What Makes a Good ICT Facilitator

This is a question that I have pondered over for almost a year now, ever since I was offered and accepted the position here at ISB.  I have now been in the post for a quarter of the year so I throught I would give some of what I have found.

1.  Have a vision of the future and be able to articulate this to others.  The idea here is that creative thinking will help teachers move their teaching into this new idea of 1:1.  It should also include what impact it will have on student learning and how to get the most value out of technology in projects and classroom learning.  The statements should not be general in nature and they should have some kind of time frame.  Some of this vision may not be feasible, but still a goal to look toward in the future.

2.  Has a focus on the student, primarily in learning and assessment. This is a big area and not one that all teachers understand well.  It should not be about assessing the technology but rather the achievement of the student.  It may well be that there has been some technology infusion into a learning goal, but this technology is just a tool to help the student learn.

3.  Is informed about what is going on around the school and community.  Procedures are in place to celebrate the wonderful things going on around the school and in the classroom.  The ICT facilitator needs to be a part of curriculum planning specifically in the units that are being developed.  TO do so invites a great sharing of all the great work being accomplished by the teachers.  The facilitator also celebrates with the teacher or student, accomplishments  that have been successful.

4.  Has ideas and knows how to carry them out.  There is no sense in letting teachers know about great ideas for their teaching or units without being able to assist in carrying them out.  Many teachers will be excited about these ideas but also scared about deploying them in the classroom.  The ICT Facilitator needs to be there for the teachers to make sure ideas work as they are planned.  It is great for the facilitator to be innovative, but sometimes it can be very ovewhelming for the teacher.

5.  Is a good listener.  One of the aspects of my job is to listen to the members of the faculty, students and administration.  If you are a good listener the the people around you will respect you and your ideas more seriously.

6.  If the ICT Facilitator is a good listener and respectful of others then they will find that others approach them with ideas they want help with.  The facilitator should be able to identify both the advantages and pitfalls to the idea and help the teacher/student through with implementation.

7.  Has a passion for what is happening in the school.  This would include all levels of PD and SD that involve the change needed in a school to bring in a high end, robust and technologically sound program.  The program is ever evolving.

I still have many questions unanswered but over time I hope to be able to both see the answers to the questions and also see how they can be a part of the bigger picture at the school.

Taihu Book Conference

I was fortunate to attend one day of the 19th Annual Taihu Book Conference.  This is a fairly new facility and to say that it is large would be an understatement.  I could not find the exact size but I would estimate that it covers about 2 million square feet.  The main building has five levels and that is the showcase of vendors, including publishers from all over the world.  While I was there I noticed Scholastic, Harvard Press, Houghton Mifflin and a couple more.  It was an impressive warehouse of publishing materials from all over the world.  Of course, the largest by far were the Chinese publishers.

During the day there were four seminars that I attended that had to do with the digital domain.  It is evident that the publishers are working hard to create digital material both on-line and in the form of textbooks.  What I heard however, was that the strength of digital text books will be for the university level and the school level will be online course materials.

All of the publishers are working with online portals that will encompass their curricular materials enhanced with added learning opportunities for students.  Many are embracing the L21 ideas where they can, but this is proving to be difficult given the rather open nature of them.  No surprise that assessment is a big part of these portals and in some cases can be individualized to the class or student.

Over all the day was well worthwhile.  I still did not find the connection to eTextbooks I am looking for but this could be due to the limited nature of the books being prepared for the High School market.  It looks like I am going to need to include research of online portals in my interest for the future.

iPad in HS PE

The PE department just took posession of four iPads.  The purpose of this two fold;

1.  To gather fitness information to help students make informed choices.
2.  To provide immediate feedack on student health and fitness for PE classes.

These goals are going to happen with a myriad of apps that have been added to the iPads.   Most of these will be first time use so there is a period of experimentation that is going to take place.  I am eagerly awaiting the start of these apps with the PE department so that further use can be determined in the future.

Here is a list of the Apps that will be reviewed  this year;

Interval Timer
Numbers
Tempo Magic Pro
iMuscle (NOVA series)
iFitness Pro HD
i-Replay
Speed Anatomy (Quiz)
Collaborative Mobile Multi Camera Video
Reel Director
Swim Coach Plus HD
Basketball Coach Plus
Football Coach Plus
Tennis Coach Plus HD
Cricket Coach Plus HD
Coach's Eye
Vernier Video Physics
Step Test
Bleep Test Pro
Yo Yo Endurance Test
Fitness Meter - Test & Measure
Heart Rate Training Zone Calculator
PE Plus
Vital Signs Camera - Philips
Cardiograph - Heart Rate Monitor
Team Shake
Coach Pad
Easy Assessment
PB Go

As the year progresses I am hoping to keep outlining the advantages and problems with these Apps as the work with the HS PE Students and Staff.