Lee Davies

After expressing my intent I received an email letting me know it had been received and that the professional formation webfolio template was now available within REfLECT.  Indeed it was – just had to go to ‘My Pages’ on the IfL website, login and go to the REfLECT tab.  Once in REfLECT I found the professional formation webfolio template on the ‘tools’ button.

Note: I still need to download the ‘declaration of suitability’ form, complete it and send it to IfL.  At the moment this cannot be done within REfLECT as it needs a signature to confirm that the information is correct.  Must remember to do this soon, otherwise it will delay the process.

It’s also a good time to be thinking about who will be supporting the application.  Knowing the supporter’s membership number is useful, as this makes it really easy to look up in REfLECT.  The supporter doesn’t get notification at this stage, mainly because the webfolio is still open for completion and it may be that circumstances change, so well worth dropping the person an email to let them know you have started the process and nominated them.

First big task is stage 3 of the webfolio template.  Need evidence here of a teaching qualification, higher education qualification (if appropriate) and also evidence for the level 2 numeracy and literacy requirements – you need to scroll down to see these elements.  Just a matter of scanning my Cert Ed certificate, MA (Education) certificate and also my O Level Maths and English certificates.  Phew – I have all of those so scanned them and uploaded them – very easy.

If I didn’t have evidence for numeracy or literacy, the system offers me the opportunity to provide a narrative account of how I meet the standards (guidance on IfL website).  This is probably best done as a word document which is then uploaded to the webfolio in much the same way as attaching a certificate.  A thought came to me when thinking about this.  Given the many Word file formats now, I think I will convert all documents to a PDF file format using one of the many free online conversion tools (PrimoPDF is good), as this will make it a lot easier for the reviewer and will also stop the accidental changes that can happen when working with live Word documents.

Don’t forget stage 3 is the time to say if you teach skills for life – you will need to choose the ‘I don’t teach skills for life’ option here, unless you have evidence that you meet the subject qualification requirements for skills for life.

That’s the first three stages completed – took about 20 minutes or so, including scanning the certificates.  Now on to stage 4 – my ‘teaching biography’.  Think this will be a little more difficult, I’ll post a link to it here when I’ve finished it.

Well, I’ve only gone and done it!

A few days ago I spent the day with some brilliant teachers at Guernsey College looking at ‘professional formation’ and how to use REfLECT to build an eportfolio to support the application for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status (QTLS).  I was so inspired by their enthusiasm for demonstrating how they use the knowledge and skills developed in teacher training in their practice that I immediately expressed my intent to start professional formation.  So now the clock is ticking.

To be fair, it is something I have been meaning to do for some time.  When we introduced IfL’s personal learning space and eportfolio, REfLECT, I used the webfolio tools to tell the story of my professional formation.  The resulting web portfolio was very much the template for the eventual scaffolding that was created in REfLECT to support professional formation – so I am, in a small way, responsible for the engineering of the process.  This means I have all of the evidence, well – much of it, and now need to take the time to order it and make sure I cover all of the criteria.

In discussing this with colleagues, they thought it would be a good idea for me to blog about my experiences.  I hope that the resulting blog can become a resource for others undertaking professional formation for either QTLS or ATLS status.  So it is now a case of ‘watch this space’ as I build my eportfolio and share the experience with you.

Wish me luck!!

Last week I was taking a stroll through Facebook when number three son updated his status: ‘what is the Berlin crisis?’  Now, I nearly didn’t see this as it was sandwiched between umpteen Formspring comments, a couple of comments about ‘birds’ (he is fifteen and no ‘ornithologist’) and the regular abusive comments he and his friends seem to enjoy.  Intrigued, I replied:

“most obvious would be the tension between the, then, USSR and America (well the West, but essentially the States) over Berlin, which ultimately led to the partition of the city through the construction of the Berlin wall.”

Turns out he is studying the Cold War as his final year history project before taking his GCSEs in the summer.  What followed was a deep conversation, part in public on his wall involving some of his friends and part through direct messages, about this period of modern history, so real to me as I remember just how much the Cold War and acceleration of the nuclear capacity caused me anxiety when I was his age.  We meandered through Berlin, Cuba and the Prague Spring and, as he had to set the Cold War in the context of current American foreign policy, discussed similarities between post WWII tensions between ‘East and West’ and the increase in tension between fundamental Christian doctrine and Islamic fundamentalism under the Bush administration.  This went on for a good hour and involved lots of searching for good reference points to support the various arguments.
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The cover of today’s Metro (25 August 2010) makes for interesting reading.  In the ‘briefs’ section alongside pointless stories about the X Factor and Big Brother are two tantalising glimpses of what lies within the paper.  The first is the fact that the GCSE pass rate has hit an all time high with 69 percent of results at grade C or better.  This is followed by a link to new research indicating that the use of the internet, in particular social networking, is reducing the ability to think or concentrate.  The irony is not lost on me, if only sub-editors had the ability to think. (more…)

I’m afraid I don’t buy into any proposition presenting technology or the use of social media and web 2.0 technologies as new pedagogies, anymore than the introduction of paper and ink.  We should not confuse the way we learn with the medium we choose to channel learning through. I’ll support this by looking to ‘critical pedagogy’.  Ira Shor described critical pedagogy in terms of “habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning”, Paulo Freire employed this approach to learning in challenging domination through thinking critically about their situation.

Now, if anything social media has opened up the opportunities for individuals and communities to challenge society and beliefs; critical pedagogy for the masses.  Has the fundamental pedagogical ideology changed?  I’d argue no.  What has changed is the way individuals and groups optimise technology through pedagogy.  Let us not confuse the how and why people learn with communication tools they employ to make it effective.

The important message is not to sacrifice pedagogy on the altar of technology. (more…)

If you overlook the fact that it is grammatically incorrect, this is the title of the lunchtime panel debate at world of learning, a two day conference in 2010 aimed at ‘learning and development professionals’.

Now I don’t profess to be an expert when it comes to social media, but I do know a bit about learning and I get really frustrated when I hear technology enabled learning being described as ‘the new pedagogy’.  It isn’t.  Would you attend a seminar entitled ‘pen and paper: is there a place in learning?’  No, nor would I.

As teachers (trainers, tutors ….. learning and development professionals) it is not for us to decide what extent social media have a place in learning.  If learners are actively engaged in online spaces and are using these to share the experiences we provide, they have made the decision for us.  Our job is to discover how we can harness the technologies our learners own and use.
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Well, I did just this at the recent teaching and learning conference when a question was posed from the floor: “how can we incorporate things such as Facebook and YouTube into our teaching, when learners spend time chatting to friends?”

I wonder if the same was said when those early innovative teachers first started to use pencil and paper, rather than slate: “how can we possibly use this new fangled paper, when students can fold it up and pass messages to each other?” (more…)

Congratulations to the brilliant team at Pebble Learning for picking up the 2010 IMS Global Learning Impact Award … not just any award, Pebble only went and made Platinum.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch or, indeed, a better personal learning space.

Want to see Pebble’s winning submission … it’s here.

Want to find out more about the IMS awards … look here.

An interview for Policy Review TV on how the coalition government’s plans for addressing the economy could impact on teaching and learning in further education.

An interview for Policy Review TV in advance of the 2010 Teaching and Learning Conference.