The elephant view. What do you think SKIL2 is? Info pack attached.

[liz lennon]

Now here's the fun bit folks.

SKIL2 feels a bit like the old elephant that's being described by a dozen people standing around it in different places.

You all know what its like when you become immersed in a project. You assume everyone sees it the same way you do.

I'm going to treat SKIL2 like a piece of art.

You know the way that people can be looking at the same painting and see different things - and appreciate different aspects of the painting.

So - if you've read the info pack or notes - can you answer these questions for me?

* What is SKIL2?
* What parts of SKIL2 appeal to you the most?
* What parts of SKIL2 do I need to get clearer?
* Anything I could add to SKIL2?

You don't have to answer all the questions.

Thanks for taking the time to let me know your elephant view. Appreciate it.

Regards
Liz

[Lindy Ross Barnes]

Hi Liz, I’m not at all sure I’ve got SKIL2 figured out but here is my take on what I think I understand. I’m not a business woman so you’re probably wondering why I’m even interested. However, I can see something similar to SKIL2 as being a real asset to schools.

Elephant View

I’ve been looking this over but wasn’t coming up with much until I placed my one-school school district in the “non-profit” slot. Of course, we really aren’t non-profit although I do wonder about that sometimes. We definitely are service oriented and both teachers and instructional aides are constantly being required to attend professional development workshops, take classes, etc. to further our own knowledge so that we can continue to be of greater service to the students we serve. For the most part these workshops and classes are often times redundant and boring with very little exchange of knowledge; very little learning considering the amount of time spent and sometimes the distances we must travel to attend such functions.

I am not totally sure just how SKIL2 is going to work but if I am reading the document correctly I can see a program such as SKIL2 modified to work for schools as being a real asset to most school districts. Many, if not all, professional development programs could be included. A principal/superintendent/department head could tell teachers they need to take part in one of the online programs at their convenience – probably with a deadline. Teachers could also collaborate with other teachers all over the country to keep up with the changing face of education.

As the only school/district in our tiny community we often have to answer to the public – parents and community – for what goes on, what does not go on, what has been perceived as happening as well as what people think should be happening but isn’t. Unfortunately a program such as SKIL2 would be of little help in this situation as the majority of our parents are illiterate in both English and their native language which may be Spanish or a dialect and most do not have a computer.

School districts like mine – small, rural, migrant, low-income, Title I, 98% ELL(English Language Learners) students – face additional challenges as we have difficulty with communication. We are out in the “boonies” by ourselves with only 10 teachers and 5 aides. We have only 1 class per grade so there are no other teachers teaching our grade level to discuss grade level standards or even collaborate with for lessons. A program such as SKIL2 could help us connect with others if only on an electronic level. With the price of gas in the US climbing ever higher driving to other schools to attend professional development functions is becoming an ever greater problem. As it is now, the school district closest to us is 25 miles away.

That's all I have for now,

Lindy

[liz lennon]

Thanks Lindy.
I see that something like SKIL2 could be useful for your teachers and students.

They could 'grab' interesting content (articles, videos, games) from online; they could 'talk' with other people around the world; they could create learning content.

Also, I don't think you necessarily need SKIL2 to do all this. If you could get a few computers and broadband - then you could set up your own learning space.

I know that there are a lot of specific school led online learning programmes in the USA that you could draw on for free. I have seen a lot of good learning content for schools online - and I'm sure they come in a range of languages.

I think you and the other teachers and students could go on an online search and see the content that's available - as well as checking out what other small schools are doing about using online learning.

There are bound to be specific teacher and learning blogs online that could point you in the right direction.

If I come across stuff that I think might be of interest to you Lindy - I'll send it over.

Take good care
Liz