The (very) long summer holidays have allowed me to reflect on what has been a very busy and productive year. However, when I think about productivity I feel that my actually productivity has taken a stumble over the past couple of years. While I appear to have had a high output in terms of work completed this year including developing projects at school, completing the first year of my MA and writing my first published article, I do not feel like I have had total control over my time. Here’s why…

Yes it’s the homescreen on my beloved HTC Hero Android smartphone. How can a device that allows me to instantly access emails, Twitter feeds, Facebook messages, RSS feeds, my task list and calendar hinder productivity you may ask? Well, there you have your answer. All of the aforementioned channels are now constantly connected to me. That’s fine BUT they also choose to notify me when I receive an email, when an article is ready to view and when I should be completing a task. In short, they are in control of my life. All of the applications notify me by beeping and leaving a quaint icon in my notification bar. I therefore know how many unread emails I have, now many deadlines are approaching and how many apps need updating. Great? Initially yes, but in the long run they take my mind off the task in hand and add to a increasing unconscious pressure to clear the notification bar. This isn’t just confined to my phone – Google Chrome on my MacBook Pro instantly notifies me too. It’s getting to the point where each of my devices are competing with each other to be the first to notify me when I have email. This sort of thing really disrupts my flow (especially when writing). I realised how this was hindering my productivity after reading Mark Allen’s recent blog post where he talked about taking control of such technology and not letting them control us.

I’ve really been inspired by Doug Belshaw’s blog posts recently and the general work ethic he discusses in this ongoing #uppingyourgame publication. His work has also spurred to read more about gaining back my productivity ethic in the midst of the notification culture. As well as reading Doug’s blog I’ve been looking at advice in Upgrade your Life by Lifehacker as well as Getting Things Done by David Allen.

So what have I done? Firstly I implemented Henry Theile’s Inb0x Zer0 approach, which involved me archiving my GoogleMail inbox (where I found MySpace notifications from an account I had with them from 2004). I now have an empty inbox… it feels good. I’ve also disabled email notifications on my HTC Hero as well as uninstalling the GMail plug-in for Google Chrome. I will be checking emails on my terms in the future and limiting this to limited periods throughout my working day. I’ve also reorganised my approach to storing research as well as the way I plan at school (now mainly through Google Docs). It’s going to be tricky to undo some of the ‘habits’ I’ve got into over the past couple of years, but I’m sure I can do it and be happier and more productive in the process.

I’m currently in the process of researching various types of Social Media and Networks for my MA research. I hope to build on some of the work I have written up recently in relation to New Literacy Studies and @ClassroomTweets.

It’s apparent from my classroom experience and reading that the simplicity of creating and updating content with Web 2.0 systems empowers readers to write – @ClassroomTweets has really made me realise this. But what the literature also tells us is that audience is key and that Web 2.0 allows users to create imagined audiences as well as real networks through social networking systems (SNS). Web 2.0 clearly allows users to create the web and collaborate. However, large proportions of schools (including my own) now use virtual learning environments (VLEs), where communication tools such as discussion forums, blogs and wikis usually serve single class instances – not a larger network. Furthermore, although content creators within a VLE can easily link to the outside Web, the reverse is not true, because inbound links are often blocked (Alexander, 2008). This really asks the question – how do you maintain conversations on either side of a password barrier?

I don’t have the answers, but I hope my current research helps to inform the debate. I’m currently in the process of looking at social networking systems such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare and the potential education and privacy issues that arise from them. Over the coming weeks I plan on writing a series of blog posts that explore different social media as well as reporting my overall findings at the end of the project. For now I’m going to leave you with the excellent ‘A Vision of Students Today’ video which really highlights the need to rethink education in the light of the impact of Web 2.0:

In recent months there has been a lot of concern and ambiguity over the current educational context, particularly in England. The introduction of free schools, academies and abolishment of BECTA have caused debate within the educational sector. We no longer have a new primary curriculum and the Primary National Strategies are practically no longer acknowledged. We are currently in a state of flux in education, of which I have had moments of concern and apprehension.

From a different perspective the current situation could be seen as a stage of excitement and innovation. While there are many inspiring teachers across the globe really pushing the boundaries on how they organise learning in (and out) of their classrooms it is now easier than ever for every teacher to do so. We are no longer tied to the national strategies and are being told to follow the guidance in the National Curriculum. While the statutory curriculum does have many flaws, the objectives can be interpreted in a very liberal way and allow for the development of many cross-curricular and projects that promote creative learning, collaboration and innovation. Set units of work are no more and the freedom to develop open-ended cross-curricular learning opportunities are now easier (and justifiable) as ever. That is, if we choose to. Over recent years I have felt that I have had to justify such projects and their educational worth – although this is always evident throughout the projects. Hopefully, this will no longer be the case.

Of course, researchers such as Crawford (2004) have highlighed that some teachers can become highly reliant on packaged curricular and that the technical control encoded within such curricula can de-skill teachers and result in changes in the way they interpret, plan and ‘deliver’ lessons. I hope that as educators, we embrace the current educational context with a renewed focus on classroom innovation. After all, it’s the choices that we make in the classroom which affects the futures of the children that we teach. There are no longer suggested pre-defined ways that requires us to teach in a certain way or indeed interpret curricula. We cannot change the past, but we can make a difference for the future with the decisions and choices that we make today. Hence, there is no fate, but what we make.

My article about the use of Twitter in Orange Class (@ClassroomTweets) was recently published in English 4-11. I have changed some of the ways in which we use Twitter even within the short time between writing and publication of the article. I plan on writing another more up-to-date reflection on how we have been using Twitter soon but in the meantime hopefully this will provide you with the context in which our work is based. As this is the first article I have ever had published I would value any comments or feedback as to what you think about it.

Using Twitter in the Primary Classroom by Martin Waller

After a year of using my HTC Hero, this post reflects on my use of Android and recommends apps that have become central to my life.

Up until last year I was not a huge user of mobile phones. I actually dislike speaking on the phone and send very few text messages. My main communications go through either social media or email. I used these sporadically on my ‘buggy’ Nokia N82 with varying success for 18 months. When it came to time to upgrade in July 2009 I explored other options instead of going for the next Nokia (Symbian OS) handset. The iPhone seemed very expensive and quite limited in terms of customisation (and I certainly like to make a phone fit with ‘me’) so looked at other options. After reading a few forums the term Android started to pop up. Still in it’s infancy (Android 1.5), it looked like it had promise, and included a limited selection of apps at the time such as third-party apps for Twitter and Facebook. I also liked the fact that the apps and social networks were not discrete and merged with each other as well as the OS being open source. I decided to take the plunge, ordered a HTC Hero, and never looked back.

What strikes me after using the phone for a year is how it acts as a gateway for the flow of information which I use in my life. All of my social networks, messaging and email activities converge through the handset in a synchronised and instant manner. It has become central to how I live and organise my life. The ‘YOU Campaign’ by HTC really sums up how these devices can become central to how you live and work in the world.

Over the course of the past year I have gone from knowing no one with an Android device to knowing more people with android devices than iPhones. It really shows how the platform has developed over the course of the year. What I want to do now in this post is share some of the apps that I have found to be very useful when using Android on my HTC Hero. I hope this helps any new Android users to get the best from their phone and possibly help more experienced users find a couple of new apps. Similarly I would be thrilled to hear of any recommendations of apps that you have (just leave a comment below).

Recommended Apps

Barcode Scanner – FREE

The first app you will need as it allows you to scan the QR codes of the apps in this blog post. It’s also very useful for scanning other QR codes and locating the information on the web.

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Twidroyd Pro (Formally Twidroid Pro) - $3.99 (FREE version also available)

I have tried most of the android Twitter clients over the course of the past year and have always gone back to Twidroyd Pro. It is extremely feature rich, customisable and effective. I prefer it over the limited official Twitter app and the stock HTC Peep app.

Notifications can be set up with multi-tasking to ensure that you will always be up to date with any replies or direct messages that you may receive. There is also multiple account support.

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mVideoPlayer - FREE (Ad-Free version available)

I was very disappointed with the video functionality and user interface on Android and felt it really fell short of the iPhone. However, I have recently discovered mVideoPlayer which offers outstanding playback features and extra goodies such as ‘Movie Poster’ mode for videos and IMDb search from within the app. I am no longer disappointed!

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NewsRoom – RSS News ($4.99)

It may seem pricey for a RSS News reader but the UI more than makes up for the price. The only downside is that it doesn’t sync with Google Reader. Another good choice is FeedR.

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Movies by Flixster - FREE

I’m a huge movies fan so I really enjoy using this app to read reviews about the latest releases and check cinema show-times. It also links with my Flixster account and allows me to rate movies on the go.

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Locale – $9.99

Bear with me and try to look past the high price of this app. Locale dynamically manages phone settings based on conditions, such as location and time. Plug-ins can also be installed to extend functionality. For example my HTC Hero automatically detects when I am at work and switches off the ringer between 9am and 3pm. When I’m at home Locale detects that and switches off the lock pattern on my phone – as soon as I go out it switches the security back on. All sounds are also switched off between 12.30am and 5.30am so my phone doesn’t wake me up. It’s one of the apps that makes life much easier and works quietly in the background.

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Astrid – FREE

Astrid is an very simple yet very effective task list manager. It syncs with Remember the Milk so you don’t have to pay $24 for their premium service.

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Pure Calendar Widget (Agenda) – 1.49 EURO

This is probably the most useful widget that I use on a day-to-day basis. This widget pulls all of the events from your Google Calendars and task list manager (such as Astrid or GTasks) and displays them in a handy widget. The settings are highly customisable and there are also a range of downloadable skins to choose from.

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Thompson Reuters News Pro – FREE

Forget Sky News (which uses A LOT of data by the way) and install this brilliant news application. The UI is also excellent and provides a clean interface for reading the news.

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eBooks by Kobo – FREE

I enjoy using eBook readers on my HTC Hero. I simply use Kobo because it was the first eBook store on Android and has a good selection of titles in the UK eBook store. Other apps such as Amazon Kindle are also good alternatives.

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National Rail - £4.99

Expensive but worth it if you do a lot of travelling. The live travel information has been a live-saver for me when I’ve been travelling by train.

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Google Goggles – FREE

The visual search app that amazed everybody at Google Teacher Academy UK is available on the Android Market!

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BetterCut - $1.99

As I mentioned at the start of this post I really like to customise my phones so this app has been really useful to me. BetterCut allows you to create custom icons for apps and processes on your android device. It also allows you to use icon packs (downloadble from the Market) to further customise your handset.

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Apps Organizer – FREE

Like the folders option in iOs4? Android has had that functionality for AGES!

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WaveSecure – ($19.90 per year)

I managed to get a free license for this while it was in BETA but would still recommend purchasing it. WaveSecure locates your phone from a web interface and allows you to lock and wipe your phone should it be lost or stolen.

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I will aim to continue to add more apps to this list as the months go on and possibly create a new page on this site if there is demand. Do suggest any other apps that you think should make the list!

When I first started my career in education I considered myself a technologist. I was interested in anything digital and used technology in my everyday life. I also loved teaching ICT. However as my time in the classroom and my increasing research work moved on I became more focused on the literacy-based view of technology and in particular the work of New Literacies Studies (Street, 1997; Pahl and Rowsell, 2005), Multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996) and Critical Literacy (Comber, 2001). I have always had an intense interest in educational technology but in recent years I have been primarily viewing it through the lense of a range of communitive systems in which we engage and create meaning in the world – in short technology is part and parcel of being literate.

Photograph by Lisa Thumann

It was with mixed feelings that I applied for Google Teacher Academy UK. I knew it was primarily focused on ‘edtech’ and would have a large proportion of delegates who were technologists. As part of the ‘New Literacies Gang’ I felt I might have been out of place. However, I was keen to learn more and see what Google had to say. I produced a one minute application video (below) and was thrilled to be accepted as one of 50 delegates from across the globe.

I went to ‘GTAUK’ with a very open mind, not knowing what to expect. Were Google going to preach to me? Was I required to command the word of Google after I was certified… I wasn’t sure. But in the end the day turned out to be one of the most inspiring, interesting and ‘tour de force’ professional development events I have ever attended. The sessions delivered by the likes of Lisa Thumann, Tom Barrett, Zoe Ross and Doug Belshaw were exceptional and the way that Google Apps for Education were presented was excellent – use what is right for you. As a teacher I was thrilled to discover lots of really creative ways of using apps such as Google Docs – for shared writing, collaborative poetry, assessment for learning as well as Google Maps for planning stories, mathematics and even plotting next year’s vegetable patch. As a New Literacies researcher Google offered many new ways in which multimodal and interactive media can be harnessed to promote a ‘new’ type of literacy in schools. Evidently Google has been instrumental in the development of many new literacy practices  in our lives and the fact that they have educational versions of their apps means that developing such web 2.0 practices in schools is much easier and safer. I look forward to sharing some of the ways Google Apps for Education can be used in the classroom with the teachers and researchers with whom I work.

What also struck me as a fundamentally inspiring and valuable part of the day was the fact that I got to meet so many great people. As a person  who has been out of the ‘tech’ network for a couple of years while focusing on New Literacy Studies I found it invaluable to speak and learn from so many different people from different backgrounds. It was a day of serious information overload but also well worth the mental effort required. It was probably a good thing that I went on holiday two days later and had the chance to reflect on what was a sensational event.

If you ever have the chance to attend a Google Teacher Academy then I highly recommend that you do. For more information visit:

http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

As part of my MA in New Literacy Studies I have been researching perceptions of literacy in relation the context of the original National Literacy Strategy. I will of course write a more in-depth post about my findings in due course but here is an initial report of what I discovered:

Grim reading isn’t it? Of course the framework has been renewed and offers a much more pluralist approach to literacy education. However, some schools do still use the original strategy AND remain loyal to it’s deeply conservative ideology. We really are at a fixed point in how literacy is defined and taught in schools. More soon.

I have always criticised the current government for the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy in Primary Schools and it’s narrow conception of literacy in society. I have always felt (and I’m not alone) that it reflected a certain ‘tradition’ of literacy and failed to adapt towards changing times. In 2006 I was pleased that the framework was renewed with a greater emphasis on speaking, listening and multimodality. Even aspects of film began to creep in – it was a step in the right direction.

The National Literacy Strategy was designed in the 1990s and subsequently renewed and adapted. Considerations were made and consultations led to a more appropriate framework to take into account the complexity and diversity of literacy in society. In contrast, the statutory National Curriculum which primary schools use, is now nearly twenty years out of date. It fails to reflect the global communication environment that we live in and has not been radically changed. I was therefore exceptionally pleased that the current Labour government were listening [again] and decided to review the entire primary curriculum led by Sir Jim Rose.

Sir Jim Rose actually did a good job of reviewing the curriculum and listened to a range of bodies, professionals and experts. I also worked with UKLA to write an evidence response for the primary review which highlighted the importance of digital technologies and new literacies in the curriculum which was considered and evident in the final report. The published areas for learning were appropriate and the guidance reflected a curriculum for the modern world. It was a big step in the right direction.

However, now that a general election has been called I have just discovered a rather alarming piece of information on the DCSF website regarding amendments that have been make to a recent bill of parliament. The following part of the bill has been blocked by opposition parties:

Reform of the primary curriculum – the reforms to the primary curriculum, following Sir Jim Rose’s extensive expert review, provide greater flexibility for schools to tailor teaching to the needs and interests of their children while also focusing on the basics of literacy, numeracy and ICT. [Source]

This therefore means that the new primary curriculum, a curriculum that reflects the changing communicative landscape of our society, has now been put on hold. After further investigation, mainly through outraged educationalists on Twitter, I have discovered that it is actually the Conservative party who have blocked the bill. They feel that their actions have blocked more bureaucracy for teachers. Could this be the same party who recently went on record to say:

“Most parents would rather their children had a traditional education, with children sitting in rows, learning the kings and queens of England, the great works of literature, proper mental arithmetic, algebra by the age of 11, modern foreign languages. That’s the best training of the mind and that’s how children will be able to compete” [Michael Grove, Shadow Children's Secretary - Source]

Sitting in rows immediately screams out ‘individuality’ and lack of collaboration – something which was a huge problem with the first National Literacy Strategy. The same party also want to ‘tell’ teachers what to teach via so-called experts who have never been in a classroom and have no idea about how children learn. They also stated:

“Academies which are not bound by the national curriculum and have freedom from bureaucratic intervention in running their schools have raised standards in some of the most deprived areas in the country” [Source]

This is all terribly contradictory and highlights how distanced politicians can be from the classroom. One the one hand the party are saying that they want to ask experts to decide on what teachers should teach and how they should do it. On the other hand they suggest that a more effective model would be to not use the national curriculum at all.

I am actually more concerned about the ‘traditionalist’ method of schooling the Conservatives want to introduce with children sitting in rows to ‘learn’ (probably by rote) poems and facts [Source]. Myself and other colleagues from the organisations such as the United Kingdom Literacy Association have worked tirelessly to promote the need to take account of new literacy practices in the classroom. We maintain that traditional aspects of literacy are still relevant and, indeed, important but by no means sufficient to provide children with the skills they need to participate in today’s society.

I have always looked at the changing horizons of literacy education in a positive light but this news suggests that a devastating storm is brewing.

One of my main areas of interest/despair is the way in which the National Literacy Strategy has led to a narrow conception of what literacy actually is and how it should be taught in schools. I regularly talk about the way the strategy has focused on the acquisition of print-based decoding skills, completely ignoring multimodal analysis/production skills (even speaking and listening), which has in turn led teachers to believe that the idea of ‘schooled-literacy’ is the correct one. Of course we know that children bring different ways of looking at the world into the classroom through their experience of home, school, friendships, technologies and understanding of the world and the domains in which they move. In their cultures they experience a multiplicity of meaning making systems through, for example, social networking systems, text messaging, blogging and online gaming – most of which are ignored in the school curriculum. The renewed framework for teaching literacy (2006) did try to fix some of this but I fear that lasting damage has already been done.

What has also concerned me is that the original National Literacy strategy led to the creation of packaged schemes of work or ‘strategies for immediate impact’ on attainment to meet national standards through the teaching of specific ‘parts’ of writing. Such approaches conceptualise literacy as a set of discrete skills that can be taught in isolation, regardless of context. These dominant frameworks originate from the discipline of educational psychology and translate into reductionist pedagogical frames which promote teacher-centred transmission models of literacy curriculua (Larson and Marsh, 2005). A far cry from the literacy that children experience in their everyday life.

I have been reading, with great interest, the theory of New Literacy Studies which conceptualises literacy as a social practice rather than a progression of technical skills. New Literacy Studies recognises multiple literacies, varying across time and space (Street, 1984; 1997; 2003). Street has used the term ‘autonomous literacy’ which he suggests sees literacy in a reductionist manner in which it can be taught in similar ways across varying contexts in a value-free form, despite the very different needs and experiences of learners (Larson and Marsh, 2005). While the dominant models of literacy are not completely context-free I believe that such models or ‘quick-fix’ strategies towards ‘improving’ writing attainment compartmentalise writing into discrete skills and represent an autonomous view of literacy. Furthermore such strategies, or indeed packaged curricula, can realign the teacher as a ‘deliverer’ in the classroom and significantly alter their conception of literacy (see Crawford, 2004).

Street contrasts autonomous literacy with the notion of ‘ideological literacy’ which recognises multiple literacies rather than one standard literacy and that use of these literacies creates engagement with the real world and wider networks (Hall, 1998). In this sense literacy is not a single, essential thing with predictable consequences. It requires students to be able to discuss the basic choices being made in the kind of literacy they are learning (Street, 1997). Within this paradigm the role of digital technologies is therefore not on technical skills or adding technology as a ‘bolt-on’ but rather the cultural and critical ramifications of technology in society (Pahl and Rowsell, 2005). As a result the notion of embedding technology into the literacy curriculum becomes central to NLS. Digital technologies bring with them new text types that are, like many other texts of popular culture, multilayered and multifaceted. Therefore their place in the literacy curriculum becomes central.

This all seems so obvious. However, New Literacy Studies has failed to move significantly away from theory. It still seems distanced from the classroom, perhaps even misguided. Can literacy be truly ideological? Researchers of NLS use the concept of literacy events and practices to look at what people do with literacy and how they can inform educational practice. Literacy events were established by Heath as an occasion where written text and talk around that text constructs interpretations, extensions and meanings (Health, 1983). Street then expanded this idea to suggest that all literacy events have literacy practices embedded within them. He defines literacy practices as cultural practices in which the use of reading and/or writing are associated with given contexts (Street, 1997). There is a call for literacy events in schools to be meaningful and linked to real-world contexts – but how meaningful can they be if they were constructed and designed by a class teacher? That surely removes an element of authenticity?

In my next blog post I will talk about how New Literacy Studies can be applied to the classroom and build on work I will present at the ESRC Seminar Series on Virtual Worlds in May.

It’s been a long time since I posted on this blog – a reflection of my increased/hectic workload over the past weeks. In addition to this I have been without internet access for the whole first weekend of my half-term break.

Anyway, today I went to see one of the most charming films I have ever seen – Ponyo. It was written/animated/directed by the incredible Hayao Miyazaki, who created masterpieces such as My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle – films which I have used in the classroom before with great effect. Words can’t really describe Ponyo, but I did think this snippet of a review from the NY Times which came close:

The two were separated — as fated characters invariably are — but she’s found him. Now, as she races along the surface of huge peaking waves she has summoned up by the force of her power, Ponyo is expressing not only her bliss, but also ours [Source]

It really is an absolute marvel and pleasure to watch – it had much more impact than seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D. Go and see it now!