Reflective Entry 7 - National education policies and guidelines, contemporary educational theory, and digital and collaborative innovations

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POLICIES / GUIDELINES:

NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION GUIDELINES | NAGs (Ministry of Education, 2017)

NAG 2

Each board of trustees, with the principal and teaching staff, is required to:

  • develop a strategic plan which documents how they are giving effect to the National Education Guidelines through their policies, plans and programmes, including those for curriculum, aromatawai and/or assessment, and staff professional development;

My digital and collaborative innovation, using Kanban Boards to streamline communication to improve cohesion and collaboration can connect to NAG 2. Our strategic plan has a goal connected to Curriculum - Future Focused Teaching and Learning. As part of this we have two Ministry funded PLD initiatives: Digital Fluency and Local Curriculum. Both of these require coherence and clear communication to enable success - the Kanban Board supports this coherence.

NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS | NEGs (Ministry of Education, 2004)

NEG 3

Development of the knowledge, understanding and skills needed by New Zealanders to compete successfully in the modern, ever-changing world.

My digital and collaborative innovation connects to developing the knowledge, understanding and skills students need to compete in the ever-changing modern world. Developing leaders' collaborative digital fluency / technology skills, through the Kanban Board, not only improves communication but the digital capability transfers to the classroom / learning environment.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES | HANGARU MATIHIKO CURRICULUM:

The Digital technologies component of the Technology Curriculum has been developed “...to ensure that all learners have the opportunity to become digitally capable individuals. This change signals the need for greater focus on our students building their skills so they can be innovative creators of digital solutions, moving beyond solely being users and consumers of digital technologies. (TKI, n.d.).

By increasing teacher / leader capability of using digital and collaborative practices there should be a natural roll on effect into the teaching and learning practices of these leaders. Also, with leaders building their digital skills in an online forum there will be improved communication and coherence in curriculum delivery. 

THE e-LEARNING PLANNING FRAMEWORK | eLPF (TKI, n.d.)

eLPF Dimension | Professional Learning

“In this dimension, you review how teachers are building their e-learning capability within the school community and virtual networks, in ways that reflect our bicultural heritage. This includes how far the school is sustaining a professional e-learning community and supporting professional inquiry into e-learning.”

The Kanban Board innovation is a robust start to building staff e-learning capability and an e-learning community (particularly in an online collaborative platform). By first improving communication in an easily accessible platform my innovation is beginning to build coherence across the Senior Leadership Team. Not only has it begun this foundation of coherence it is developing the capability of leaders who can then build the capacity of the teachers in their teams.

eLPF Dimension | Leadership

In this dimension, you review the way e-learning is integrated into school vision, the leadership of e-learning and how e-learning is integrated into strategic direction and policy.

The Kanban Board innovation is building the e-learning leadership capability of our Team Leaders.

CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL THEORY:

CONNECTIVISM

Connectivism is a learning theory that sees learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing (Siemens, 2005, p5). With connectivism digital technologies are seen as part and parcel, an integral part,  of the theory. The collective knowledge and commitment of the team builds the success of the innovation.

In terms of my Kanban innovation, connectivism was crucial to the success - connecting the knowledge of all team leaders to build a cohesive communication board and strategy was inherent to the innovation's success. Alongside this, we developed a communication strategy to create further coherence - shared knowledge built an innovation together.

DELIVERY MODELS

Collaborative | Flipped | Blended

My innovation connects to three different delivery models:

  • Collaborative Learning

  • Flipped Preparation / ‘Classroom’

  • Blended / Online Platform / Learning

Collaborative Learning connects to the innovation as we were collaboratively learning together; contributing in different ways to ensure the success of a shared goal; and collaboratively constructing both a communication strategy and coherent communication Kanban board. 

Flipped Prep connects to the innovation as there was key learning that had to occur before each new aspect of the Kanban Board was unlocked. Watching videos, constructing their own Kanban Boards for practice and using these to manage simple tasks in their own teams occurred before kanohi ki te kanohi sessions.

Blended Learning connects to the innovation because there were instances of online collaboration as well as kanohi ki te kanohi collaborations . This was important to the success of the innovation as it meant the right levels of support, guidance and individual knowledge building were engaged. This was important as Team Leaders could access and interact with the Kanban in a medium that suited the time and need.

REFERENCES:

Ministry of Education. (2017). The National Administration Guidelines (NAGS). https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/legislation/nags/

Ministry of Education. (2004). The National Education Goals (NEGS). https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/legislation/negs/

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. https://jotamac.typepad.com/jotamacs_weblog/files/Connectivism.pdf

TKI: Te Kete Ipurangi. (n.d). e-Learning Planning Framework. https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/e-Learning-Planning-Framework

TKI: Te Kete Ipurangi. (n.d). Technology in The New Zealand Curriculum. https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Technology

 

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