Presentation by Miles Berry and Terry Freedman at BETT09 exploring children's use of technology for informal learning outside the school curriculum. Includes results from

1. What are your kids learning
when you’re not looking?
Miles Berry and Terry Freedman
BETT, January 2009

2. What are your kids learning when
you’re not looking?
• BCS
– Cre8or
Who we are
•
Why this maCers
•
Literature review
•
Survey results
•
ImplicaIons for schools
•

3. Miles Berry
• Head at Alton Convent Prep
• Former Becta ICT in PracIce Award winner
– Moodle
– Elgg
BCS, Naace, Mirandanet, RSA etc.
•
opensourceschools.org.uk
•
Blog: milesberry.net
•
Twit: twiCer.com/mberry
•

4. Terry Freedman
• hCp://www.icIneducaIon.org
http:
//ww
w.lu
lu.com
/terr
yfree
dma
n

5. Why this maCers
The Primary Review
PLTS:
independent enquirers E-safety
creative thinkers
reflective learners
The new secondary curriculum, and the Diploma
team workers
self-managers
effective participators
Every Child Matters:
The digital divide
Positive contribution
Employability
Healthy
Accreditation/e-Portfolios Safety
School design Enjoy and achieve
Economic
Continuing professional development Functional Skills

6. Some staIsIcs
% of hours pw on web page
0
1
3
>3

7. Some more staIsIcs (UK)
Doing homework 90%
Playing games 70%
Made a website 34%
Voted for something online 22%
Visited a site for hobby 40%
Posted pics or stories 17%

8. More stats: WriIng in the USA
47% of teen bloggers write outside of
school for personal reasons several
times a week, compared to 33% of
teens without blogs.
65% of teen bloggers say that writing is
essential to later success in life (53%)

9. Literature Review
Miles Berry

10. Growing up digital
Don TapscoC, 1998
Contrast between N‐Geners
and Baby‐boomers
Contrast between TV and the
Net
The Net:
•AcIve
•Raises Intelligence
•DemocraIc
•Community building
“Using the new technology is
as natural as breathing”

11. The Digital Disconnect
Levin & Arefah, 2002
A substanIal disconnect between
how students use the Internet for
school and how they use the
Internet during the school day
Reasons:
•Administrators
•VariaIon in teaching policies
•Uninspiring assignments
Barriers
•Quality of access
•Filtering
•InequaliIes of home access

12. Pupils’ home use of computers
ValenIne, Marsh and Pafe, 2006
• High level of access
• EducaIonal
opportuniIes outside
school are beneficial
• Children value the
freedom they have at
home
• Extensive use of
communicaIon

13. Their Space
Green and Hannon, DEMOS, 2007
• Building relaIonships
• CreaIng content
• EssenIal skills
– CreaIvity
– CommunicaIon
– CollaboraIon
• User types:
– Digital pioneers
– CreaIve producers
– Everyday communicators
– InformaIon gatherers

14. Beyond Technology
David Buckingham, 2007
The new digital divide:
“Home uses were oken
extensive, diverse
and open‐ended,
school oken posed
restricIons on
students’
autonomous access
and use”

15. Learners and Technology: 7‐11
Cranmer, PoCer, Selwyn, 2008
• “Use of computer
games, digital cameras,
and making pictures
were all more prevalent
in the home”
• RelaIvely liCle creaIve
or collaboraIve use of
the net, either at school
or home
• Good awareness of e‐
safety issues

16. Safer Children in a Digital World
Byron Review, 2008
• OpportuniIes for fun,
learning and
development
• GeneraIonal digital
divide and risk averse
culture
• Children are sIll
developing criIcal skills
• Empowering children to
keep themselves safe

17. Digital Media and Learning IniIaIve
MacArthur FoundaIon, 2008
• GeneraIon gap in
perceived value of online
acIvity
• Learning social and
technical skills
• Peer learning
• Most aren’t making the
most of the opportuniIes
• Hanging Out
• Messing Around
• Geeking Out

18. Social Networking Survey
Terry Freedman

19. Social networking survey results
Number of general social
networks 3
Number of specific social
networks 2
Specific %
Video-sharing networks, like
YouTube 42%
None 34%
Photo-sharing networks, like Flickr 12%
Music-sharing networks, like iLike 10%
Book-sharing networks, like
FictionPress 2%
Other 0%

20. Social networking survey results
% who blog: 44
Reasons for being online Rank Order
Learn new things 1
Do homework together with friends 2
Play games 3

21. Social networking survey results
Number of “friends”: 30
•
% who upload photos etc: 61
•
% supervised by adult: 24
•
% providing email address: 59
•

22. Summary of the research
• Young people spend a lot of Ime online: it is
part of their life
• They use it for socialising, with people they
already know (esp. girls)
• They use it for homework more than
recreaIonal acIviIes like games
• They do a lot of mulItasking

23. What are you learning whilst your teachers
aren’t looking…
• edtechuk.net
• Live from 26th November to 18th
December
• Publicised via
• online forums,
• discussion lists,
• blogs and
• twiCer
• google docs spreadsheet form
• Demographics
• Access to tech
• Use of Internet and
computers at home
• Filtering
• Social networking in school
• Comparison between
school and home

24. 985 responses
excluding duplicates and blanks

25. Access to Technology

26. Access to Technology

27. Use of the Internet

28. Use of the Internet

29. Use of computers

30. Use of computers

31. WriIng (not school related)

32. Use of social networking

33. Use of computer games

34. Social networking at school?

35. Filtering

36. Enjoyment

37. What do teachers know?

38. Anything else?
• Make school like home? “I don’t think it should be made more like
home because you wouldn’t learn very much.” (17 y/o girl; 11 y/o
girl).
• “Unblock access” (many respondents)
• What have you learnt at home? “well i learn new things for videos i
see like how to make your computer run faster or part's to make it
fast.” (17 y/o boy)
• “Touch typing” (10 y/o boy)
• Favourite acIvity at school? Virtually nobody said PowerPoint!
Designing, and making or creaIng things featured heavily.
• Favourite acIvity at home? “Making videos, making music and
photo booth” (9 y/o boy)

39. A few case studies…

40. Adrienne Blaser, 13
loads of friends…
•
… all over the world..
•
Reads online
•
Uses podcasts to teach self
•
Researches on web
•

41. Max, 7
• hCp://au.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYVQ12‐
nVQ

42. Eleanor, 11
My mum taught me people`s email addreses but I
taught myself how to actually email. I just clicked most
of the buCons unIl I found the right one! I also taught
myself a lot of diseses as I would love to be a docter!
For this I mostly used the internet. I once also worked
out how to use Google Earth. I`m not a very tecnical so
this was a big leap for me! I simply fiddeld around with
the buCons picking the ones that I thought would do
the job and aker just half an hour I found my house! I
don`t actuelly no why i kept at it‐ probably wanted to
learn something new as usual!

43. ImplicaIons

44. Primary curriculum
• Learning through play
• Digital show and tell
• MeeIng children where they are, moving
them on
– From communicaIon to collaboraIon
– From consumers to creators
• Rose Review: KS3 ICT by the end of KS2?
• Office skills?

45. Digital divide
• Phones!
• Home access scheme
– Broadband
– Laptop with “relevant”
sokware
– Support for internet
safety – filtering?
– “embedding improved
safety features”
• Cultural divides

46. CPD
Net‐Gen Teachers
•
Teachmeet
•
PLNs
•
EdTechRoundup
•
TES Forums
•
Filtering
•
– Blogger, TwiCer, YouTube etc.

47. Secondary Curriculum
Blogging and wriIng
•
CiIzenship
•
Providing opportuniIes
•
AccreditaIon
•
Diploma and New curriculum
•
PLTS:
•
independent enquirers
–
creaIve thinkers
–
reflecIve learners
–
team workers
–
self‐managers
–
effecIve parIcipators
–

48. CollaboraIon
“Wikispaces is a great way to communicate with
people from all over the world. You can send
emails, make web pages, work on projects, the
possibiliIes are endless! You can communicate
with each other and do projects and write things
to help people and solve problems in the world.
One thing I learned is that when you work hard,
as a group or alone, trying to solve something it
comes out as a big success.”

49. Every Child MaCers
PosiIve contribuIon
•
Healthy
•
Safety (“Mission Impossible”?)
•
Enjoy and achieve
•
Economic
•

50. Safety
• Filtering: hCp://flatclassroomproject.ning.com/video/
8amission‐impossible
• No “eyes on the street” (hCp://terry‐freedman.org.uk/artman/
publish/eyes_on_the_street.php)
• Parental/family supervision
• Research skills:
“It takes a teenager 1/20 of a second to determine whether a
web page is worth reading.”
• Uploading stuff about self
• Legal issues, eg ©
• Economic issues, eg ©

51. Filtering: safety or Mission Impossible?
hCp://flatclassroomproject.ning.com/video/
8amission‐impossible

52. School design: some ideas (1)
• More areas given over to creaIng stuff rather
than just receiving it
• Online repository of videos etc, some of which
student‐created
• Own page on school VLE, like Facebook page
• NOT banning phones or iPods…
• … Designing spaces to accommodate them

53. School design: some ideas (2)
From the University of Nottingham:

54. ContacIng us
BCS
www.bcs.org
01793 417567
Miles Berry Terry Freedman
milesberry.net www.icIneducaIon.org
twiCer.com/mberry twiCer.com/terryfreedman
mberry@bcs.org terry@icIneducaIon.org