UNESCO EDUSummIT2011: Brief update

#edusum11 The conference is now in its final hour or so, with brief addresses from an international panel followed by "Next steps".

I started to write a blog post earlier, but realised very quickly that I need to do more reflecting. It's been a very rich experience in some respects, and I need to assimilate what I think I may have learnt. I've had the opportunity to meet with some of the organisers, representatives of Ministries of Education and researchers.

You can follow the conference on Twitter, using the hashtag given above. There will be video podcasts later (I'm told Monday).

More soon.

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EduSummIT Conference (UNESCO) News

#edusum11 Should anyone invite you to contribute to a handbook, don't turn it down. A few years ago, a handbok was put together (http://edusummit.nl/handbook), which led to several working group-type events, which led to an "EduSummIT" in 2009, which led to EduSummIT 2011.

With over 120 delegates from 40 countries, this promises to be a very interesting -- and useful -- event. Delegates have been allocated to working groups -- mine is 21st century skills. I hope to be reporting on this over the next few days, as long as the wi-fi, my iPad keyboard and my level of wakefulness hold out (the hotel fire alarm went off at around 1 am, which is no joke!)

Look for #edusum11 on Twitter, and edusummit2011 on the web and in Flickr. The conference website is http://edusummit.nl/, where you can find further information. You might also like to check out the latest edition of my newsletter (go to www.ictineducation.org/newsletter and scroll down), as it has a link to a very interesting recent report from UNESCO.

OK, that's it from me for now: I love blogging and writing in general, but sleep also has its attractions!

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System failure: a true story

Last week I had to go to my mother's bank to sort something out. Thus it was that I entered into a sort of Escheresque landscape...

I used to bank there myself, but it is so dreadful I thought, in the end, I could do without the stress.

Anyway, before I went I ascertained what I would need by way of documentation. Of course, when I arrived, I was told that I needed something else. Here's how the conversation (well, some of it), went:

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Why you should review your ICT purchasing plans

When the cost of calling an engineer out to fix your printer is greater than the price of a new printer, you know it’s time to review your printer spending plans. That’s the situation I was faced with when I joined one particular school: a top-quality printer had been bought, one which was so highly engineered that you couldn’t fiddle around with it yourself if it stopped working.

Another unfortunate consequence of having such an expensive printer was that it

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East Sussex County Council Re-Define It Service Delivery To Schools With Centrastage

The Schools ICT Services division of East Sussex Local Authority supports 194 schools. During 2009, East Sussex Local Authority began a strategic review of all ICT Services including those provided to schools. An extensive consultation process with schools was undertaken, to better understand the ‘customer’ requirements from an IT service point of view; members of the school ICT support team at East Sussex also visited other Local Authorities to see how school ICT services were being delivered elsewhere. This process ultimately led to a complete re-design of school IT support services within East Sussex.
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A film competition, video judging and a consultation

cameramanChildnet International, a registered charity whose mission is to work in partnership with others around the world to “help make the Internet a great and safe place for children”, is running a film competition. Here are the details:

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City AirportBecta. The Harnessing Technology grant. Building Schools for the Future. The once-familiar landmarks of the English educational technology landscape are disappearing or gone. The indications are that they are being followed by City Learning Centres. These CLCs, set up around a decade ago to both provide facilities for local businesses and serve as beacons of innovation and excellence to the schools in a locality, are being closed down, threatened with closure, or reduced in staffing and funding. The question is, though: should we mourn?

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25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #20 Be persistent

One of the most irritating things about children – but also one of the most endearing – is their tendency to ask lots of follow-up questions. They are never fully satisfied with the answer to their original question: each answer leads to a further enquiry. I think that ICT leaders can learn much from children in this respect.

There are two areas in which this sort of dogged persistence can pay off.

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Budgeting for educational technology

When the Principal chewed me out for having put in a purchase order for toner cartridges, I guessed that was probably not the best time to present to him my refurbishment plan which involved buying interactive whiteboards. The school was generous in its funding of ICT, but I had been given only a consumables budget, not a capital one. This made planning ahead almost impossible.
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Conventional non-wisdom

Should you have an ICT leaflet or prospectus to give to potential students or their parents? Conventional wisdom dictates that you should. Conventional wisdom is wrong.

If you think about it, the only reason for doing anything, either in education or in business, is to solve a problem. What is the problem, then, that the ICT prospectus is intended to solve? It is this:

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The end of Becta et al? Or, Should the Centre for Policy Studies be abolished?

"It seems to me that one of the key issues is not whether organisations provide value for money according to some narrow criteria, but whether they do so when the wider social costs and benefits are taken into account."

This article was originally published on 1st September 2009. I thought it might be interesting to re-read it in the current UK context.

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