Post AQnFOGGNm10U609SL2 by jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz
(DIR) More posts by jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz
(DIR) Post #AQmBkqQdOkaNemV3k8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T20:54:10Z
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"The June paper said cloud technologies mitigated many of the risks, but exponentially increased the number of software applications schools were using and created other problems.'The increasing use of data-driven learning insights and adaptive learning applications is vastly increasing the amount of student data being held in such systems, and many hold data offshore, not necessarily subject to NZ jurisdictional protections'."https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/481106/new-zealand-made-software-putting-schools-at-risk-of-cyber-attack#Aotearoa #NZ #schools #SMS #security
(DIR) Post #AQmD0E85f2djSgizy4 by jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz
2022-12-19T21:08:58Z
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@strypey but apparently ramming Chromebooks down children's necks and shoving everything they do into Google is totally fine and not subject to the same risks at all. I'd love to know what generic cloud-hosted crappily adapted poorly specced SAP-based CMS clusterfuck they'd replace local SMS vendor offerings with.
(DIR) Post #AQmDVKocquFRAvSBwO by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:12:50Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey there is *another way*: https://davelane.nz/different-approach-digital-technology-schools #OpenSchools #LearningRequiresSharing #StartWithTrust
(DIR) Post #AQmE3KPgr0q3m202jo by zleap@qoto.org
2022-12-19T21:20:58Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey People use google as they are unaware of alternatives or are so tried in to google it is hard to leave.I am trying to download documents for a coding contest, rather long winded, on next cloud I can share a folder and you can just download ALL of the contents.The contest organisers in their wisdom created a google doc, with links to other documents that all need to be downloaded, very frustrating when I am used to a better way of doing things.
(DIR) Post #AQmFhIPFpqub5QPxlw by sj_zero@social.fbxl.net
2022-12-19T21:39:24.596659Z
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There's also probably hundreds or thousands of tech literate, highly educated, industry experienced people who are willing and excited to volunteer locally to assist with helping kids learn tech in any given community. People who have real-world experience and passion. I bet you'd even find many of them are willing to work for free.I'm a capitalist. I like paying people to do things I can't or don't want to do. But not everything falls under capitalism, and it shouldn't. There are things more important in the world, and things that you don't need to pay others for because they will do it for free. Then imagine: You get local volunteer tech experts who are better than cross skilled teachers will ever be at the tech they are native to, and you combine that with students who actually get their hands dirty making the tech work and give them the duty and the responsibility for helping others, and suddenly you've got something really special.
(DIR) Post #AQmGpmUfxFpGfiYzvk by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:41:56Z
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@sj_zero @jonathanharker @strypey yup. I ran a code club at my boys' primary school for 3 years, as a volunteer. You're right. And then there's this approach: https://davelane.nz/openschools which takes it even further.
(DIR) Post #AQmGpnFp7xXX1wceQ4 by sj_zero@social.fbxl.net
2022-12-19T21:52:09.146302Z
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I actually did an apprenticeship for a short time in a school as a helpdesk tech back in high school. It didn't end up turning into a journeyman in being a helpdesk tech (and thank God it didn't, what a useless thing to be a journeyman in), and my ultimate field wasn't remotely in that, but there's a lot you can learn on the job, and that opportunity paid of much later.It's a good model, especially once you remove the struggle of trying to find someone who is willing to take a chance on you. (I did read the link before replying the first time, btw -- otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned having the kids doing stuff because I wouldn't have thought of it)
(DIR) Post #AQmMWppluXlHFpmQGe by dn@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T22:55:54Z
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@strypey 1/3Your point relates to who has access to such info - and what they might do with it.Contrarily, I find such (on the edX platform) incredibly useful:a) as a teaching review...b) to benefit the individual...
(DIR) Post #AQmMyuNGckQrRapk36 by dn@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T23:00:59Z
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@strypey 2/3The 'insights' collected (let's say) about a particular quiz-question that appears 'unduly difficult' lead smoothly into two questions:- is the question badly-worded?- is the teaching material insufficient?Both of which encourage and justify quality improvement.(in schools with semester/annual cycle, not sure if so usable, but theirs is different ball-game!)
(DIR) Post #AQmNWDQWo91m5hF0KG by dn@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T23:07:01Z
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@strypey 3/3NB: 2/3 did not require personal identification = statistics only.Personal "student data" is also useful. If I notice that you have failed three questions related to the same context (as if!), I could(!) now work with you, one-on-one, to address what may be a faulty mental-model (eg how does a Python ContextManager work, or how does CSS flex empower certain grid-structures).NB (mis)using such data, perhaps in a job application (for eg) would be quite wrong and misplaced rationale!
(DIR) Post #AQnFOEmZHNZ1VFC8EC by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:10:27Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey we need better education tech policy and decision-makers.
(DIR) Post #AQnFOFOqz2BlPz6hu4 by jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz
2022-12-19T21:13:31Z
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@lightweight @strypey imagine if these people were actually versed in tech, or had some sort of industry experience, or even consulted the local industry instead of whoever the current NZ head brodudes at Microsoft and Google are?
(DIR) Post #AQnFOFnJW5kqdqYF1s by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:16:18Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey sadly, the chances are that 'industry experience' would mean they're still getting a bum steer, which is also stupidly dominated by those shitty US tech mega-players. Yes - we need people with tech and business insight, who can understand how implicitly anti-tamaki and anti-Aotearoa/NZ the biz-models of these proprietary tools are.
(DIR) Post #AQnFOGGNm10U609SL2 by jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz
2022-12-19T21:24:17Z
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@lightweight @strypey If only there was a way to develop an open-source SMS, that could easily integrate with Moodle and Mahara, and that wasn't bound to any particular vendor, that could be deployed stand-alone, or hosted. Oh well.
(DIR) Post #AQnFOGZAeA2H2GwSci by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:11:35Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey ones who, for example, have read this: https://www.privacyfoundation.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Media-Release-on-Children-and-Online-Learning.pdf and this https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/05/25/how-dare-they-peep-my-private-life/childrens-rights-violations-governments and this https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-09-15/california-first-with-law-protecting-childrens-online-privacy
(DIR) Post #AQnFOGe8Li0PHfGQMK by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-19T21:30:12Z
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@jonathanharker @strypey Ubuntu even released a fully #FOSS Django(?)-based system (well, it was Python in any case) back in the 'oughties, but it never caught on, because education policy makers *couldn't grasp the advantages*. They apparently didn't feel any obligation to *educate themselves* to be competent in carrying out their role.
(DIR) Post #AQnFOHIBwm33Hu0PnU by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-20T09:10:31Z
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@lightweight @jonathanharker I feel your frustrations and these posts contain some legitimate and important criticisms of the status quo of govt tech. But...I'm reminded of the Ben Elton novel This Other Eden, where we learn that the fictional eco-warriors were banned from complaining about environmental problems, because it turned out to sap morale, and waste time and energy they needed to put into solutions.What can we do that might improve the situation?
(DIR) Post #AQnJhxuI8BZqlzTBHk by annamal@mastodon.nz
2022-12-20T09:59:00Z
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@strypey @lightweight @jonathanharker You could push for a pilot program to work with a few schools to analyse what they're currently using, where the holes are and what immediate improvements can be made? There are so few tech experts available at the moment that setting up any large scale program feels like a step too far but on a smaller scale you could experiment.
(DIR) Post #AQo3WqhbAol78NAbfU by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-20T18:32:06Z
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@strypey @jonathanharker oh, I agree. 😉 Been asking the same question as you for the past 20ish years. Have not had any engagement from the Min of Ed - have only ever met one employee of the ministry at an Aotearoa tech conference... he'd had to fund attending himself & take leave to attend. They're inscrutable.
(DIR) Post #AQoaAoMqTDkA0eYv8y by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-21T00:37:58Z
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@lightweightI seem to remember CCANZ having some constructive interactions with MoE. I wonder if that's continued with Tohatoha? Maybe building on those relationships could be a way in? @jonathanharker
(DIR) Post #AQoacfMtWSw6CurqUK by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-21T00:43:12Z
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@lightweightI seem to remember CCANZ having some constructive interactions with MoE. I wonder if that's continued with Tohatoha? Maybe building on those relationships could be a way in?From memory, a lot of the CC education champions were people who supported the kaupapa and were already working inside the education world. There must be some GNU/Linux heads working in education? @jonathanharker
(DIR) Post #AQoav4Z4a7djZ6LBNg by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-21T00:46:25Z
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@strypey and I'm not aware of any such "GNU/Linux-heads" remaining (not sure there were any associated with CC ever) - are you thinking of folks like Mark Osborne (Albany HS) and Nathan Parker(?) (Warrington School)? @jonathanharker
(DIR) Post #AQoetGWLYf3psqSXJ2 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-21T01:31:01Z
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@lightweight> are you thinking of folks like Mark Osborne (Albany HS) and Nathan Parker(?) (Warrington School)?I don't know Mark, but Nathan came to mind, yes. Although last I saw him he was moving on from education. @jonathanharker
(DIR) Post #AQof4e9k1STINBJS5Y by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2022-12-21T01:33:04Z
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@strypey yeah, I think those folk have either been ground down by the momentum/protectionism of the currently (flawed) education tech environment (e.g. Nathan), or they've shifted their ideals to be a better fit within it. @jonathanharker