas.   Obviously, my journey to London had its usual missteps and calamities as seem to regularly befall me when I travel by train.  This almost goes without saying.

In March I found myself in Birmingham speaking at the Digifest event.  This was an excellent event with the signs of the pandemic just starting to show in hand sanitising stations and the lack of the usual handshake welcomes at the conference.   Will admit my presentation was far from my best however overall, I found the event to be both useful and interesting.This is definitely an event I would like to revisit.

As we approached the half term, in school, we had to accelerate our training and support for staff in relation to using Microsoft Teams as it became likely that schools would be forced to close.   Teams had been identified as the key tool in continuing to support learning during lockdown, allowing resources to be shared but also supporting synchronous lessons.    Thankfully we had already started using Teams mainly in an administrative capacity for teaching and support departments, so we already had some training resources plus understanding as to how to use Teams.    For me personally, it made me glad that I had been pushing for moving to the cloud and to Office 365, as it put us in a position to quickly move to online teaching when the lockdown kicked in.   It does make me believe, in education, we need to be braver about our decision making and pursuing what we believe to be the right direction.   Too often decisions are overthought and overanalysed to the point that no action, and therefore no progress is made.   Yes, education is important, yes we want to avoid making the wrong decisions, but if 2020 has proven anything it has proven we cannot predict the future, so we therefore need to braver and avoid being paralysed or slow to progress, and focussing too much on predicting and planning in minute detail in an unpredictable world.   Only then can we provide students with the skills, the knowledge and the character traits needed for the future.

And in late March the lockdown did just that, kicking in, and forcing a move to online teaching and to remote working.   It was strange finding myself at home day in day out, working from my PC with the only social contact outside of the family being via Teams video calls.   This period highlighted that working from home was possible and even beneficial in some situations, however also highlighted that equally face to face interactions are beneficial and even required in other situations.   From a teaching point of view, I still believe face to face is the best way to deliver teaching and learning, however that this can be augmented and supported through the use of technology, online teaching and online learning.  Its about finding a balance.

The period from March to August was hard, as we ran with a reduced IT Services department, supporting teachers delivering online teaching largely from their own homes.    It was made harder by the lack of the social interaction which would normally occur in our office, where members of the team would support and encourage each other, and occasionally have a laugh.    Remote working didn’t quite provide for this and it made everything feel that much more difficult and draining.   Additionally, working at home without driving too and from work led to the distinction between being at home or at work, being eroded.   This led to work bleeding into home time, and also a difficulty for me in turning off in the evenings and on taking time for myself and for family. Will be honest and say I previously have always struggled with turning it off, however the pandemic and working from home only amplified this issue.

August was meant to see our long-awaited family trip to the US, something we had wanted to do for a large number of years and something we had finally booked to prevent us once again missing out.   Sadly, despite booking and making the plan concrete, Covid19 had other ideas and the trip never happened.   This was a big disappointment.

September saw the launch of the new academic year and getting students back on site but where there would be occasions where some students would be attending lessons online.   This was the birth of the “hybrid” lesson.     For me this was also a return to more regular teaching as I took on a couple of year 9 classes in addition to my lower 6 sessions.   September as the start of new academic year is often a very busy period but this year it was significantly busier and more challenging.  

During September I would receive an unexpected offer in relation to a new job role.   It would be weeks and weeks of exploring the options, of stress, of will we or wont we as the opportunity would have once again taken me and my family abroad.   The idea of a return to expat life was definitely appealing however the context of a global pandemic was far from ideal.   This was one of the most difficult decisions I feel I have had to make in recent years however having considered my family I eventually decided the option in hand was a great option however sadly presented itself at the wrong time.  It is interesting, when looking back to my pledges at the start of 2020, I mentioned seeking a new challenge and this would certainly have been it;  Sadly this therefore was the right opportunity but clearly at the wrong time.

September also saw me undertake a challenge to complete 100km of running within the month as part of an online group.   Must admit am really happy with myself for managing to complete this challenge as it meant running 5 or 6 days within each week.   This was way more in terms of health and fitness than I had achieved before so I am very proud to have been able to stick at and complete the target.  Sadly, I then let things slip in October and November however I again started to run in December and hope to build up once again into 2021. 

October saw me come down with a cough and temperature which instantly got me worried re: covid19.  Thankfully the NHS testing service was excellent and I quickly got a test and my results back, indicating a negative;   It was a common cold rather than the corona virus.   It still took it out of me and led to a couple of days off ill.   I suspect the stress of the job offer and the cold/wet mornings running throughout September all played their part in me coming down with a cold and my resultant lack of energy.

As we progressed into November and December I was involved in an esports project to try and launch an interschools competition among independent schools like ours.   Its all in its infancy at this point, with a small number of schools planning to partake in the initial pilot however am hoping that after a successful pilot in the spring term it may be possible to grow this project.   Esports is something I am passionate about as there are many opportunities out there for our students, plus this area is only going to grow in the coming years.

November also saw the introduction of a puppy to the family. This was another things which had been discussed for many years but for which I was reluctant. With everything that has happened I relented and Ziva joined the family initially a shy puppy before becoming the devil dog she now is.If it can be ripped to shreds, scratched, eaten, chewed, etc, then it has been, and all while maintain a cute, butter would melt in my mouth outward appearance. Am not sure if we are training the dog or she is training us.

Christmas has now came and went and as I am my son have often reflected, it didn’t feel very Christmasy this year.   I suspect this is due to the year as a whole lacking some of the normal markers of a year such as a holiday away or the clear distinction between working and being on holiday;   Its not very different when your working day involves being at home all day, in the same way as your holidays, with little options available for activities due to lockdown.

2020 for me was meant to be about balance or at least that what I decided when I wrote my pledges back in January.    Looking back 2020 has been anything but balanced.   Its been crazy, its been frantic and ever changing.  Its been some year, a year which looking back seems to have disappeared in a blur, its been the year with a pandemic in it.    I suspect things will be different as we move into 2021, with some changes for the better however others less so.    This is a year I don’t think I will be forgetting anytime soon.

2020, the one with the pandemic!

Roundtable event

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being involved in a little virtual roundtable event titled “The Future of Education is here, Take learning and teaching to the next level” sponsored by Logitech.

The event focused on education, the changes brought about by Covid19 and the future of using digital tools within education.   I found the discussion quite interesting particularly given I was representing an independent school while others involved represented universities, business schools and also Logitech, thereby providing a reasonable diverse range of participants.

My main takeaways from the event were:

Culture

Culture was mentioned on a number of occasions including by myself.    The culture in educational institutions, particularly in relation to technology, changed over the lockdown period and into the new academic year.   There was more sharing and collaboration both within schools, colleges, etc but also between them as we all sought to find solutions to the myriad of challenges presented to us through lockdown and then in a hybrid teaching environment.   There was more positivity and agility, with greater willingness to try new things where maybe previously some minor issues would have been identified as justification for not trying something new.

It is important as things progress, and maybe as things move towards a greater degree of normality, whatever that may be, that we try to retain this culture of positivity, of agility, of trying new things, being brave and of sharing what works and what doesn’t.

Web cam culture

This is related to the wider organisational culture issue above and was something I hadn’t given much thought to however something we very much need to consider.   What is the culture in the digital space?   Do our students turn their cameras on or leave them off?    Do staff meet face to face or, even now where things are largely back on-site, are meetings more or less carried out from offices, with interactions online only, even where offices may only be a short distance apart?    What are the implications of this growth in web conferencing and the corresponding reduction in face to face meetings, or even in the occasional corridor interaction enroute to meetings?    There are lots of human issues which have or may arise as the result of covid19 and the sudden growth in work or learn from home.  

Digital Divides

Discussion regarding digital divides initially focussed on device access with universities in particular referencing the difficulties with students accessing from different devices ranging from laptops or tablets to students simply using their phones.   Those students with limited or no access to a device which could be used for accessing learning content were also discussed.   From here though, the discussion broadened to other divides such as access to Wi-Fi or available bandwidth, other users wishing to use devices, confidence and skill in using digital platforms, teacher pedagogy in relation to digital tool use, etc.    It was clear that digital divides are a significant problem, one with many different interrelated layers.

Privacy and Security

Unintended consequences were mentioned early on in discussions.  Covid19 had educators rushing to find the best solutions to continue the learning of their students outside the classroom with IT teams rushing to support educators as best they could.   As such it is likely some decisions reached in the interests of continuing learning may not have given sufficient consideration to security and/or privacy.  We now need to start unpicking these decisions and the potential implications.   We need to consider the platforms we are using, how they are be used, how they are configured and how this all relates to privacy and security of student and staff data.

Conclusion

One thing was clear in the discussion, that it isn’t just a case of returning back to the way schools, colleges and universities were in Jan 2020.   Equally its not a case of all change.   The reality is that the way things were had its advantages and disadvantages the same as the new normal which was adopted during lockdown.   It isn’t a case of either or.   It is a case of finding a “new balance”; a phrase one of the attendees at the roundtable event used which I think sums up the situation. Each organisation needs to revisit its aims and establish the new balance which it feels is most appropriate for its own students, staff and community.

Technology in schools

Let me first start by explaining I have purposely avoid the term, EdTech or educational technology in the title for this post.   I thought that would muddy the waters before I even started, so instead I will refer to and discuss technology in schools.  

The challenge here is that the subject in hand is complex and pretty broad in its impact on education.   As such I think it therefore is important to state this thought piece is unlikely to capture the true complexities of the situation.  It can offer nothing more than a simplified viewpoint.   But in offering that simplified viewpoint maybe, just maybe, I will offer something which others find useful.

So where to start?

I think the place to start is by trying to break down technology in education into a number of interrelated parts.    I note here, that the purpose of breaking down the technology in education concept is to aid with understanding and for clarity reasons, not because the distinctions I propose exist in any hard real terms.  I also need to stress the interrelationship and interdependence which exists among these parts.

So how might technology in education be broken down?

I would suggest the below areas:

  • Learning about technology
  • Teaching with technology
  • Learning through technology / Technology enabled learning
  • Assessment through technology

Lets have a look at the first two items which I think are the most critical, starting with the top one and most likely the easiest one.

Learning about Technology

This is in relation to how we teach students about technology.    In the past this might have been the Key Stage 3 IT curriculum, or in more recent times Computing, or it might be teaching students about the benefits and dangers of social media via Digital Literacy lessons.    This is where the learning outcomes are clearly related to technology related skills, knowledge and understanding.

The issue with our current setup, in my view, is that the Computing offering is far to specialist for most students, and the reduction in student numbers taking GCSE Computing or IT seems to be indicative of this.  When IT was removed the students didn’t move over to take Computing but instead went to other subject areas.      Additionally the IT qualification, which was removed at KS3, provided students a lot of the basic IT skills plus also provided an opportunity for Digital Literacy to be covered;   Without IT it is down to schools themselves to choose and to find time to cover these areas, with not all schools doing so in any real meaningful way.

In terms of my suggestion for this area I think Ian Yorston put forward a good suggestion via Twitter  with Computing becoming Computer Science and joining the other sciences as part of the core offering.   This therefore retains an element of computational thinking within the curriculum including in Primary education.  Computing would still then, like the other sciences, be offered as a separate specialist subject at GCSE/A-Level.   This would obviously require the science curriculum to be looked at as the time available would be split 4 ways rather than the current 3-way split.

In addition to the above there is a need to deal with the basics of technology.   Given previous perceptions of the old IT current I don’t think IT or ICT would be appropriate names.   I would go for Digital Literacy.   This would cover some of the basic of technology use, must in the same way that English lessons start with the basics of the written and spoken word.   It would then develop as students progressed through school to cover more complex issues such a the impact of big data, ethics and AI, and how social media can influence the general public, much again in the same way as English develops to eventually cover an appreciation of poetry and more complexity literary theory.

Teaching with technology

This area is most likely the one which most might refer to as using Educational Technology.    Here the learning outcomes can be related to maths, geography, history or any other subject you can think of.   The technology learning isnt the endpoint, but technology is a tool used by the teacher and students to get to their endpoint.

The key current challenges as I see then are investment and professional development.   Schools cannot make use of educational technology if they simply don’t have access to it and access to educational technology continues to be highly variable across schools.   It is also important to acknowledge that the technology in question needs to be reliable and also come with adequate technical support for when things invariably don’t quite work as they should.

Professional development is also key as having the tools available is not enough if staff don’t know how to use it.   Now my belief is that the professional development question goes much further than simply having access to it as I have seen many professional development courses which have had limited long-term impact.   The professional development available needs to be of high quality but additionally, and more importantly in my view, it needs to be underpinned by a school culture of continual improvement, of sharing or openness.    If the culture is right then internal self-fulfilling professional development, occasionally supplemented with outside visits or training, can be achieved.

Another related issue to be considered here has to be Initial Teacher Training (ITT).    Developing the knowledge, understanding and skills of new teachers in relation to how they can effectively use technology will be key in the longer term, as these new teachers join schools and eventually become the backbone and leadership teams of schools of the future.

The Challenge

The challenge in all of the above is the scale of the problem.   Changes to the curriculum, time to adapt to a new curriculum, professional development, infrastructure investment, etc are easy to write about on Twitter or in a blog like this however to make it happen is so much more difficult.   There will be those who oppose curriculum changes due to it being a departure from “traditional” education.   There will be those who see investment as diverting funds from other government priorities.   There will be those who are concerned that yet more educational changes would be disruptive.   There will be the issue of the actual timeline as changes would take time.

Change is never easy.

It also needs to be acknowledged that this change needs to be backed at the highest levels of government, of the educational authorities such as Ofqual and ner I say it, Ofsted.   This potentially makes the proposed changes political, meaning the good of education may be sacrificed in the interests of gaining or retaining political office.

So what are we to do?  

We could continue our current approach doing the best we can in our own schools, while coming together in groups wherever possible to proclaim the need for change.   I see this as the default position.   It may not quickly get us where I believe we need to go but as we share our thoughts and views I hope that momentum will build with regards the need for change.

We could decide to focus on one particular area, such as teaching about technology or teaching with technology, thereby allowing efforts to be more focussed.   The issue here is that this may lead to a lack of big picture planning and eventual inefficiencies or even issues resulting from overlaps in concepts or differing viewpoints over time.   That said, could we consider any progress made to be progress, irrespective of any issues which may, and I highlight, may, occur in the future.

I am not sure what the answer is.   I am not even sure there is an answer however I am sure there is a need for change.

Less email filtering?

Cyber security is often thought of as a defensive exercise.   It is often thought in terms of preventing threats gaining access however in considering malicious emails I wonder whether there might be a slightly different way to think about it.

My concern is this;  If in our cyber defence we do a really good job and prevent malicious emails, such as the all too common phishing email getting through, then we could potentially create a work force who are unfamiliar with phishing emails.   Our defences may create a situation such than when a phishing email eventually does get through, and this is pretty much guaranteed, the recipients are ill prepared to identify it as malicious and respond to it accordingly.   Our defences create a more vulnerable user base. I also would suggest that an expectation of 100% successful filtering if naïve; Our filtering solutions are simply not that good combined with the fact cyber criminals are constantly adjusting their approach to bypass common filtering solutions and approaches.

Now to be clear, I am not proposing no defence against malicious emails.   What I am suggesting is that having filtering which is at least slightly porous, allowing some malicious emails through may be preferable in developing users who are more aware.

I suspect some may argue that awareness is developed by training and awareness campaigns, etc, however I would suggest that these are all proxies for exposure to the real thing, and for learning to deal with the real thing. Again, I am not saying that we shouldnt have any awareness training, in fact I am a firm believe in the critical importance of awareness training, I am simply suggesting that training is not as effective as real life events.

The challenge with the above is the level of porosity.   As I suggest, not porous enough and the user base may be ill prepared however equally defences which are overly porous will simply expose users to a great volume of risk through a greater volume of malicious emails.   Once again the challenge relates to achieving balance and to managing risk.

GDPR; 2 Years on

Back in 2017 I wrote a post for UkEdChat in relation to GDPR (See the post here), prior to the introduction of the GDPR regulations in May 2018.   It is just over 3 years since that post, and almost 2 ½ years since GDPR came into force so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the post and share some of the things I have learned in relation to data protection and GDPR since then.

Subject Access Request

One of the key things I expected when I wrote my post in 2017 was a significant increase in Subject Access Requests.   For me this never really materialised.    What did materialise however, for the limited number of SARs received, was a more difficult and time-consuming process in trying to fully respond to requests.    Thankfully new tools such as the eDiscovery tools in Office 365 made this reasonably easy and convenient from an IT point of view but this didn’t alleviate the administrative challenges around the need to review and also redact data from that identified by the eDiscovery tool.

Evidencing compliance

One of the key things I have learned in relation to GDPR is the importance of evidencing compliance with the regulations.   Things will not always go to plan and when they don’t there is a need to prove that you have done all that is reasonably possible.   This means documenting processes, documenting incidents, even minor ones, and documenting discussions regarding the perceived risks and mitigation measures including the mitigation measures which have not been applied due to cost or operational impact.   You need to be able to prove that you have fully engaged with the legislation and made every reasonable attempt to comply.

Interpreting the rules

It is clear that the GDPR rules are not as clear as some people, and especially those selling GDPR goods and services, would make out;   There is a need for interpretation within the context of your own school and any such interpretation needs to be documented.    There is also an opportunity here to reach out to other schools similar to yours to see how they have dealt with certain situations, and how they have interpreted GDPR.   Again, a key issue is the need to document any decisions or conclusions reached in your interpretation of GDPR.

Third Party Management

I mentioned Third Party management in my 2017 post and I believe my concerns have been proven.   Third parties have shown themselves to be a source of cyber risk, with cyber criminals breaching third parties and then moving laterally into an associated school or other organisation.    Third parties have also shown themselves as a risk where they themselves are used to process or store your school data as a breach of the third party storing your data is your responsibility; you are the data controller.     The key here is the need for due diligence and a privacy impact assessment before engaging with a third party, plus the routine review of these assessments and of third parties’ approach to data protection and to cyber security.   We cant truly control the third parties we engage or the criminals who may seek to breach them, but we can try and ensure they are as prepared as possible, and can ensure we can evidence that we have taken all reasonable measures should something go wrong.

Risk Management

This is my biggest learning point from the last 3 years, since my post in 2017.     There are no 100% answers when it comes to cyber security and data protection.    It is all about managing risk.   Every action we take in terms of the setup of a system, the processes we use, the third parties, etc, all involve a business benefit or gain but also a risk.   Nothing is without risk.    As such we need to constantly be reviewing the risk and deciding what risk is acceptable and what is not.   We need to examine the available mitigation measures and decide which will be implemented and which we will not implement with this often due to potential operational efficiency loses or simply down to cost.   Above all, we need to document these considerations and the resulting decisions.

Conclusion

I am not sure GDPR changed things as much as I thought it might however it definitely did provide an opportunity to re-examine processes, systems, etc with a view to keeping data safe and secure.  This also provided a key opportunity to develop the all-important documentation in relation to processes and systems.    I think in 2017 I looked at GDPR as a piece of legislation and an end point in ensuring readiness for May 2018.    Looking back, I now see GDPR as more of an ongoing process which will never end.   GDPR is about ensuring we are doing all that is reasonably possible to safeguard the data trusted to our possession.