Background
Having thoroughly enjoyed the Education Revolution talk at the American Chamber of Commerce last month, I invited the speaker, Noel Thomas, co-principal at Yew Chung International School in Beijing, for an informal video interview. From Apple 2E’s to BBC micro-computers to 1-2-1 laptop computing and the internet, Noel has been at the heart of technological change throughout his 40 years in the teaching service.
PART ONE
What is Teaching and Learning?
“Learning is the process of growing dendrites…It’s a chemical and physiological reaction in the brain, that happens when the brain gets confronted with information that doesn’t fit an existing pattern. What the brain’s got to do is generate a new set of connections that can ‘patternise’ that experience.”
“The question of teaching becomes how (do) you instigate that process, support that process, nourish that process, reward that process, such that you can speed it up or you can send it on new journeys that you otherwise wouldn’t have embarked on.”
My thoughts
What a beautiful illustration of the teaching learning process! It reminds me of the Deleuze and Guattari (1987) rhizome theory mentioned in my Week 6 reading of Learning from Cyberspace (Cousin, 2005). This theory, “allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points in data representation and interpretation”. Through the metaphor of the rhizome, one can understand how the internet may replicate the process Noel speaks of. By supporting randomly located connections of information, which may be added to or amended at any time, the internet is tree-like, with roots, and branches, growing, sometimes breaking off, but then always being renewed, and reaching out in new directions.
Describe your first introduction to Computers and Technology
“At that stage I was Head of Business Studies at a school, and was involved in the teaching of Commerce, and, in terms of the Australian Education system, the Commerce area had sort of captured Computing, because it had grown out of typewriting, effectively. In 1986, I was involved in the development in the state of Victoria’s first general application-based programme for upper-middle school students.”
“By that stage the (Australian) government was getting interested in… bringing kids up to speed a bit more with Computing, and so they asked me to be involved a new course for the upper secondary area, that wasn’t so much Computer Programming based, it was computer application based. And that had sort of become a bit of a field for me, even though I had no qualifications in the area, and sort of being self-taught.”
My thoughts
Similar to my mother’s, and my own experience, in terms of learning how to use a computer, Noel was self-taught. Funny how, “So much can happen if you get together with like-minded enthusiastic colleagues…in the field”. Funny, indeed. Later, he went on to become an expert!
What is 1-2-1 Computing?
“Every student had their own computer, and then as the internet came online…’95, around that time, (we became) aware of just what an extraordinary powerful tool the internet was. So we started to experiment with that. Networking was just something that was, we started to get into looking at what the capacity for networking within the school, which then led into collaboration. And then you put the network collaboration alongside internet connectivity and you started to be able to talk about online discussion groups.”
“I set up a collaboration across two schools with another colleague…with a senior class…and we actually taught our two classes in two different schools, collaboratively. That must have been around 2000.”
My thoughts
I’m feeling a little embarrassed, because what was happening in 2000 in Australia, I have yet to carry out such an ambitious project. Is the rest of the UK similarly that far behind? Or is that I, as an individual am late to the party?
Expectations of Teachers using Technology
“It’s just not good enough, in 2014, for somebody who calls (herself) a school teacher to not be able to capture visual images. These kids live in a visual world.”
(Karina prompts, “What about training?”) “Yeah, is it that? Or is the desire there to learn?”
“Some teachers are not innate learners. They may be formal learners, they may want to do a Masters in this, and a Masters in that, but they don’t feel to me like intrinsic learners. But the ones that are intrinsic learners, however you pick them and identify them, are the ones that seem to be natural teachers”.
My thoughts
I’m doing a Masters, so I hope that’s not a bad thing! But seriously, I think that continuous personal and professional development is a must, no matter the industry. In terms of education, it’s the teacher as an individual who must recognise their weaknesses and seek to fill their own knowledge gaps. According to the TALIS 2013 Results: An International Perspective on Teaching and Learning, professional development improves student outcomes (OECD, 2014). Literally: helping yourself, helps you help others!
References
Cousin, Glynis (2005) ‘Learning from cyberspace’ in Land, R. and Bayne, S. (eds) Education in Cyberspace. London, RoutledgeFalmer. pp. 117-129.
TALIS 2013 Results: An International Perspective on Teaching and Learning, TALIS, OECD Publishing.
