The Mindlab

THE MINDLAB   click for the link
 Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Practice (Digital & Collaborative Learning) 
is an innovative blended learning programme in two stages, each of 16 weeks.

Digital & Collaborative Learning in Context

Overview

Weeks 1-16 

13 July 2015 - 01 November 2015

Delivery 

 4 hours per week at The Mind Lab by Unitec & Applied Practice in the classroom

Course aim

Based on contemporary educational theory, policy and research, identify and evaluate the potential for digital and collaborative learning to impact on educational practice and outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify a potential digital and collaborative innovation and design an implementation plan that can be applied in a learning environment
• Consider and compare national educational policies/guidelines and contemporary educational theory against existing delivery models and needs
• Evaluate collaborative educational research and investigate its application in a digital environment

Overview

There are multiple challenges that must be resolved as we move from passive to collaborative forms of learning, both in terms of pedagogy and mastering new technologies but also in terms of championing change and progress. Leading through change requires a thoughtful approach, vision, respect and understanding for those fearful of change and a well planned and executed plan that includes operations, systems, logistics and a well defined and transparent road to success.

Topics

• Measurement, collection, analysis and reporting for effective student assessment
• Reflection and the introduction of critical review
• Connecting assessment to teaching practice
• The future of instruction – shaping teaching and learning
• Implementation of a collective vision for learning
• Interdisciplinary education – the convergence of knowledge sets
• Productivity and Accountability in the classroom
• Contemporary perspective and practical implementation of activities that foster individual talent areas and areas of student interest
• Collaborative learning and the ability for students to capitalise on one another’s ideas, skills and resources
• The development of student specialists where students actively interact by sharing experience, tasks and achievements, promoting accountability to each other
• Contextualise personal practice in regard to professional and ethical considerations
• Critique perspectives and models of personal and professional responsibilities in practice
• Explore the limits and boundaries of personal responsibility within professional practice
• Introduction of advanced theoretical knowledge on best practice education practices and methodologies reflecting on the impact action or lack of action will have on student outcomes
• Ability to critically review and assess the adoption or adaption of digital technologies, technological experimentation and cross-disciplinary enrichment within the classroom
• Critique of student-centered learning (SCL) to facilitate a collaborative learning experience built on personal skills and interests using flexible instructional and delivery modes and individual learning strategies.
• The development and review of individual student learning paths, providing greater emphasis on inter-disciplinary learning that supports personal accountability of educational outcomes

Leadership in Digital & Collaborative Learning

Overviewl

Weeks 1-16

13 July 2015 - 01 November 2015

Delivery – 4 hours per week at The Mind Lab & Applied Practice in the classroom

Course aim

Lead innovation in digital and collaborative learning that draws upon concepts of transformational leadership theory, educational theory and research.

Learning Outcomes

• Critique transformational leadership theory and contemporary educational leadership and governance models in the context of digital and collaborative learning
• Reflect on personal leadership attributes and styles within the context of leading innovation
• Examine the influence of emerging research, policies and guidelines have on leadership in digital pedagogies
• Design an implementation plan for leading digital & collaborative learning innovation

Overview

There are multiple challenges that must be resolved as we move from passive to collaborative forms of learning, both in terms of pedagogy and mastering new technologies but also in terms of championing change and progress. Leading through change requires a thoughtful approach, vision, respect and understanding for those fearful of change and a well planned and executed plan that includes operations, systems, logistics and a well defined and transparent road to success.

Topics

• Why Studying Leadership Matters
• Defining "Knowledge"
• Philosophy of Education
• Leader-centred Perspectives on Leadership
• Follower-centred Perspectives on Leadership
• Cultural Perspectives on Leadership
• Critical and Distributed Perspectives on Leadership
• Distributed Leadership in a Digital Classroom
• Development of a evaluation process and system to review the implementation of new technologies and to identify constraints including budgets,
• Managing learner community expectations
• Leading pedagogical behavioural change
• Managing resources and conflicting priorities – tools and infrastructure, enhancing capability,
• Supporting innovation and improving education outcomes
• Financial efficiency - adopting open-source software, re-purposing technology, low-tech/high-tech inter-disciplinary projects and community involvement 

Special Interest Areas

• Building learning around the ‘learner’ and away from a one-size-fits-all model of education through integration of appropriate instructional modes and personalised learning strategies.
• Becoming an ‘agent of change’. Adaptability and expanding on existing personal expertise in the classroom to develop new competencies and to meet the needs of changing education paradigms.
• Entrepreneurship and the emerging impact of new social and financial infrastructures that cultivates entrepreneurial behavior including crowd funding, start-up networks and the ability for students to build small start-up businesses that turn ideas into marketable solutions.
• Collaborative ‘knowledge-building’ learning environments that balances the push-pull relationship between being ‘teacher-driven’ and being ‘student-centred’
• Connectness and the establishment of a modern learning environments that evolve and transform to set the learning outcome - including ‘bring your own device’, Wifi infrastructures and multi-device environments

Research and Community Informed Practice

Overview

Week 17 - 24

November 2nd, 2015 - January 17th, 2016

Course aims:

To develop the student to be able to critically examine and evaluate a body of literature in relation to a practice/work-based issue to arrive at a relevant and informed research question(s) and to contextualise and understand the relevance of this question to practice and the wider community.

• Assemble and critically review a relevant body of literature
• Apply a Kaupapa Māori approach (that reflects the principles of Te Noho Kotahitanga) to knowledge gathering, developing research questions and identifying community priorities
• To develop an inquiry topic that is investigated in literature, addressing the current needs of the education community that is clearly articulated both in objectives and scope. Develop a research topic, clearly articulated both in objectives and scope, that is justified by prior literature, and the current needs of the community
• Articulate a critique of personal leadership perspectives relative to an applied education practice setting

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• Understand and explain the roles that research can play in developing an evidence-informed practice
• Engage with and utilise research to support your own practice
• Plan and conduct a research informed inquiry project that supports both your needs as a practitioner and those of your community

Course Assessment and Outputs:

The course is eight weeks in length. It will be assessed through 3 assessments, which sequentially build upon each other. The resources and activities associated with each week of the course are designed to facilitate the knowledge and skill development you need to undertake each of the assessments.

At the start of the course you should identify an area that you would like to develop within your practice. It is anticipated that you will focus on this topic area for all three of your assessments. The list below provides possible areas to focus on. You may select a topic outside of this area, however, we strongly suggest that if you do so you talk to the post graduate team about this.

For your chosen area you will:

• Engage with the research literature to identify why your chosen area is important and what is already known about it
• Recognise how the research literature could help to support you in your practice
• Identify opportunities or gaps within the research literature that you could build upon in your own practice
• Use the research literature as a basis to develop and justify an inquiry project plan, which engages with your community in addressing the chosen area/topic
• Demonstrate how you will utilise evidence from your inquiry project in your practice and evaluate the potential influence this evidence will have for you and your community.

Suggested Topic Areas:

• Assessments – Creative Ways of Assessing
• Key Competencies or 21st Century Skills
• Leading Change
• Innovative Leadership Practice
• Growth Mindset
• Design Thinking
• Entrepreneurship
• Blended Learning
• Games/Gamification
• Inquiry or Problem Based Learning
• Agile Based Learning
• Collaborative Learning
• Technology Practices (Coding/Robotics/3D printing/Game Development)
• Digital Media Tools and Pedagogies
• Innovative Learning Environment

Note that it is possible that you might want to focus on a specific aspect of one of these topic areas (e.g. for blended learning you may focus specifically on the flipped classroom model).

Each Week

Each week focuses on a different aspect of research and the community. There are learning objectives that set out what you should be able to do (or what you should know) after completing the readings and activities for that week. The weekly readings, videos and tasks are designed to help you understand how research (both that undertaken by others and research that you do in your own context of practice) can help to support you in your teaching practice. Each week we provide suggestions for what you should be doing, in conjunction with the assigned readings/videos and tasks, in preparation for your assessments.

Weekly schedule

Week	Topic	Assessment Due Dates
17	Introduction to research in education
18	Using Research as a Practitioner: locating and interpreting research
19	Writing a literature review	Assessment 1 due
20	Teaching and Research in the NZ: Teaching as Inquiry
21	Designing your own Inquiry Project
22	Collecting Evidence
23	Interpreting and Using Evidence	Assessment 2 due
24	Ethics and Research, RethinkingResearch and Practice	Assessment 3 due

Applied Practice in Context

Weeks 25-32

18th January, 2016 - 13th March, 2016

Course aims

To critically examine and contextualise practice and develop a critical understanding of how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness, society, ethics, environment and law inform practice.

Learning outcomes

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness inform practice
2. Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives
3. Critically analyse issues of ethics, society, culture and professional environments in relation to practice
4. Critique and address issues of law, regulations and policy in practice

Topics

• Multicultural/bicultural (giving effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi in contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand).
• Tiriti o Waitangi
• Mātauranga Māori
• Tikanga Māori and Te Reo Māori
• Key concepts relevant to discipline area in research and/or practice.
• Contextualising the history of, and current, relevant professional practice
• Legal, ethical and cultural issues in professional practice
• Profession and practice governance and regulatory bodies and limits of autonomy.
• Professional liability and indemnity
• Ethical approval processes where relevant to practice and/or research.
• Strategies for change that are in alignment with professional codes of practice relevant to discipline.
• Social and economic context / reflective practice: critique perspectives and models of personal and professional responsibilities in practice and research.
• The limits and boundaries of personal responsibility within professional practice. 

Reciprocal teaching in my class with our buddy class (a digital class)

Movies I have made in the last 4 weeks children interviewing children about their learning (5 year olds)  I made QR codes for the movies and attached them to the artwork - 1 copy for the boss's office and 1 copy for the parents.  19/8/15

Makeymakey session

My group created the trumpet
It was a LOT of fun using SCRATCH