Thursday, August 14, 2008

Leadership and Management in UK

Some of the educational bloggers I follow have been blogging about management and leadership this week - must be that back to school week. see John and Don Leddingham

Meanwhile I have just been at meetings with industry and standards setting bodies who blame decline on education mmm is this Six Degrees of Separation or more likely they are already looking at the changes that need to come in management and leadership across industry.

A good place to look are the national occupational standards NOS in UK for management and leadership these are developed by the Management Standards Centre. We use these standards as basis for awards in Scotland and rest of UK and we work closely with the Chartered Management Institute to make sure our HN awards lead to Chartered Manager Status.

I attended a rather entertaining launch of some new standards in London on Wednesday here are the main points from the morning. Making UK Management and Leadership Skills World Class by 2020: Pioneering Change

In reverse order from twitter (slightly edited with other notes from day)

It started out in quite a focused way and by end - well it's all the fault of teachers and television.

But some useful nuggets - I've not checked these "facts"

On serious note we have some recognised serious shortcomings across the Scottish public and private sectors and we are going to see what else can be done about this and that was why my journey was necessary.

Joe Wilson
Television finally getting blame for promoting bullying and poor values The Apprentice and Devils Den and the swearing chefs not good role models
Joe Wilson lesson from this morning give people around you continual opportunities to step up and take risks manage challenges
Joe Wilson where do children learn to be leaders in todays schools ? not enough challenge
Joe Wilson leadership and management failures in UK being piled at education's doors. Grumpy corporate rotters or is this insight ??
Joe Wilson despite credit crunch stilll queues for private schools in london and across UK in Sweden money follows learner this drives up standards
Joe Wilson or driven by a lack of values and attitudes to learning there is no simple answer
Joe Wilson current school system (england) "only" fails 54pc of young people this is higher than anywhere in the developed world. A scandal and driven by academic snobbery
Joe Wilson do you do intense leadership coaching with all staff and offer rewards on how on well they develop the next leaders
Joe Wilson have you got staff who are able to "not take " or opt out of responsibility for what they do from beginning to end if so redesign work
Joe Wilson don't do top down plans they don't work
Joe Wilson good example of mindmaps rather than using business reports massive added value in large corporation over night
Joe Wilson still problem at policy level in UK we are too arrogant to look at rest of world
Joe Wilson UK low esteem and a lack of pride in achievement and too many managers who don't have proper values , aspirations or goals in private and public sector - ouch
Joe Wilson leadership and risk has to be in our industries context but we should all take more risk
Joe Wilson chinese best qualified managers and good at identifying their weaknesses deep understanding of skillsets required UK USA too complacent
Joe Wilson if you are not growing next leaders in your company or in your industry - serious problems with your leadership and your industry
Joe Wilson leaders need constant challenge and validation and should never be too busy to think - reflection should be regular
Joe Wilson we learn leadership by doing it and being open to challenges not through courses or qualifications How do you move staff around no comfort zones if you want to grow managers and leaders??
Joe Wilson There are no low tech industries but there are too many low tech organisations in the UK

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Web2 in China

As we do more business in China we realise how much we still have to learn about it.

This is an eye opening slideshare
I culled from Read Write Web. We successfully export qualifications to China's top vocational Universities . The speed of change in China is unbelievable I hope some of the predictions made at January's Economist Conference don't come true.
One I didn't mention is that the Yen is devalued to combat rampant inflation following the Olympics.

Handbook of Online China


Hao ! In the spirit of drilling down the dynamics of the Internet in China , We have published a data filled , action packed slideshow “Handbook of Online China” on the eve of Beijing Olympics inauguration . The report focus on three key themes - China as an online leader , China Insider - the competitive landscape in Search, Web 2.0 & Business in Online China - that are essentially key indicators of the ongoing development of the dynamic Internet market in China.




Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Dream Career Ahead For Former Roofer

Phew another results day and with the support of 11,000 Scottish teachers in the actual process all is well. Worth noting that in SQA most of our staff and all of our appointees come from Scottish schools and not from some other bureaucratic planet.

But story I liked best today was this one.

This is a great story and reflects what I see everyday in vocational learning. I still miss being in Colleges and working with learners. I am worried at moment that we have forgotten that education in is about helping folks earn a living and to help them find self fulfilment and these are not mutually exclusive.

Vocational applied things have been squeezed out of schools for too long. I guess barring a proper writing for media course many other vocational areas would involve too large health and safety risks and the challenges of having teaching staff who teach passed the theory of any area.
Schools will need to transform or work much more closely with Colleges if they are going to meet the aspirations of their customers.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Popfly

Just had an email to ask
What do you think about the above as a resource in enabling the games element of the Curriculum for Excellence ? eg Should we use this in our classrooms in Scotland.
Specifically game creator module.
I'm passing around a few folks inside SQA but happy if anyone spots this on Scotedublogs for comment.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

JISC Research on What Students do in UK HE

Headline links to some nice research on how ICT is being used in Higher Education
(count Colleges in this )

At a glance: key findings
80% of students use social networking sites regularly
73% use social networking sites to discuss coursework with other students
Of these, 75% think such sites are enhancing their learning
75% are able to use their own computer on all of their university's systems
87% feel university life is as, or better than, expected in terms of technology

Does our school system prepare learners for this environment ? - do they need preparation ?

Think there are still some doing academic research in some local authorities on why we should use this new fangled stuff with learners in schools - I guess the researchers will come from same universities where these changes are happening.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Hunger


Hunger
Originally uploaded by Josh Sommers
Still working through emails piled up, some from before I took my annual leave and enjoying making my own musical mixes from seeqpod as I plough through stacks of work.

As we move to society where I can click to my favorite track on Internet - access videos when I want through i-player or others - and as I build a list of web sites and gizmo's that I couldn't live without .. starting with wireless access - and of course share all this wonderful stuff..

Our shame is that there are still families in this world living on a dollar a day and this week I see staple food prices have climbed above this . Puts a lot of our posturing on educational issues ..in a harsh light .. is education really about enlightenment and social justice ?

I was told this was going to happen at an economic conference in January

Hey I blogged about it ;-(
Do the starving blog ?

Thanks to Josh Summers for image

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Myers Briggs Indicators


Myers Briggs Indicators
Originally uploaded by joecar80
I have done this exercise twice as a College Manager , once as a manager with the Scottish Further Education Unit and I used to teach the stuff. Earlier this year we profiled all the Business Managers in SQA.

Here are MyersBriggs indicators of all SQA Business Managers - have a look at how we all tick . A google for Myers Briggs and ENTJ or other factors give you some interesting statements on how we ought to operate.

Next time star signs ;-)

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

I've Got A Jar of Dirt Remix Video

Hey Pirates - irritatingly clever and look at all the creative follow ups.

The Pirate's Dilemma

Punk inspired people to do and create everything themselves ..
Rip it up and start again..
Don't accept the old order..
The way information flows in public spaces is changing..
None of this is new .. but it's on youtube now

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Edupunks



Just back from an early summer holiday and back to a full on week just catching up with things - I was amused by this and references in last few weeks to edupunks on a few blogs. John Connell being closest to home. I thought most educators were really just sad (old) or wannabe hippies - the debate is relevant in that change cannot come fast enough - (Punk response in the 70's was simply to put superglue in the school's locks)
This version from Edtechie can be viewed with annotations on Youtube site -sums up the debate well and comes from the OU - open toed sandals clearly in the past and is neat demo of how annotation tool works within YouTube.

At least it's not Eduprog , Eduhip , Edugoth - imagine the 10hour spaceship filled psychedelic pointlessness - (is this educationalists blogging ??) -Anyway begs the question - who knows the best place for the superglue ? ;-)

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Ofcom Website | Conference coverage

We work closely with Ofcom.

Their excellent papers over last few years highlighting that our population needed to switch from being consumers to being more confident creators in the web2 world and their work around Internet safety have inspired some of our developments.

Interesting coverage of conference on International Media Literacy - useful for debate on curriculum for excellence

Ofcom Website | Conference coverage

Friday, May 30, 2008

National Progression Award and Adobe

They have got it in Islay and they are offering training in how you do it in Fife, at Adam Smith College.

You'd like a course that covers web design, is supported by learning and teaching materials , is platfom independent , could lead to Adobe Certification for some candidates , comes in three units and offers progression into National Certificate and other vocational awards in a College .

Web Design Fundamentals SCQF Level 5 is the one you should have a look at.

Now if only we could get centres between Islay and Kirkaldy to pick up this information.
It's great to see DIVA in action.

I am sure this information will be available from lots of sources but if you want some training
24 – 25th June 2008.
The Adam Smith College, as part of the DIVA initiative, is offering 2 days of training in Adobe products to help teaching staff prepare for delivering the NPA Web Design and associated units. The courses will focus on the relevant Adobe software tools and also provide an opportunity to discuss delivery and assessment with staff who have developed or delivered the units.
Open to college and school staff, cost is £50 per person per day and includes lunch. Venue is Adam Smith College, Stenton Campus, Glenrothes.
Please contact Colin Maxwell for bookings or further details. 01592 223719. colinmaxwell @ adamsmith.ac.uk (please remove spaces from e-mail)
Tuesday 24th June
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 – preparation for F181 11 Web Design Fundamentals, and F182 11 Web Design and Development.
Wednesday 25th June
Adobe Flash CS3 – preparation for F180 11 Interactive Multimedia for Website Development.
_,_._.,___
View on the web Transfer elsewhere Respond on the web
NCDMC: http://ncdmc.jiglu.com/

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Beginning of end or end of the Beginning

Books on demand production costs - 5p per copy - Interesting story about the author with most books on Amazon

Philip Parker

Now if learners had access to these algorithms -
Then maybe we could focus on what you do with knowledge rather than the facts on their own.

I have no idea how readable these books are - but if it saves you time researching the market for wooden toilet seats in Japan .. worth a look, the beginning of a shift in how we manage and access information.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

JISC and JORUM

Yesterday I had a very early start for a JISC JORUM steering group . Those who work in College sector will know all about JISC and the services they provide . I just wanted to capture some of what is happening in one UK University.

The norm is for main lectures to be Videoed and are available as web streams. These can be accessed by students in satellite centres on other continents.


500 podcast lecture library is also available to learners.


They have a repository that contains lots of images and film footage digitised from a range of sources used for variety of purposes in lecture theatres or in the Virtual Learning Environment.


Through JISC they subscribe to many other collections , academic journals and other learning resources nationally and internationally.


They have problems with what to do with all the digital material they are building up - eg student concerts from the music department


They have some projects running in High Performance Computing area that are very bandwidth and storage hungry.


Faced with the digital deluge they are researching a data storage strategy.


Being Academics they are very concerned with Archiving but are never sure where to stop.


They use an Eprints repository and have a publications reporting strategy that automates their RAE returns ( captures and publishes research publications from all the academics on campus) .


The academic community make increasing use of local and national repositories mainly for research but increasingly for teaching and learning.


They have a search tool that allows searches across their Virtual Learning Environment, EPrints, the library catalogue and their learning object respository.


They may move sophistication of this out to i-google or some other external tool to open their meta data to others and improve local searches further.


They have been building intelligent classrooms that can utilise these resources with learners .


Soon they may do an MIT and release freely a lot of their learning and teaching materials.


The feeling is that as the momentum has grown so Research , learning and teaching have moved closer together.


They have a lot of student, learner generated content and are not sure how to manage this.


They have a "dead professor problem" - identity management issues across the institution some staff have multiple idents and Shibboleth authentication has not sorted this out yet.

They have now come to expect most students will arrive with a wireless laptop and expect access to all of the Universities services on campus and off campus 24/7


It's not the same everywhere and will vary a lot institution to institution and department to department even in a single university - but I thought this was a neat summary of a University that has got it and what learners get when they arrive at a University near you.

Colleges are couple of steps behind but sometimes stronger on Virtual Learning Environment implementation. Eight years working with JISC and the changes have been phenomenal . UKERNA delivers the backbone for GLOW.

Rattled this off on the train home last night sorry if it looks horrible

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Little Britain Carol Sketch

Interesting and yet depressing debate over what schools in Scotland's 32 local authorities can and cannot access. Reflected in these postings

Ewan McIntosh and here

Andrew Brown

Jim Henderson

I should not have said schools I should have said learners and teachers. Those who wish to access the system for learning don't have the controls.

This issue is as old as the hills or at least as old as folks became aware that this could all be controlled. IBM counted keystrokes at one time as a measure of productivity maybe this could be used as a benchmark for educational computing ;-) t00.

It is so very "Little Britain" - "computer says no" and sets a fantastic example to teachers and learners on the flexibility of access to IT and probably does nothing to educate anyone about the dangers that do lurk on the unmoderated and unfiltered internet that we can all access in normal life. There is an institutional cowardice around this on a national scale at moment. But at least it means everyone in "education" has a clear conscience.

The filtering also hampers communication and prevents teachers becoming involved in national developments - some local authorities cannot access the SQA computing blog or other user groups - another reason that Glow cannot come fast enough. When computers say yes more often in schools we will finally get the majority of learners and teachers engaging with this medium around the serious ;-) business of learning. I hope this will at last provide fairly uniform access to the net ( with the exception of certain bits which will ofcourse strictly observe the Sabbath ;-) )

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

PMOG, Creepy treehouses and Mobile Phones

I have been having fun with PMOG ( passively multiplayer on-line game) over the last two years or so. It is not quite a game more a fun take on what I spend my time looking at on the web - it is more fun than i-Google history.

There is quite an interesting debate on the public/private face of web2 developing on John Connell's blog. Creepy treehouse could be a goth band ( probably is). It is really all about being appropriate in your conduct and communications. As a learner I would find it creepy if the school wanted my mobile phone number - I'd need a pretty good explanation and maybe even some bribe before I'd let this space be invaded by learning or worse .. teachers.. The mobile learning brigade would not endorse this.- though nobody has ever explained to me who pays for the texts or web phones ?

Though I have to say both as a pupil and a teacher I witnessed some "creepy treehouse" conduct long before the advent of the web. There is some really sensible ethics emerging in this debate around both engaging learners and the yawning digital divide which is still there.

Worth a look before you add your entire address list to that new web2 application that you really like or invite lots of folk to manipulate some on-line system that they don't understand.
Every one has rights and the Creepy TreeHouse isn't just in learner space.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

LearningTown

I have followed Elliot Masie since the mid 1990's - periodically reading his weekly postings.
I have just joined this on-line community and was instantly pleased to see a lot of kindred spirits .
It may be a bit techie for some - but this looks like an interesting experiment in those who are interested in on-line learning , social web , web 2 and can see that it spans school , college and the workplace - the life long learning thing.

It looks as though Learning Town has already built some critical mass. Worth a look if you are interested in all of the above . Gordon McLeod of Learndirect has already started a Scottish Connection Community.

Scotland Glowing

A great article in today's Herald on Glow. My wish is that we move faster at getting SQA inegrated into the system. We have a lot of goodies that could only be improved by sharing with school community ( especially internet safety and social software stuff) and for a Curriculum for Execellence it offers the perfect platform for designing the individualised programmes and assessments with teachers and I hope pupils . Hope we can report progress here soon.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Next Generation of Qualifications

We finally get underway with the consultation on new shape of assessment at SCQF 3- 5 in schools - the next bit of a Curriculum for Excellence.

The maelstrom has just started . The comments on this report in Scotsman shows that it will be as hard as ever to reach a consensus on what replaces standard grade . This is the fourth time I have worked through this bit of the system being reformed .

If we answer criticisms in recent OECD study we will deliver for Scottish Learners. Laurie summarises issues well here

It is a shame that study did not take a look at vocational education out with schools in FE Colleges - I think the answer still lies there for many of our young folks 16-18 who simply outgrow school and need new challenges - I hope whatever fills the gap re-engages these learners.

I have watched schools in Glasgow where I worked in FE cast off hordes of very able youngsters who were simply bored and disengaged by their schooling. That was of course in the last century.
I wonder if anyone has told Primary Six yet ;-) 2012/13 is their time

Social Bookmarking Arrives on SQA Website

Find something you like on SQA website - the finding still may be a challenge (there's a lot of stuff) - and now you can share it through del.icio.us , digg , facebook , reddit

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Internet Safety and Future of Computing

An excellent article and an excellent leader in last week's TES on the Internet Safety Award . Some schools and Colleges have already adopted it as a course delivered to all of their learners , Strathclyde and other Scottish Police Forces have adopted it and we are attracting centres from other parts of the world too.


Well done to Bobby Elliott and the HN/SVQ Computing Team

I hope many of the other challenges that computing is facing in the school sector are addressed through the new technologies draft outcomes . There is a general panic in industry around the lower numbers taking computing in the University system . We have been monitoring this closely see earlier posting numbers have been holding up on the vocational side of things but always room for improvement and through our Qualification Support Teams we continually update our offerings working with Industry.

Monday, April 07, 2008

What Price National Assessment ?

We are in the middle of reviewing one part of our National Assessment system through a
Curriculum for Excellence . The new system will be based on what is best for learners . There is
an interesting debate in the following pieces from the BBC , the Guardian and The Times and
covered elsewhere in press on the escalating costs of the exam system south of the border.

It is worth looking south to see what the system becomes when there are multiple commercial companies selling exam services in the schools and vocational education space. Shouldn't this
mean that prices should be going down ? There will be a economist out there who can explain
this I am sure.

There is some irony that the regulator QCA had to do a study of this kind to get this data. We are
similarly in dark on prices for NVQs and VRQs that are being charged in the vocational sector -hope they do a study on prices in that sector next.

As a public servant involved in delivering this service I should probably be quaking in my boots
in the face of private money delivering the exam system south of the border. I'm not. There is
room for improvement but we don't have challenges on this scale. Privatisation does mean you
can make big profits on delivering services like this Mmmm? The Times . However, it is more
complex than Private Greed versus Public Good - food for thought.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Skills Development Scotland

Skills Development Scotland http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/ Skills Development Scotland is formally launched today (Tuesday 1 April). The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop MSP, announced in September 2007 that Careers Scotland, Scottish University for Industry, and key skills elements in Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise would be brought together to form a new single skills body to take forward and deliver on the vision set out in the Scottish Government's skills strategy 'Skills for Scotland'

This is big news for us and for the many learners and training providers in workbased learning.We have always managed to maintain a sensible approach to life long learning in Scotland . To date we have managed to avoid the chaos that is happening south of the border -remarkable given the very open market in Scotland . We have managed to develop a uniform unitised system with clear progression routes in most vocational areas.

Reflected well in these pieces from the Guardian "Government to axe City and Guild courses " , " Hundreds of qualifications for teenagers likely to go in vocational diploma reforms "

The official announcement is here