To block or not ...

A practice I have witnessed in our kura is the practice of removing either accessibility to devices or accessibility to sites that are seen as a potential distraction from learning.

This in my opinion is a practice not founded on the value of nurturing the capacities of all learners to think and act with developing independence. Here’s why...

Digital technology (DT) in a relatively short period of time has deeply embedded itself into daily life for most of society. Society has crossed a threshold in relation to DT and once crossed there is no turning back as such. What this means is that modern day life and society is now highly digitalised and its dependence on DT will continue to grow. The digital world is quickly becoming as relevant to lives as the physical world historically has been. For our learners to gain valued skills they must learn to manage tasks within this digital environment.

The New Zealand curriculum key competencies are an identified set of skills and capabilities that promote the development of individuals that are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.  

Clearly these potential distractions will continue within our digitalised future society. The practice of blocking these distractions is not going to best support our learners to become self-managing, confident citizens. We are effectively undermining valuable learning opportunities for our learners by creating disconnected learning environments for the sake of student efficiency.

Secondly removing accessibility to digital devices as a punitive (band aid) approach that isn’t addressing the cause of the problem. Questions need to be asked of all members of the learning community.

·      Why is this a distraction to their learning?

·      How can we tap into this already established engagement tpo benefit their learning?

Removing accessibility to devices or sites without consideration of these questions effectively undermines the importance relevance, connectivity and shared information is for learning in 21st century. It is comparative to removing the learner from a stimulating classroom because they aren’t paying a full attention to the teacher.

How do we address the issues? Promote improved time management skills through a series of closely monitored goal setting and reflective practices. Teaching must include not just subject oriented content but a mix of explicit teaching and modelling of key competencies  that promote self management, relating to others and thinking.

At TKAS our team has constructed a poutama for leadership that includes how our Ss manage their time and devices. This poutama emphasises how our learners all demonstrate the attributes we value at times however the consistency of these values being demonstrated is the difference between the status of Guided learner and Self directed Leader.

Our Ss are placed into the levels according to conferences we have which include student self evaluation and teacher discussions. These status are updated every few weeks and students are moved along the poutama based on the criteria being met. Therefore learners are encouraged to actively manage their learning and as a result gain a status of leadership that is recognised as valued by our learning community and whanau.

This is an often messy process and needs to be monitored effectively for its relevance towards learning to be maintained but after a few terms in use it appears to be making a positive difference towards the development of Ss that are confident, connected, actively involves lifelong learners.

Note:

The primary professional obligation of registered teachers is to those they teach. Teachers nurture the capacities of all learners to think and act with developing independence, and strive to encourage an informed appreciation of the fundamental values of a democratic society. Code of ethics for registered teachers.