http://weelookang.blogspot.sg/2011/06/school-leader-seminar-2011-nus-faculty.html

Briefing Document: Open Educational Resources & Open Source Physics in Singapore (2011)

Introduction:

This document summarizes the key themes and ideas presented in the transcript of a 2011 School Leader Seminar focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Source Physics (OSP) in Singapore. The seminar, held at the National University of Singapore (NUS), explored how these resources can be leveraged to enhance teaching, learning, and assessment practices in the 21st century. The core message revolves around moving beyond traditional, fact-based education towards a model emphasizing knowledge creation, self-directed learning, and collaborative learning.

Main Themes & Key Ideas:

1. Shifting Educational Paradigms: The seminar heavily emphasizes a need for educational reform, moving from:

• Acquisition to Creation: The traditional focus on rote learning and "factual accuracy" needs to shift towards enabling students to become "creators" of knowledge.
• "Acquisition Deepening Creation Policies workers managers creators"
• Information Delivery to Open-Ended Problem Solving: Pedagogy should move from simply delivering information to engaging students in "open-ended real-world problems."
• "Pedagogy information delivered open-ended real-world problems, internship build on knowledge, explore new topics, generate knowledge products, communicate with experts global ones."
• Recall to Performance-Based Assessment: Assessment should move beyond "accuracy of facts recall" to evaluating student's ability to "investigation, reports, presentations, creative works and other knowledge products."
• "Assessment accuracy of facts recall composed of a few open-ended projects investigation, reports, presentations, creative works and other knowledge products. world reviewed."
• Hierarchical to Collaborative School Structures: School organization should move away from a "hierarchical, high accountability, little autonomy" structure towards a more flexible model where teachers are innovators, rewarded for results, and have autonomy in implementation
• "School Organization hierarchical, high accountability, little autonomy. teacher rewarded by students test scores. flexible implementation, responsive to community needs schools are learning organisation, teacher innovate and have autonomy to implementing vision & goals. accountable for results"
• Teacher as Content Deliverers to Teacher as Facilitator and Co-Learner: The seminar highlights teacher capacity building to adopt a more facilitative and co-learner role, promoting self-directed learning and collaborative practices.

1. The Role of ICT (Information and Communication Technology): ICT is seen as a crucial enabler for this shift. It is not just for delivering content, but also:

• Facilitating simulations and multimedia: moving beyond using ICT for delivery only and more toward creating and using simulations and multimedia to learn.
• "ICT Use deliver content use simulations, multimedia, not produced them yet. social networks to support creation of simulations & multimedia"
• Supporting collaborative learning through social networks: use of ICT to connect and learn with others.
• "social networks to support creation of simulations & multimedia"
• Enabling knowledge creation and sharing: ICT tools provide the space for knowledge creation and sharing of it to larger community.
• "social networks to support creation of simulations & multimedia"

1. Knowledge Creation in Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment:

• Curriculum: It should be flexible, responsive to student goals and local contexts, emphasizing "collaboration, inquiry, information management, creativity, and critical thinking." The idea of integrating life-like projects is recommended.
• "The curriculum is flexible and responsive to student goals and local contexts. It emphasises the development of collaboration, inquiry, information management, creativity, and critical thinking skills."
• Pedagogy: The focus should be on "building on knowledge," exploring new topics, generating knowledge products and communicating with experts. The use of simulations for real life authentic learning is heavily emphasized.
• "Teaching consists of challenging students to build on their knowledge and explore new topics. Collaborative projects and investigations involve searching for information, collecting and analysing data, generating knowledge products and communicating with outside experts and audiences to share results."
• Assessment: Moving towards performance tasks such as investigations, reports, presentations, creative works, evaluated through self, peer and expert review. Emphasis is on self monitoring and goal setting.
• "Assessment tasks consist of investigations, reports, presentations, creative works, and other knowledge products. These products are evaluated through self, peer, and public review, as well as expert review. Assessments also emphasize student goal setting and self-monitoring."

1. Open Source Physics (OSP) as a Catalyst: OSP tools, especially simulations, are presented as powerful resources to:

• Transform science learning: By enabling students to interact with and even create simulations, they are actively engaged in the learning process
• "I agree that students will learn deeply if they are the ones creating the simulations (knowledge product)"
• Promote inquiry-based learning: simulations provide opportunities for students to explore "real-world problems" and conduct investigations
• Develop computational thinking skills: Students who build simulations learn to "think like scientists" and develop important computational skills.

1. Challenges and Overcoming Them:

• The seminar acknowledged the challenges in the process, such as
• Lack of time for teachers to innovate and share: The solution is to reduce teaching load, or remove CCA to make time for lesson study and improvement.
• PLC discussions going through the motion with worker-supervisor mindset: The solution is to change the school culture from EO ranking to more collaborative environment with healthy community-family spirit.
• Students’ preference for grades over deep learning: To deal with this, school needs to counsel students to see the value of authentic life-like performance instead of just focusing on exams.
• "students may give up authentic learning experience in favor of the usual examination score focus...give students 1 to 1 counselling on the need for life like performance, exam is just a necessary part of the schooling experience for standardized testing for steaming purposes"

1. Essential Conditions for Implementation: Several necessary conditions for implementing this new approach in schools were mentioned.

• Leadership: School leaders need to prioritize and create conditions that are conducive for this new teaching and learning. They need to have trust in the teacher and empower them for innovation and flexibility.
• Teacher Development: Teachers require professional development to use the new pedagogy and ICT tools effectively. The seminar discusses building capacity of teachers to design simulations.
• Technology Infrastructure: Schools need to have adequate infrastructure in place, such as internet access and computers for students to engage in e-portfolio and self directed learning and collaboration.
• Assessment frameworks: New assessment rubrics should be implemented to encourage teacher and students to engage in authentic learning and performance task instead of paper-pen examinations.

1. Blogging as a tool for Knowledge Management, Sharing and Community Building:

• Teachers' and students' blogs are highlighted as a platform to for information management and collaboration for self directed learning.
• Blogging to share implementation challenges, success and inviting expert to comment.
• "to manage the learning, participants can blog about it like andrew will lead by example, thinking and evaluate in internet public space their success and challenge, inviting anyone who is an expert in school reform like Bob Kozma to value add to the blog post, share the burden etc"
• "School leaders http://montfortsecprincipal.wordpress.com/, teachers http://weelookang.blogspot.com/ and students blogs http://511askmdmcheng.blogspot.com/ can be organised into knowledge management system for SDL and CoL."

Actionable Insights:

• Focus on building teacher capacity to design lessons integrating OER and OSP.
• Prioritize and redesign lessons with projects that encourage knowledge creation and authentic learning experience.
• Leverage ICT to connect students with experts, promote self directed and collaborative learning.
• Develop new assessment rubrics to assess performance tasks, portfolios and simulations.
• Emphasize counselling of student to value real-world learning and not just examination score.
• Implement blogs for information management and knowledge sharing.

Conclusion:

The 2011 School Leader Seminar document provides a valuable overview of the potential for OER and OSP to transform education in Singapore. It calls for a fundamental shift in mindset and practices, moving beyond traditional, rote-learning towards a model that cultivates knowledge creation, self-directed learning, and collaborative engagement. This transformation requires a concerted effort from school leaders, teachers, and students, with a strong emphasis on continuous learning and innovation.

This briefing document encapsulates the key information from the provided source, offering a clear and concise overview of the central themes and ideas, supported by relevant quotes and insights.

School Leader Seminar 2011 NUS, Faculty of Engineering, LT7A

https://sites.google.com/a/moe.gov.sg/leaders-seminar-dry-run/discussion-1http://www.edutopia.org/east-technology-lab-video
Summary on SDL n CoL.
perhaps a project work (YauHui and LooKang and John) task can promote more for the SDL n CoL as on this video.https://sites.google.com/a/moe.gov.sg/education-transformation-school-leadership-and-ict-in-learning/home

2 https://sites.google.com/a/moe.gov.sg/breakout-session-for-sl-seminar-room-2/	E3-06-02	N4	9	27	Siew Lian Meng Joo Loo Kang
		N5	9
		N6	9

Personal Notes on Discussion 1: Knowledge Creation school
White paper ICT, Education Reform, and Economic Growth: A Conceptual Framework by Robert B. Kozma, Ph.D. http://download.intel.com/education/EvidenceOfImpact/Kozma_ICT_Framework.pdfTable on education reform for 21st century skills, i create after reading the white paper.

 

	Acquisition	Deepening	Creation
Policies	workers	managers	creators
Professional Development	factual accuracy	deep facts and pedagogy	self directed model learner-teachers. collaborate, create, share own body of professional knowledge and practices.  sound like lookang in open source physics community?
Curriculum	facts acquisition	deep real-life complex facts	students goal and local context dependent, flexible and responsive. develop inquiry, info management, critical thinking, learn to learn. Maybe a blog to info manage?
Pedagogy	information delivered	open-ended real-world problems, internship	build on knowledge, explore new topics, generate knowledge products, communicate with experts global ones. Life-Like pedagogy?
Assessment	accuracy of facts recall	composed of a few open-ended projects	investigation, reports, presentations, creative works and other knowledge products.  world reviewed. open access Blog, contribute journal paper?
ICT Use	deliver content	use simulations, multimedia, not produced them yet.	social networks to support creation of simulations & multimedia Create Simulation for physics?
School  Organization	hierarchical, high accountability, little autonomy. teacher rewarded by students test scores.	flexible implementation, responsive to community needs	schools are learning organisation, teacher innovate and have autonomy to implementing vision & goals. accountable for results trust teachers?.

After reading, i feel it may be appropriate to aim for knowledge deepening as knowledge creation could be on a selective part of the education reform. 

Discussion 2:

Q1: What practices in the video clip are similar to those in your school? *
Like:
structured Time for sharing technology, ideas, once a month
PLC discussions to improve lessons
peer lesson observation/study for improvement of lesson, not assessment of teacher's competency.Q2: What challenges did you face during the implementation and how did you overcome them? *
teacher got no time to innovate or share? lower teaching load, scrap CCA duty in place for lesson study/improvement
go through the motion PLC, worker-supervisor relationship dominant. scrap EO ranking, unhealthy for community-family spirit?

My thoughts:
actually, this 4 square reflection can be expanded further, ICT use, Curriculum (thinking skills and 21 cc), Pedagogy(instructional approach & authenticity)  and Assessment (performance task missing??).Discussion 3:
Focus 1: Curriculum that supports Knowledge Creation
The curriculum is flexible and responsive to student goals and local contexts.
It emphasises the development of collaboration, inquiry, information management, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Learning how to learn is essential.

How does a curriculum that supports Knowledge Creation look like?

How can ICT support such curriculum?

the quick way is build into the curriculum a life like project, for example 

1. Learning Physics through Video Analysis and Modeling @ River Valley High (sg) 2010 http://weelookang.blogspot.com/2010/03/learning-physics-through-video-analysis.html. A project based learning that has the scaling resources here http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?ptid=711&c=/ictconnection/ictlib&func=view&rid=82 download all.
2. shorter implementation could be in the form of science computer practical laboratory using simulation http://weelookang.blogspot.com/2011/03/tracker-scaling-in-yishun-junior.html and http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?ptid=711&c=/ictconnection/ictlib&func=view&rid=533
3. simulation based labs http://weelookang.blogspot.com/2010/06/ejs-open-source-java-applet-1d.html and http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/cos/o.x?ptid=711&c=/ictconnection/ictlib&func=view&rid=18

 

What are the essential conditions School Leaders need to put in place for such a curriculum?

Prioritise and focus on one essential condition. 

• What are your considerations in deciding on this essential condition?

easiest to influence.

get teachers to design worksheets on simulations created for students to learn from.

get teachers to design  simulations to build capacity 

get students to design simple simulations to illustrate their understanding on the concepts taught in school. 

 

What are some issues and challenges associated with this essential condition?

students may give up authentic learning experience in favor of the usual examination score focus.

 

 

Select one issue/challenge to work on.

• What should you take into consideration?

give students 1 to 1 counselling on the need for life like performance, exam is just a necessary part of the schooling experience for standardized testing for steaming purposes

 

Rephrase the issue/challenge into a question (How…?).

How do i counsel student on the need for life skills real life performance instead of pass for Acing examinations?

 

 

Creating conditions for Pedagogy
Focus 2: Pedagogies that bring about acquisition of SDL and CoLTeaching consists of challenging students to build on their knowledge and explore new topics. Collaborative projects and investigations involve searching for information, collecting and analysing data, generating knowledge products and communicating with outside experts and audiences to share results.

What scaffolds are needed for students across abilities, levels and subjects?

How can ICT support such pedagogy?

School leaders http://montfortsecprincipal.wordpress.com/, teachers http://weelookang.blogspot.com/ and students blogs http://511askmdmcheng.blogspot.com/ can be organised into knowledge management system for SDL and CoL. Example, Mdm Cheng's physics blog mentioned in DGE's speech.

Pedagogy of doing (simulation like http://weelookang.blogspot.com/ blog) , thinking and reflective massive information on the internet can augment existing school's face to face lessons.

Establish collaboration with global community of educators, experts.

http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/

http://www.compadre.org/osp/

strong TPACK teachers to lead the use and search and development of content & resource for student SDL and CoL.

 

 

What are the essential conditions School Leaders need to put in place for such  pedagogy?

Prioritise and focus on one essential condition. 

• What are your considerations in deciding on this essential condition?

easiest to influence.

workshop on use of Blogger as e-portfolio mechanism for students progress in learning  - built into the students' year end assessment key e-portfolio to demonstrate learning

 

What are some issues and challenges associated with this essential condition?

students may give up authentic learning experience in favor of the usual examination score focus.

 

 

Select one issue/challenge to work on.

• What should you take into consideration?

give students 1 to 1 counselling on the need for life like performance, exam is just a necessary part of the schooling experience for standardized testing for steaming purposes

 

Rephrase the issue/challenge into a question (How…?).

How do i counsel student on the need for life skills real life performance instead of pass for Acing examinations?

 

 

Discussion 3:

Discussion 3: Creating conditions for Assessment

Focus 3: Assessment that determines attainment of 21st Century Competencies Assessment tasks consist of investigations, reports, presentations, creative works, and other knowledge products. These products are evaluated through self, peer, and public review, as well as expert review. Assessments also emphasize student goal setting and self-monitoring.  

What do we want to assess? Learning

How can ICT support such assessment? assessment of learning by means of performance of tasks, e-portfolio etc. 

 

What are the essential conditions School Leaders need to put in place for such assessment?

Inside -enhance school leaders', teachers'and students' understanding for authentic learning, not the present day pen paper examinations

Outside - 

structures - internet access, computers 

process - built into the students' year end assessment key e-portfolio to demonstrate learning

assessment - built into teachers' EPMS rubrics as core competencies

 

Prioritise and focus on one essential condition. 

• What are your considerations in deciding on this essential condition?

easiest to influence.

process - built into the students' year end assessment key e-portfolio to demonstrate learning

 

What are some issues and challenges associated with this essential condition?
students may give up authentic learning experience in favor of the usual examination score focus.
Select one issue/challenge to work on.
• What should you take into consideration?
give students 1 to 1 counselling on the need for life like performance, exam is just a necessary part of the schooling experience for standardized testing for steaming purposesRephrase the issue/challenge into a question (How…?).
How do i counsel student on the need for life skills real life performance instead of pass for Acing examinations?

A Self Directed Learning Spectrum (Gibbons,2002) with Characteristics (MOE,2009) mapped.

 

 

1. to enhance the SDL ownership, participants will perform one lesson learnt to apply in their school, share it during next years SL seminar if there is one. 
2. to manage the learning, participants can blog about it like andrew will lead by example, thinking and evaluate in internet public space their success and challenge, inviting anyone who is an expert in school reform like Bob Kozma to value add  to the blog post, share the burden etc
3. to extend, since the seminar is broad strokes, perhaps can go deep into certain reforms (physics simulations for example like http://weelookang.blogspot.com/)  and share an implementation modules for others participants to do likewise in their workplace.

Conclusion
I agree that students will learn deeply if they are the ones creating the simulations (knowledge product) but it is going to take a lot of teacher capacity to perform this kind of knowledge creation lesson. I will definitely try when i am in school as a teacher :)Some generic photo taken by m, anyone who's photo are taken, object to them been here, please leave a message and i will remove them. 

 

 

 skillful facilitation by Siew Lian connecting the workshop to the session

 

 skillful facilitation by Tan Chun Ming ( Principal Nan Chiau Pri ) on Activity 3

 

Room 2 watching the video by ETD on Mdm Cheng and her students feedback on use of blogs

 

 

Room 2 watching the live cast using on Cheah HM closing the session

FAQ: Open Educational Resources and Open Source Physics in Education

1. What is the core idea behind "Knowledge Creation" in the context of education reform?
2. Knowledge creation goes beyond simply acquiring and deepening understanding of existing facts. It emphasizes students actively generating new knowledge products, applying learning in real-world contexts, and communicating with experts. This includes developing skills like inquiry, information management, creativity, and critical thinking, and importantly, learning how to learn. This contrasts with traditional education that primarily focuses on factual recall and delivery of information.
3. How can technology, specifically simulations, support a knowledge creation curriculum?
4. Technology, like simulations, can transform learning by creating interactive, engaging environments where students explore complex concepts and create their own knowledge. Instead of just receiving content, students use simulations to conduct experiments, visualize abstract ideas, and build their understanding in a hands-on manner. Furthermore, students can create their own simulations, demonstrating their learning and contributing to a shared resource pool, fostering collaboration and innovation.
5. What changes in pedagogy are needed to foster self-directed and collaborative learning (SDL and CoL)?
6. Pedagogy needs to move from a teacher-centric approach to one that challenges students to build on existing knowledge and explore new topics independently. This involves open-ended, real-world problems, investigations, and projects that require information gathering, data analysis, and communication of findings. These methods aim to develop student autonomy and collaboration, where learners actively search and generate knowledge, often engaging with experts globally, shifting from being passive recipients of information to active contributors.
7. How should assessment evolve to reflect 21st-century competencies and support knowledge creation?
8. Traditional assessments that focus on factual recall should be replaced with assessments that require students to apply their knowledge, skills, and creativity. This includes investigations, reports, presentations, creative works, and other knowledge products. Assessment should incorporate self, peer, and public reviews, along with expert feedback. The emphasis should shift from measuring content memorization to evaluating the development of skills, deep understanding and students ability to generate tangible outcomes.
9. What are some challenges educators face when trying to implement these reforms?
10. Educators often face time constraints, making it difficult to innovate or share resources. Traditional school structures may limit teacher autonomy and prioritize test scores over authentic learning experiences. There can also be resistance from students who are more accustomed to standardized tests. A core issue is overcoming a student's focus on grades over the pursuit of deeper learning, which requires counseling and motivation from teachers.
11. What is the role of "Open Source Physics" and "Open Educational Resources" in this new educational landscape?
12. Open Source Physics and Open Educational Resources provide readily accessible tools, simulations, and content that educators and students can use, modify, and share. This helps to build capacity within the community by enabling teachers to create custom resources and allows students to become knowledge creators rather than merely consumers of knowledge. These resources are pivotal in promoting a collaborative and innovative approach to teaching and learning.
13. How can schools nurture a culture that supports these reforms?
14. Schools need to cultivate a culture of innovation and collaboration by providing educators with structured time for sharing ideas and using technology effectively. Implementing professional learning communities (PLCs) and promoting peer lesson observation for improvement are essential. This culture should encourage teachers to see themselves as innovators, have autonomy in their practices, and be held accountable for results. Shifting from hierarchical structures to learning organizations is crucial.
15. What is the key shift in mindset that schools need to adopt to facilitate self-directed and collaborative learning?
16. Schools need to shift from a mindset of delivering content to creating an environment where students are empowered to direct their learning. This involves trusting teachers to innovate, giving them the autonomy to implement the vision of the school and setting up a support system that uses technology, promotes a culture of collaboration and provides opportunities for teachers and students to work and learn together, to share their learning and improve collectively. Ultimately, the aim is to foster learners who are independent, resourceful, and capable of contributing to the wider community.