Introduction

I’m currently studying for a PCET, specialising in Business Studies. In this series of blogs I’m going to explore how Information Communication and Technology (ICT) will impact on my teaching methods, and what the possible benefits are for me, and more importantly, my students, in using the wide range of online tools and computer-based applications that exists today. I’m also going to point out where the overuse of technology as a teaching aid may be a negative experience for teacher and student alike.

I'm going to reflect - quite critically, I think - on a range of learning and teaching tools that may or may not be useful. I'm teaching Business Studies, not IT - read the thoughts of a American High School teacher here.

I was a business person in the business world before venturing into teaching . I find this more taxing
 

Reflection on a blog useful to me as a business teacher

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog+education/businessandmanagementstudies

 

I really enjoyed this blog from Kathryn Loughnan. I can relate to her theory behind the importance of incorporating enterprise with education. In this day and age more so than before employers look for practical and social skills not just an education. Like myself Kathryn has worked in various industries for 20 years so she has the experience and the understanding of what employers are looking for . You can not teach Entrepreneurship it has be experienced and developed through "ups and downs".

My students have just completed an enterprise week which was very successful. It enabled them to see what real life business is not just text book theory.

Being enterprising does not have to just relate to being an entrepreneur, it may be that you have a flair for something within a different field, although not business. These social enterprise courses enables students to develop skills to help with future employment. It is good to know that there are external providers who offer enterprise courses. ie The Coca Cola Real Business Challenge.

I will be contacting" The Global Entrepreneurship Week" as Kathryn mentioned in this article in order to find a programme for the Enterprise Academy that I teach.

This blog has certainly been a worthwhile read

Bubbl.us - what use in the classroom?

My reflection on Bubbl.us application.

 Collaborative mind mapping tools like Bubbl.us are great for conducting a brainstorming session with your students.— for some good examples, see freetech4teachers.com. I don't think, however, that giving a "prepared" talk using this tool would sufficiently engage the students.

This is a great application in order for thoughts and ideas to be shared in order to gain a common objective. It would also be a good tool to illustrate to the students at the start of a course how that course is going to fit together.

Visual diagrams or 'Mind maps' could enable me to develop business ideas when creating business plans.

Mobile learning technology - academic research

The huge advances in mobile technology over the last 10 years have enabled students to work, collaborate and study from anywhere where there is an internet or a 3G/4G connection. Teachers can now communicate with students via email or Skype, publish coursework online and receive coursework submissions in return.

However, this new technology may come at a cost. Traditional teaching methods - brainstorming, group discussions and one-to-one help may become deprecated as students spend less time in the classroom and are left more and more to their own devices. Social integration may also suffer - and students who are on a business studies course definitely need to learn how to integrate with their peers - and potential future customers.

Once again, there is also a need for students to embrace technology in order to learn a totally different subject - and the most business-minded entrepreneur-to-be may not have the aptitude - or indeed the interest - to learn technology first in order to get ahead. I don't think Alan Sugar would have been interested in the fundamentals of video conferencing when he was setting up in business...... 

This book covers the subject in huge detail...

Academic research into mobile learning

Microsoft applications - a personal view

My  blog today is about my experiences with Microsoft applications.

My first impression on coming "back in" to IT after so long out was that these applications are now so much more "full-featured" (i.e. complicated) than the older versions I was used to. The learning curve to achieve any reasonably formatted and correctly laid out documents is a very steep one.
Once again the question  comes up - am I supposed to be teaching Business Studies, or training my students (and myself) on how to use these "powerful" applications.

Of course, knowledge of the ubiquitous Internet Explorer (and its' contemporaries) are a must-have these days. However, this is an example of an application that is easy to learn, and just "does what it says on the tin" - there is no need to traverse level after level of menus just to go to a website, for example.

Most people will have sat through a Powerpoint presentation that bored them to tears - slide after slide of bullet-pointed text, with (perhaps) a couple of images to lighten the pages. The reason that so many of these presentations are so tedious is that, as I said above, the length of time that is involved in producing "rich content" presentations is so great that, most non-IT professionals cannot spare the time, as they have to concentrate far more on the content than the "look and feel" of the slides.

All in all, are these applications right for me? As they are now the industry standard, I guess I'm stuck with them. Just don't expect "all-singing, all dancing" documents from me any time soon.....

Thinking outside the box - quite literally

This TED talk, by Andrew Blum, is one man's attempt to find out what the Internet really "is". It's a great example of how lateral thinking and thinking "outside the box" can hugely enrich the experience and knowledge of any student. The core material presented in lectures should be just that - students should be encouraged to read around a subject and gain their own points of view and opinions.

While the Internet is a fantastic tool for research, its also important that students realise that just because an article has been published on the Internet, the contents of that article are not necessarily factually accurate. One only has to look at entries in wikipedia.org to see plenty of articles which have been criticised or edited because their content contains too much surmising and not enough hard fact.

Anyway, back to Andrew Blum. When his Internet connection went down, caused by a rodent chewing through his router cable, he decided to find out where the cables actually went, and how we have ended up with a network that encompasses the entire globe, and is still getting bigger....

Andrew Blum: What is the internet really

What are the barriers to using technology in education

One major issue in schools is the cost to the individual student of IT resources. There is a risk of disadvantaging students from poorer backgrounds with limited resources to spend on IT resources (home broadband connection, for example). Students are also liable to become distracted by other online activities (personal email, social media, for example). This may limit the time and attention given to coursework and research when compared to "traditional" teaching. 

Delivering pre-prepared notes for in-school or online lectures may lead to lack of attention / interaction in lesson time.

There is a steep learning curve for both students and teachers when introduced to new technologies – this may reduce the priority from the course subject matter, to the detriment of the students. 
The assumption that technology is the best way of teaching every subject and every level of aptitude within a given group of students. Students should not be penalised in comparison  with their peers for having difficulty with technology, whilst at the same time being more than competent at their core coursework.

One-to-one teaching becomes far more time-consuming when an extra layer of complexity is involved.

The website www.useoftechnology.com discusses this subject in far more depth. Here are two selected articles as a starting point:

http://www.useoftechnology.com/barriers-effective-technology-education/

http://www.useoftechnology.com/how-to-use-technology/

A week in Swansea Market

What a week with my Business Enterprise students! As a business person I realise text book does not make you an Entrepreneur. Passion and a good product is firs,t then comes the hard work. I have spent the last 4 weeks with a great bunch of guys who want to succeed in the business world.
Object of the task - a sort of mini Apprentice . They had a budget to spend although they could not make a loss.
Their initial ideas concerned me. They wanted to sell high class hampers in Swansea market. I tried to open their minds to this type of selling to see if their product would sell to market buyers. After a good talk about what market buyers really want my students came up with great ideas. I encouraged them to recognise it's not what they want but what their potential customers are looking for. I made suggestions especially as it is the Christmas season - candy bouquets, home made wreaths and non-alcoholic mulled wine.
We went shopping and did our costings to the tee( due to me ). I will not waste a penny. We made our wine ( no alcohol - although I was tempted to sneak a cheeky red in there )
My students created wrapped  candy fountains and made them look delicious. Next breath - let's price it - what would the public pay. I had responses that amazed me to the point that I thought "are you  going to be the next Alan Sugar?" Well, ok, they are young and learning. I remember being there but what I had was determination and guts, I hope they do too because they are a fab and lovely bunch of guys.
My motivated students sold the lot and made a profit a day early...... so proud of my Enterprise Academy.
On reflection, my students said they had a better understanding of the real business world and how what I am teaching in the classroom can be applied to their own personal business idea.

Here's my team:
Plus Neil my mentor dressed as Santa

Reflecting on a personal achievement

Annmarie Williamson, World of Play/Little Miss Beauty
A quote from the Western Mail, 2004:
"While completing a Business Studies degree and supporting a young family as a single parent, Annmarie Williamson, from Swansea, decided to combine the profitable industries of leisure, food and entertainment to establish an indoor play centre in South Wales. She spent over two years researching the idea and overcoming planning difficulties before raising her own capital to purchase and convert a unit in Fforestfach. World of Play opened last year, and Annmarie has since installed a restaurant, begun to organise childrens parties at the facility, and offer beauty parties in 'Little Miss Beauty' on the second floor. She is also establishing a Maze Commando Zone to offer entertainment to older children and adults."

This was my cover when I came second in "Welsh business woman of the year" in 2004. I hope as a teacher I can use my skills and experience to show anyone can do it if you have drive and belief in your product. I was not a pen to paper girl but I was hard working with good marketing ideas.
The students I am currently teaching hope to set up their own businesses one day. They are constantly asking questions about how I did it, I feel they trust what I say as I have years of "real-life" experience, not just text book knowledge.

"Technology is the Means, Not the Mission"

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/masters/tie

My Daughter Loren is pictured here in Harvard where she visited whilst on a flying trip with her company ,The Emirates airline . She had a guided tour prearranged as I was interested in how education differentiates in the States compared to the UK. I asked her to look at the techno side as she's pretty switched on with it all, not like her mum. I wanted her to find out how education and learning in America compares to here and her opinion on students attitudes about learning . This very kind lecturer gave her this link to give to me to read . Her perception on Harvard students were innovative and motivated clever people . Obviously you earn your place there . Loren said everyone was so friendly and willing to talk . She explained that her mum was returning to education after 22 years in business .Comments were "Wow" Maam is cool ".
After our Skype call, which was very productive her opinion was the students were there to learn , they were bright smart and funny and had a common ground to be educated in the best place ever. My daughter met 3 girls studying at Harvard who took her and her 2 crew members out for dinner and spoke about their different lives . I  am so proud of my daughter travelling the world and experiencing life in ways that I didn't

What for the future of IT in learning?

Some food for thought....

This article, written by David Robson for the BBC, describes an interview with Google's head of research outlining his vision of how learning will change in the future. Are we getting smarter?

Matt Britland, the head of ICT at Kingston Grammar School , gives his opinions on the future of teaching, and his vision of a paperless, cloud-based education system here.

Will we even have classrooms, or will remote or long-distance learning take over? These guys are pretty sure the latter is true....

And finally, take a look at this article on the BBC website, written in 2002, describing the "classroom of the future". How accurate were the predictors then? Judge for yourself...