Assessment part 2 Future-Oriented Teaching and Learning.

Why did I make this change to my Practise?
I've been a Teacher long enough to recognise and agree change is part of the Teaching /Educational arena as we try to keep up with changes in our society. Coming through the Industrial, then Technology and now the Knowledge Age. I have to admit being once again excited by the possibilities of the future, yet honest enough to feel at times daunted by the process. To cope and  to achieve, I feel you have to at first, move forward one step at a time. Mindlab is one of those steps! Since July, I have now included Technology in "Flipped Learning' for my class, revisited the Key competencies and used augmented  reality in a discovery based format, and Class Dojo for videos to frontload ideas for class work. This also prepared a pathway for Parents to see, and begin to understand more of why education needs to change for their children

How was this change triggered?
The existing delivery of Learning wasn't working for me at school and certainly not meeting the needs of the students I taught. Over the last 10 years the exponential growth in knowledge I have witnessed in society and now in schools has been the catalyst I feel, for the changes we are beginning to see. Technology has never been so accessible and I'm fortunate to work in a school that supports this move, with most homes having access to devices. However I found the exposure to Technology has been (especially in the homes) a form of babysitting, without any consideration of content their children were being exposed to. Bad habits were forming and social skills were weakening...
Another thing I have also seen is the "diminishing time lapse" we have as individuals to answer, process, reflect  or consider issues before commitment is expected.  The essential skills to function as a Team player, be a supportive / positive individual  and yet still hold onto Identity and self belief have also diminished.  However this is being addressed in the revisiting of competencies in the  21st Century skills and this was one of the drivers for me when talking to colleagues who had completed Mindlab previously.

Literature that supports Change.
“A future-oriented learning system requires that all those involved in education are involved in continuous learning” (Bolstad et al., 2012). When reading this article and in particular this quote, it made me realise just how different my role in the classroom is now. Where once I was the Teacher, giving and planning the knowledge delivered. Now we have become the Facilitators of our students learning, by being there to promote, support and offer guidance in their personalised learning.   If we  don't continually upskill and learn alongside them,  we will become irrelevant in our contributions in the classroom. We need to model to our students being  " life long learners,"  by having an open mindset to change and embrace new pedagogy to support this. We can empower the student by modeling how to embrace change, and being solution orientated when faced with Real World Problems as covered in this article.edutopia.org/practice/real-world-problem-solving-project-based-
solutions Nov 10,2015. 

The Change for Me.
My Journey with Mindlab has made me more aware of the changes in Society and the momentum technological change has given it. I'm more attuned to media (as the referenced article from the New Zealand Herald) showed me change is becoming more mainstream and discussed. Still challenged by Twitter, but I do use Whats App groups personally for groups, facebook for educational groups and google+ for sharing with colleagues. I feel more confident about future moves in education and optimistic about it catering for future generations coming through.

"While we can't be part of their future , we can help them be prepared for it "

www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11948171&ref=twitter
https://www.edutopia.org/practice/real-world-problem-solving-project-based-
solutions Nov 10,2015. 
Ministry of Education.(2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306