Tag: independent learning

Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference [#TLAB13]

On Saturday 16th March Berkhamsted School will be hosting The Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference. The brain child of Nick Dennis and others, the conference is shaping up to be a ‘must attend’ event. Priced at just £40 for the day, it can well be considered a steal when you consider the eclectic mix of educators who will be speaking and leading workshops at the conference.

I am fortunate to be one of those workshop leaders.  As such, I wanted to share my recently submitted workshop outline:

‘Leashes not required’ – In(ter)dependent Learning Inside and Outside the Secondary School Classroom

Spoon-feeding and teach-to-the-test culture seem to pervade the secondary school classroom, as teachers strive to meet increasingly demanding targets. This workshop will demonstrate that such approaches are not necessary; that adopting a strategy that encourages independence, critical and creative thinking; and values the use of new technologies produces equally outstanding results. The workshop will share both the guiding principles on which such an approach is built and also give specific examples of what in(ter)dependent learning is like in practice.

The workshop will expand on my most recent TeachMeet presentation which is based on my developing practice as and educator, as well as research I completed into Independent Learning as part of the Masters in Education I am study towards.

I am excited about expanding on the approach to learning I have been taking with my students and will be bringing some of them along to participate in the workshop, sharing their views and answering questions.

I hope to see you there!

Mitchel Resnick: Learning from Scratch

I found myself reeling after tonight’s #ukedchat, frustrated by the 140 character limit, unable to express my view on indpendent learning with enough clarity and detail. I promise to follow this up with a post explaining my thoughts on IL, as well as strategies that I am employing with my students.

In the meantime, I offer you Mitchel Resnick’s presentation from LWF12. What he says between 03:34 and 05:33 has become fundamental in my thinking about both independent learning and education as a whole.

If you can’t wait for the post, you can get a good feeling for where my thinking is at here: TeachMeet Tees 12: ‘Leashes not required’.

TeachMeet Tees 12: ‘Leashes not required’ (V2)

Tomorrow, I will be presenting (virtually) at TeachMeet Tees 12. Following on from TeachMeet Oxford last week, I have made a few alterations to my presentation on Independent Learning. It is a little leaner; with greater emphasis on strategies and approaches to encouraging learner independence.

Here are the revised slides. Click on the cog to access speaker notes.

To see version 1, as well as a selection of related blog posts and articles (including my M.Ed. research), follow this link: TeachMeet Oxford: ‘Leashes not required’.

TeachMeet Oxford: ‘Leashes not required’

Having spent a considerable amount of time evangelising AfL & Google Docs, I felt it was time to turn my attention towards another topic: Independent Learning. I completed an M.Ed module earlier in the year and it is going to feature significantly in my dissertation.

Therefore, I decided to pull together some of the most valuable (IMO) arguments and ideas I have encountered so far; alongside some of the strategies and tools that I have been using with my students; seeking to help them become more independent learners.

I’m giving the presentation it’s maiden run at TeachMeet Oxford this evening. Here are the slides, click the cog to access my speaker notes.

Useful Links:

Study Group Teachers’ Conference

Today, I am delivering a presentation at the Study Group Teachers’ Conference in Brighton.

The title of my session is: Getting interactive: Moodle in the Secondary classroom

Abstract: What is Moodle for? And how can it enrich your students’ learning experiences? This workshop will aim to set out a practical and pedagogically sound consideration of the role that Moodle can play in helping to support learning inside and outside the classroom. The belief? That Moodle should be a tool to garner interaction and not simply host resources.

Here are the slides that accompany the presentation:

Since I submitted the abstract, the presentation has evolved. As such, it begins with an explanation of how I use Moodle, building up to a consideration of when to use a VLE and when a VLE is not the best tool for the job. It culminates with a reflections on the work I have been doing with Google Docs & AFL.

You can find out more information about the conference on their Moodle Site. Enter as ‘Guest’.