Teacher librarians & the Australian Curriculum

On Friday 108 teacher librarians gathered at a School Library Association of Victoria conference in Melbourne to continue their exploration of the Australian Curriculum.  This stage of the journey builds upon previous events and was an opportunity to examine resources, the official website and the documentation identifying 'points of intervention' and local relevance.

Delegates were encouraged to extend the collaboration by getting involved in the accompanying Twitter conversation.  Here is a summary of the results.

Where good ideas come from - Innovation

With all the turmoil in the jobs market at present; the loss of the car industry; retail trade taking a battering and jobs moving offshore, innovation is the word on everybody's lips.  But what is the process of innovation, where do those good ideas come from?

Where good ideas come from - Steven Johnson

Hatching Twitter - a recommended read

Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton, columnist and reporter for the New York Times is a fascinating read.  True to the nature of many Silicon Valley companies, Twitter (or Twttr - its original title) started small and grew without any real business plan, to become the multi-billion dollar public company that it is today.

This extraordinarily popular app, Twitter,  has experienced incredible turmoil since its inception in 2006 and one gets the feeling that there is still more of the story to be told.  Bilton provides details of the relationships and personalities behind the company and weaves it into a captivating story.  

Interviewed by Leo Laporte for TWIT's Triangulation program (available as podcast), it's worth listening to Bilton explain the research and writing of Hatching Twitter.  

This is a fascinating read for all interested in the lives and processes behind one of our indispensible social media applications.  I recommend it.

Individual learners - The Future of Learning

This week, as the first week of the new school year in Australia, I've been introducing the Year 7 student intake to their learning space on the college network, activating their accounts and setting them off on their digital citizenship journey in this stage of their education.

The overwhelming impression one has after working on this routine but semi-complex task with 239 students over such a brief time frame, is the range of students in our classes.  Students who are relatively the same age, because that's how we manage schooling, but vary so broadly in abilities, interests and potential result on the NAPLAN testing they will undertake in the coming months.

Perhaps it was this week's experience that made me look closely at the following infographic published in OnCUE, the journal of CUE - Computer-Using Educators, that arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Titled A Glimpse into the Future of Learning, it provides a forecast into 'a diverse learning ecosystem in which learning adapts to each child instead of each child trying to adapt to school'. 

We have already commenced the journey. This infographic provides an overview that is worthy of a discussion with colleagues.

PISA 2012 results - Maths, Reading & Science

The PISA 2012 report of international student performance in Mathematics, Reading and Science as published by the OECD, 3 December 2013 provides an opportunity to compare literacy, numeracy and scientific literacy across countries.  Published every 3 years, it provides a benchmark for educators worldwide. 

ACER provides an Australian perspective on the report

OECD News release:  Asian countries top OECD’s latest PISA survey on state of global education

'The OECD’s PISA results reveal what is possible in education by showing what students in the highest-performing and most rapidly improving education systems can do. The findings allow policy makers around the world to gauge the knowledge and skills of students in their own countries in comparison with those in other countries, set policy targets against measurable goals achieved by other education systems, and learn from policies and practices applied elsewhere.' (OECD)