RSS feed for Strategic planning for online learning

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course module code module title.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

Replace as necessary
Replace as necessary
Replace as necessary
Replace as necessary
Replace as necessary

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Hello and welcome to strategic planning for online learning: a whole school approach. We have created this research informed professional development course from data collected from school leaders, for school leaders. The course explores and challenges the role of online learning across a broad range of issues and the way they influence strategy and individual practice. It is based around four main areas. Surrounding the framework are the cross-cutting themes of pedagogical innovation, flexibility and partnerships, resources and infrastructure and equitability and inclusivity, are present in all the four segments.

Click through Figure 1 and read through the information that appears below the circles.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.

Online activity _unit1.1.1 Figure 1 (interactive): Theoretical Framework taken from Jewitt et al. (2021)

Show description|Hide description

The interactive figure shows five circles that each contain text when you click on them.

Design a differentiated learning experience

Strategy as a learning activity.
Developing a digital strategy.
Explore how to review, understand and address barriers to learning.
Harnessing the power of data and analytics to support pupils’ learning and the development of strategy.
Explore how to review, understand and overcome obstacles that prevent changes in practice and strategy.

Build competencies of teachers, pupils, parents/carers

Developing digital capabilities for all stakeholders.
Identifying and mapping practice, preferences and opportunities.
Building capacity and resilience and supporting wellbeing.
Change management strategies to support stakeholders.
Addressing barriers and supporting cultural change and staff development.

Develop a digital environment

General policy and practice trends in secondary schools.
Map your own digital environment and identified opportunities to make improvements, developing a digital infrastructure.
Challenges and opportunities for learning and teaching.
Information governance, safety, security and privacy.

Collaborate in multilateral strategies

Digital collaboration, communication and inclusion of all stakeholders.
Create an action plan for digital learning.

Jewitt, K., Baxter, J., and Floyd, A. (2021) Leading and managing online learning in schools during COVID-19 and beyond at EDEN Annual Conference 2021 [Online] 21–24 June 2021.

Figure 1 (interactive): Theoretical Framework taken from Jewitt et al. (2021)

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

We understand that there are often many pressures on your time as school leaders and as such, this course can be completed flexibly with the ability to track your progress and return to sections at a later stage.

Before starting, it is important key terms that are often used interchangeably in education are defined. Explore the Glossary section and then return here when you are done. These terms will be highlighted throughout the course for you to refer back to.

Activity _unit1.1.1 Activity 1

Timing: 5 minutes

To begin, we’d like you to start by telling us in one or two words what type of digital leader you think you are. Be honest, as all answers are anonymous.

Note down one thing you’d like to do for the first time during the course.
Note down one thing you’d like to do better by the end of the course.

Add these to your Action grid.

Discussion

School leaders need to plan strategies, make plans and allocate resources in such a way that the school digital environments and services meet the needs and manage the expectations of pupils.

We hope that as a result of your participation in the course, you will be able to approach digital planning more confidently and effectively.

The course will encourage you to use digital tools as appropriate to your own professional development.

If you want to get started with something practical straight away, try this Department for Education, 9-page summary report ‘Realising the potential of technology in education: A summary report.’ Or the full 48-page report: Realising the potential of technology in education: A strategy for education providers and the technology industry.

Our free course for school leaders at all levels will equip you with the tools, knowledge and skills to:

Become a more effective leader in online learning through your own personal and professional development.
Explore how schools can engage more effectively with the digital technology at their disposal – at both strategic and operational levels.
Discover and reflect on how the use of digital technology is changing the way your school operates – creating new leadership challenges and strategic opportunities.
Envisage the digital environment needed to enable staff to design online learning experiences.
Learn to lead, manage and influence digitally-driven change across departments and schools.
Build scenarios for alternative digital solutions.

The course takes approximately 10 hours to complete. We hope you find this course useful and enjoyable.

Who is this course for?

The digital school leaders’ course has been designed for anyone occupying (or aspiring to occupy) decision-making, leadership or management positions within secondary education – regardless of discipline, function or department.

It will be particularly valuable for those in less directly-technical roles, for example senior management teams, heads of department, head teachers and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and Chairs of Governors / Trustees.

You may also find it beneficial to attend as a team and multi-disciplinary groups from within a single school / MAT.

Before the course gets started, it would be really helpful to understand your role, particularly if you are a headteacher or a chair of governor/trustee. If you are in either of these roles, please consider taking the following survey. (Please open these links in a new tab or window, so you can return to the course when you have completed the survey.)

Moving around the course

If this is your first visit to the site, you need to register for a free account via the ‘Sign up / Sign in’ button. Please open it in a new tab or window, follow the instructions to register an account then once your new account is created, return to this page in your browser rather than following the ‘return to the page you were on’ button in the registration screens (and login via the ‘Sign up / Sign in’ button), then click on the Enrol button for this course.

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Full course description’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course.

It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.

Please note: if you download the Word or PDF version of the learning materials to study offline and return to complete the quizzes which can only be done online, you will need to click through the online version of the learning materials to complete the criteria for your digital badge.

Get careers guidance

This course has been included in the National Careers Service to help you develop new skills.

What is a badged course?

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

While studying Strategic planning for online learning: A whole school approach you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge.

Badges are a means of digitally recognising certain skills and achievements acquired through informal study and are entirely optional. They do not carry any formal credit as they are not subject to the same rigour as formal assessment; nor are they proof that you have studied the full unit or course. They are a useful means of demonstrating participation and recognising informal learning.

Badged courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission to promote the educational well-being of the community. The courses also provide another way of helping you to progress from informal to formal learning.

To complete a course you need to be able to find about 24 hours of study time, over a period of about 8 weeks. However, it is possible to study them at any time, and at a pace to suit you.

Badged courses are all available on The Open University’s OpenLearn website and do not cost anything to study. They differ from Open University courses because you do not receive support from a tutor. But you do get useful feedback from the interactive quizzes.

What is a badge?

Digital badges are a new way of demonstrating online that you have gained a skill. Schools, colleges and universities are working with employers and other organisations to develop open badges that help learners gain recognition for their skills, and support employers to identify the right candidate for a job.

Badges demonstrate your work and achievement on the course. You can share your achievement with friends, family and employers, and on social media. Badges are a great motivation, helping you to reach the end of the course. Gaining a badge often boosts confidence in the skills and abilities that underpin successful study. So, completing this course should encourage you to think about taking other courses.

If you'd like to learn more about badges, you will find more information on the following websites:

Open Badges – this information is provided by Mozilla, a leading provider of the open badges system.
Digital Badges – this information is provided by HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), a global community working to transform how we learn, and particularly making use of technology.

How to get a badge

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

To gain the Strategic planning for online learning: A whole school approach digital badge, you will need to:

Attempt all the quizzes.
Have worked your way systematically through the course material.
Successfully complete the quiz that you’ll find at the end of the course and achieve at least 50%.

For all the quizzes, you can have three attempts at most of the questions (for true or false type questions you usually only get one attempt). If you get the answer right first time you will get more marks than for a correct answer the second or third time. Therefore, please be aware that for the two badge quizzes it is possible to get all the questions right but not score 50% and be eligible for the badge on that attempt. If one of your answers is incorrect you will often receive helpful feedback and suggestions about how to work out the correct answer.

For the Session 4 badged quiz, if you’re not successful in getting 50% the first time, after 24 hours you can attempt the whole quiz, and come back as many times as you like.

When you have successfully achieved the completion criteria you will receive your Strategic planning for online learning: A whole school approach badge.

Your badge demonstrates that you have achieved the learning outcomes for the course. The digital badge does not represent formal credit or award, but rather it demonstrates successful participation in informal learning activity.

If you need more guidance on getting a badge and what you can do with it, take a look at the OpenLearn FAQs. When you gain your badge you will receive an email to notify you and you will be able to view and manage all your badges in My OpenLearn within 24 hours of completing the criteria to gain a badge.

Accessing your badge

From anywhere on OpenLearn, when signed in:

Go to the navigation block and under My Profile you can access My Badges. When you click on My Badges you will be taken to your My Badges page on OpenLearn.
To view the details of the badge, to download it, or to add it to your Mozilla Backpack, click on the badge and you will be taken to the Badge Information page.
You can either download this page to your computer or add the badge to your Mozilla Backpack.

Sharing your badge

Badges awarded within OpenLearn can be shared via the Mozilla Backpack.

You will need to create a Mozilla Backpack account. When you have done this, click on the ‘Add To Backpack’ button, and you will be asked to login to Mozilla if you have not already done so.

Follow the instructions on the screen and your badge should be automatically added to your backpack.

Get started with Session 1.

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this session you will consider how pupils differ in their use of digital technologies and in what they need to succeed. Pupils’ confidence in using technology and their satisfaction with its use are both strongly determined by the confidence of their teachers (Eickelmann et, 2019). Pupils differ in their experiences of technology and in their attitudes towards it. Regardless of whether they are digitally proficient or not, they can struggle to use digital skills for learning. Those with different physical, sensory and educational requirements may need different tools, ones that align and support their particular learning needs. Digital content is often more accessible to students who use assistive technologies (Ofqual, 2021), but there are many ways content and learning activities can be designed to better support pupils with SEN.

However, Müller and Goldenberg (2021), in their report for the Chartered College of Teaching, discuss many challenges for pupils learning remotely, including, increased levels of some mental health issues, challenges in relation to self-motivation and self-organisation particularly in relation to pupils with SEND. The report suggests a number of elements to consider when providing a differentiated learning experience including, video captioning and transcripts, visual support including Makaton (a communication tool which uses signs and symbols to help people communicate) (Makaton.org 2021) British Sign Language (the language that deaf people use) (British Sign, 2021) and clear navigation on learning management systems along with accessible fonts and colours. The report also recommends that the “constant availability of written instructions and materials, may also benefit students with ADHD as they often struggle with sustaining attention” (Müller and Goldenberg, 2021, p.90).

Session 1 covers:

Harnessing the power of data and analytics to support pupils’ learning and the development of strategy.
Developing a digital strategy.
Explore how to review, understand and address barriers to learning.
Explore how to review, understand and overcome obstacles that prevent changes in practice and strategy.

Activity _unit2.1.1 Activity 1

Timing: 25 minutes

Explore the recommendations from the The EEF Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning Guidance Report and the NP3 project report.

This project investigated Children’s digital practices outside of school and highlighted the fact that teachers often do not take account of what children know and can do…NP3 Meta-analysis report 17-06-29 compressed.pdf (open.ac.uk)

Make notes/observations on what your school/organisation has been doing under recommendations 2–4 and what you would like to develop in the future.

Table _unit2.1.1
Technology can be used to improve the quality of explanations and modelling.	Technology offers ways to improve the impact of pupil practice.	Technology can play a role in improving assessment and feedback.

As a result of working through the guidance report and reflecting on the recommendations, what key actions need to be taken at your school?

Add these to your Action grid.

1 Scenario planning

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

For this next part of the session you need to develop (write, draw, create) two scenarios. In one you envisage your school responding positively to designing a differentiate learning experience for all pupils (the positive scenario); in the other you envisage your school failing to respond or responding in a negative way (the negative scenario).

Scenario planning is an important tool for leaders and strategic thinkers (Schoemaker, 1995). While it cannot enable you to predict the future, it does produce alternative views of the future that allow you to plan within a range of possibilities. None of the alternative scenarios you produce may be probable but they should be plausible. Typically they will be at the opposite ends of a particular axis, such as (in economics) high growth and low growth scenarios, allowing you to scope out the space in between.

So that you can make significant progress in a short time this activity works through a process of single-axis scenario planning so that we are concerned only with two scenarios, a positive and a negative situation.

Figure _unit2.2.1 Figure 1: Responding to change factors

Show description|Hide description

Illustration of a battery. At the negative end there is the text: Your school in 3–5 years’ time responding negatively to change factors. At the positive end there is the text: Your school in 3–5 year’s time responding positively to change factors.

Figure 1: Responding to change factors

You are asked to look 3–5 years into the future and imagine that your school has spent the intervening time either fully focused on responding to designing a differentiated learning experience for all pupils (the positive scenario) or failing to respond (the negative scenario). The more detail you can give in your scenario descriptions and the more specific you can make them to your own school, the more useful they will be as tools for strategic planning. You may wish to complete this activity with other stakeholders either through discussions or a workshop and including, for example, Governors/Trustees, Heads of Departments, Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities Coordinators (SENDCOs) and Teaching Staff. In designing a digital experience for all pupils, it is important to hear from them. Some will have no internet access at home and rely on opportunities at school; some will have more skills than most of the staff. It is important to be aware from the outset what pupils bring into school.

You have been provided with a series of Scenario Prompts in Section 1.1, below. Adapt, delete and add to these as much as you need to describe the future scenario for your school. Continue to use the present tense to make the scenario real (not ‘Pupils will have access...’ but ‘Pupils have access...’).

Create your own scenario in any software or format your like. As well as text, you could also add images, doodles, or a mind map, and a 'strapline' or headline message to communicate the scenario concisely to others. Use a drawing tool or draw and photograph/upload your ideas. Be as creative as you like.

Here is an example of positive and negative scenario planning for Enhancing the digital experience for all learners.

Here is an example of positive scenario planning for designing a learner experience.

After you have described and elaborated on (and perhaps drawn) your scenario as much as you can, think about the decisions you would need to take as a School Leader if you were operating in the world described in your scenario.

As a result of developing your scenarios and reflecting on them, what key actions need to be taken at your school?

Add these to your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

1.1 Scenarios prompt

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Theme: Designing a differentiated learning experience for all pupils

Describe the positive scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

Pupils experience industry-standard software/systems in their curriculum subjects
Pupils are fully supported to use their own devices in your school, including assistive technologies such as text read back software
Pupils' digital confidence and access are assessed on entry and communicated to the relevant teachers and support staff.
Pupils user their own devices to integrate their learning, fit learning into their lives, and make transitions (into home learning, into work placements, into full employment, when leaving school)
Sources of digital disadvantage are addressed e.g. with loan schemes, drop-in skills sessions
Learning resources include a wide variety of media to suit a range of learning needs
The school uses digital technologies to support pupils away from the school, including consistent use of a digital platform for access to home learning and curriculum resources.
Pupils are fully involved in decisions about their learning environment
Other...

Ideas to consider:

How would the school benefit if this scenario were fully realised?
In what ways is your school already moving towards this scenario?
What are the barriers?

Describe the negative scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

Pupils are frustrated in their attempts to use their own devices and access third party services
Pupils' digital skills are not supported and not seen as relevant to their learning
Nobody talks to pupils about their digital experiences, preferences or needs
Pupils' own devices and digital practices are seen mainly as a problem (unsafe, distracting).
Digital technologies are not being used to address disabilities, equality issues, or other sources of disadvantage
Staff are reluctant to move away from traditional teaching approaches
Other...

Ideas to consider :

What would be the likely consequences of this scenario?
In what ways is your school already at risk of this outcome?
What can you start doing now to minimise the risks?

2 Strategy

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

What do we mean when we talk about strategy and how does it differ from operational activity? There are lots of different understandings of strategy and strategic thinking. In the past, many approaches to strategy conceptualised as a fairly constrained activity in which a plan was written, then reviewed on an annual basis. More recent writing in the field conceptualises it as strategy as practice (SAP).

So what is SAP and how does it differ from previous approaches?

SAP shifts attention away from focus on the effects of strategy on performance, as in other approaches and leads us to think about what takes place and who is involved in planning and implementation of a strategy. It also visualises strategy as a continuous process that evolves at different levels of a school or organisation and responds to internal and external influences.

Think about strategy in your own school by answering the questions below.

Activity _unit2.3.1 Activity 2

Timing: 20 minutes

What does strategy mean to you? Read the definitions of strategy below and decide which best fits with your approach.

Strategy is a collection of actions that add value (Kotter, 2007).
Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities (Porter, 2011).
Strategy requires you to make trade-offs … to choose what not to do (Porter, 2011, 4).
Strategy involves creating a ‘fit’ among an organization’s activities (Porter, 2011, 5).

Discussion

Adding value is a key element in creating education strategy, and central to public sector planning. Time to think and consult on strategy that will add value for your pupils, staff, and other stakeholders, is vital, in order to plan for the future. Mintzberg, one of the leading researchers in strategy, famously describes it as, ‘seeing ahead’, ‘seeing behind’, ‘seeing above’, ‘seeing below’, ‘seeing beside’, ‘seeing beyond’, and significantly ‘seeing it through’. (Minzberg et al., 1991: ,p.111). This sums up the 360 nature of strategic thinking and planning, emphasising communication with different levels of the organisation in order to gather insights. An important part of this is also to horizon scan the external environment: this is a systematic examination of information to identify potential threats, risks, emerging issues and opportunities. Many people know this as a SWOT (Leigh, 2009), analysis- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This is explained in further detail in Section 4.

During COVID-19, research by Baxter et al. (2022), revealed that leaders and staff were able to address areas of development and creativity which had previously been side-lined due to policy and accountability pressures exerted in schools This has then been taken up by some school leaders, in order to inform future strategy. This and other examples from this work, emphasise how important it is to create that ‘fit’ amongst activities and to consider the ideas that emerge from teachers, in light of future planning.

An interview that appeared in Management in Education, (Baxter, 2021), during COVID-19 talks about the ways in which school leaders were forced to analyse their curriculum and make hard choices about what could be delivered well online. This type of analysis is being taken forward by schools who are examining what can and cannot be taught well online. Read the interview and think about some of the key elements that Dr Campbell mentions when talking about his experience of leading learning during COVID-19.

Activity _unit2.3.2 Activity 3

Timing: 15 minutes

How do you visualise your strategic plan? Choose one or more options.

As a document that is created at a strategy meeting and reviewed once a year.

As a document created at a strategy meeting then reviewed and changed at regular intervals.

As a starting point for our development, a flexible plan that responds to internal and external influences.

The correct answers are a, b and c.

Answer

Research in the business world reports that 70% of strategic plans are never implemented (Carucci, 2017).This is due to the fact that the plans are not regularly reviewed or responsive enough to cope with changing internal and external environments. Research carried out in 2019 in multi-academy trusts, indicates that many boards don’t have effective enough processes for gathering information from their school communities, that can then feed through into their strategy (Baxter and Cornforth, 2021).

Research during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates that communications between parents/carers and schools were often more intensive than before the pandemic, but that they learned a great deal from these interactions, and many intend to carry on using online communications to improve consultation with parents/carers, staff, and governors (Rouleson et al., 2021 ).

Many schools now include strategy as a key part of their governor/trustee meetings, revising it regularly and consulting with staff and other stakeholders (Baxter and Cornforth, 2019).

In a strategy as practice approach, the strategic plan is a ‘living document’ that is used as a stimulus for discussions and debate at all levels of the organisation. Take a look at Interactive Figure 1 to see how you conceptualise strategy in your organisation.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.

Online activity _unit2.3.1 Figure 2 (interactive): How do you go about creating and amending your strategic plan?

Show description|Hide description

The interactive figure shows five circles that each contain text when you click on them.

How do you go about creating and amending your strategic plan?

Once a year via an annual strategy meeting or day [click to reveal] This can work and is a good opportunity to remove stakeholders from the hustle and bustle of their everyday business as usual. This means that individuals have the space to think creatively about where the organisation is now, and where it wants to be. However, in order to be effective, the plan must be reviewed regularly in order to keep the vision alive. Some governors/trustees make this part of their regular meetings.
As part of regular meetings with trustees or governors [click to reveal] Many schools are now implementing a strategic focus item into their agendas. This again, allows not only monitoring of performance against plan, but also encourages flexibility and responsiveness to external and internal challenges.
As part of regular consultations with all stakeholders [click to reveal] Consultation with stakeholders is vital to effective planning,. A key part of this is thinking about who or what may get in the way of executing the strategic plan.
In responding to the most recent policy and accountability drivers [click to reveal] This will most likely inform strategy but should not be the main driver. Research done in Multi Academy Trusts in 2019, showed that there are myriad pressures on leaders in relation to creating strategy (see figure 1 below). This would tend to indicate that a considered approach that focuses on your school /organisation, its needs, development and stakeholders, is preferable to one that focuses only on policy and accountability drivers. These elements are important but should not be the only elements driving your strategy.

Figure 2 (interactive): How do you go about creating and amending your strategic plan?

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

View larger image

Figure _unit2.3.1 Figure 3: Pressures on strategic planning in Multi Academy Trusts in England (Baxter and Floyd, 2019).

Show description|Hide description

An image with the heading: The MAT pressure cooker. There are two circles in the centre, left labelled EXTERNAL and right labelled INTERNAL. Surrounding them are words. On the left, there is the label PRESSURES, and around that there are: Ofsted, Regional school commisioners, reputation, Poor schools drag down standards overall, To grow, Failure to attract good Governors and leaders, Competition from other MATs, Department for Education. On the right, there is the label RISKS, and words surrounding it: EFA, financial failure, Educational failure, failing students, Failure to connect/engage with community, Failure to attract good teachers, Failure to cohere as MAT, To remain small, To make the model work. There are arrows coming from the top, and going round all of these words, one coming round the left and one coming around the right, joining in the middle at the bottom. Below this, there is a label on the left: Collaborative success and innovation, and on the right: Collaborative inertia, stagnation and re-brokering. In the centre bottom, there is the label Political policy pressures - Government.

Figure 3: Pressures on strategic planning in Multi Academy Trusts in England (Baxter and Floyd, 2019).

That said, reviewing and monitoring your strategy is key to ensuring that you are taking account of the changing environment in which you are situated, whilst also looking forward to future opportunities, and considering the threats. You may be familiar with the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges) (Leigh,2009), approach to planning, which helps you to analyse what your organisation does best at present, whilst helping you to think about how you can develop in the future.

ITQ _unit2.3.1

How often do you review and change your strategy?
- Once a year at an away day or meeting
- We review it at regular intervals throughout the year
- We review it as and when, in response to internal and external drivers and influences
Successful strategies are those that alter to take account of the climate within the education system.During the pandemic, schools that had factored in the use of digital learning in emergencies, were better able to respond to the COVID-19 crisis (Jewitt et al, 2022).

ITQ _unit2.3.2

How do you see your role in devising and operationalising strategy?
- I lead in devising and creating it and am responsible for operationalising it
- I lead in devising the strategy but consult annually on shaping it
- I lead in devising the strategy but consult regularly on its development
- I share responsibility for devising the strategy, with other levels of leadership
How you see yourself in relation to strategy and strategic thinking, is not only key to developing a strategy, but is an important part of your leadership and organizational identity (Sveningsson et al., 2012). Your school vision is likely to have been shaped by you and your senior leadership team/s, and any change in this vision, needs to be as carefully orchestrated as any change management programme in an organization. Neilson and colleagues (2008), writing in the Harvard Business Review, carried out research with staff into how well organisations carried out their strategies. The results indicated that staff, in three out of every five organisations, rated their organization as weak at execution, when asked if they agreed with the statement ‘important strategic and operational decisions are quickly translated into action,’ the majority answered, no. (Neilson et al., 2008: ,p,143). The same article points out four levers to executing successful strategy.

Box _unit2.3.1 Putting ideas into practice

Decision rights: Ensure everyone in the organisation knows which decisions and actions they are responsible for and encourage senior and middle management to delegate operational decisions.
Information flow: Make sure that important information about the policy and cultural environment flows quickly to decision makers that way all levels of management identify patterns and promulgate best practices.
Facilitate information flow across organisational boundaries: Engage with other organisations on a regular basis to promote interorganisational learning to inform strategy.
Help employees to understand how their day to day choices affect your school/MAT: Excellent practices in, for example, a single department can be scaled up, but only if that department chooses to share that learning and understands it in relation to the overall strategic vision of the school.

Information adapted from Neilson, et. al, (2011)

Before we go onto the next section, think about the following questions.

ITQ _unit2.3.3

- How did you respond to COVID-19 in relation to strategy?
- Did COVID-19 change your vision of teaching and learning in your organisation?
- Are you able to build on learning during COVID-19, or will this engender a major cultural shift in your organisation?
Research carried out by Baxter et al (2022), via interviews of 50 schools and analysis of 200 websites, indicates that COVID-19 did alter the way that school leaders think about digital learning in relation to their schools, but only some have plans to integrate it into their medium and longer term strategy. Reasons given included; too much of a culture change for staff, (staff not convinced of the efficacy of digital learning); not enough resource; difficulties engaging students in areas of high socio-economic deprivation where hardware, space for private study and /or parental support may be an issue.

3 Starting your digital strategy

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this section we will examine more closely, the strategy as learning approach. We will be looking at a case study interview with a head teacher, talking about how she went about creating her strategy, and how our assumptions (schema frameworks) help or hinder how we think about digital strategy.

Figure _unit2.4.1 Figure 4: Starting your digital strategy

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a person at a desk studying.

Figure 4: Starting your digital strategy

3.1 Digital Strategy as a learning activity

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

‘Strategic management has been a rapidly growing discipline since the 1980s, reflecting the expansion of business schools or schools of management in which it is housed and of its core territory of MBA programmes.’ (Ferlie and Ongaro, 2022: ,p:4). As discussed in Section 2, we frame creating a digital strategy as strategy as practice, an important sub field of strategy as practice is the learning school of strategy. This approach to strategy was initially coined by the publication of Charles Lindblom’s (1959) article: The Science of Muddling Through (Lindblom, 1959). In this article Lindblom takes as an example, the ‘messy’ world of policy making to describe how different factors shape policy making, and the ways in which one individual’s version of rationality, may be in direct conflict with other members of the policy making team. Baxter (2017), picks up on this in her description of how education policy is constructed and implemented, pointing out that ‘the idea of policy making as a learning activity `has found favour with researchers who align it with work into organizational learning and single and double loop learning’ citing the work of Argyris and Schon (1976).(Baxter, 2017) The idea of single and double loop learning is interesting when considering the messy process of strategy making. In the next section you will look at single and double-loop learning and how it applies to your own process of strategic thinking and design. (Argyris, 1976)

Figure _unit2.4.2 Figure 5: Digital Strategy as a learning activity

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a person at their laptop with a headset on, taking part in an online meeting.

Figure 5: Digital Strategy as a learning activity

3.2 Single and Double Loop Learning

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Single and double-loop learning are concepts developed by Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (1976), in the late 1970s. Single-loop learning is a particular type of organizational learning process. When operating with single group learning, people, organizations or groups modify their actions according to the difference between expected and reached outcomes. For example, during the pandemic many pupils were locked out of their schools, this presented heads with numerous problems which required different approaches to teaching and learning. In this case, school leaders had to first evaluate the situation, then adapt behaviour and actions in order to mitigate the situation. The most substantial issue with single loop learning is that in order to resolve the most pressing issues/problems, we remove the symptoms, while root causes still remain. When engaging in this type of learning, individuals or groups focus primarily on their own actions and methods; leading to small changes in specific practices, behaviours or methods based on what is not working or the converse.

Read the information in the box below and think about how this relates to the way that you implemented digital learning during the pandemic.

Box _unit2.4.1 Single loop learning

Research by Baxter et al, (Baxter et al., 2022) illustrates that a school leader x who did not buy into digital learning before the pandemic, still implemented it in order to resolve the problems they faced during lockdowns. However, if this digital learning was not effective due to digital poverty or lack of teacher expertise, they are unlikely to go on to create effective digital strategy for the future. This is largely because they addressed the immediate issue but not the root causes of lack of digital engagement. In other words, by using only single-loop learning we end up making small fixes and adjustments in order to resolve issues as they present themselves.

Double-loop learning is an educational concept and process that involves teaching people to think more deeply about their own assumptions and beliefs. Double loop learning involves confronting existing belief systems or schema, in order to understand assumptions (our own and others) and improve our decision making (Argyris, 1976). Since its development it has been used a great deal in research into how individuals make sense of their working environments (Weick, 1988). In relation to educational leadership, it has been aligned with change-making,(MacBeath, 1998) identity (Hallinger, 2003b) and strategy (Baxter and John, 2021a).

Box _unit2.4.2 Example

Jane Snow begins a new role as Chair of Governors, in a school that had just been rated as, ‘requires improvement,’ in its Ofsted inspection (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills). During the day, she works as Head of Technical Development at a large multi-national company. During discussions about digital teaching, she feels like the expert in the room, and warms to the discussion. However, after the meeting the head approaches her and points out that what she was saying doesn’t really apply in the world of education, and that some of the governors were confused by the discussion. In effect, Jane used her existing way of understanding tech, and her assumptions, to cope in a new environment. The problem was that she needed to recognise that some of these assumptions simply didn’t work in the world of education: that grafting tech business models onto a public service was not really possible. So whilst it was good to have some grasp of tech, Jane’s very developed framework of understanding, was actually getting in the way of her seeing how things actually were in that school.

Activity _unit2.4.1 Activity 4

Timing: 25 minutes

Listen to a head teacher describing how she went about designing her digital strategy before and during COVID. Was this single or double loop learning?

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 1

Audio _unit2.4.1 Audio 1

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Audio 1

JACQUELINE BAXTER

Hi, my name is Jacqueline Baxter. And today, I'm interviewing Kirsty Nichols-Mackay, who is the headteacher of Monkseaton Middle School. Welcome Kirsty.

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

Thank you.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

Thank you for talking to me. And today, Kirsty is going to be telling us a little bit about how she set up a digital strategy and what the starting point was. So do you want to tell me a little bit about when you set it up and how you began this whole thing?

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

OK, so I became headteacher in 2018. I've been here for a couple of years prior to that. And within those first two years, quickly identified from baseline and across the school that there were a lot of ineffective IT resources across the school. And we needed to very urgently rectify that, so that the school was brought up to appropriate standard for the time.

I worked with the senior leadership team at the time. And I worked with the support of the governors. I also worked with the local authority, who were quite heavily involved with the school because we were graded as RI at that point. And so they had some experts that I could access to get some sort of guidance about what was needed, what was no longer fit for purpose and what was needed.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

So you were in the category, requires improvement, at the time, which is the English Inspectorate's category that says that the school needs to improve. So it was an important time for you to set this up. And who was involved in the planning?

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

It was led by myself. And I worked with the school improvement team. I worked with the SLT in our school. I worked with our governors, largely from a finance point of view, nigh, a bit required. A little bit of a leap of faith because it was a very significant financial investment. I worked very closely with the business manager at the time to find the right provision of the resources and so on. Because we weren't at the point where we could train staff because we didn't have the resources to do that.

And so we needed to do fundamental reform of what was in school. And that took a lot of, I guess, back office, you might call it, back office work. So there was a lot of that went on, sort of 2017, just before I became head, when I was working as head of school. And then we did a lot of the work, 2018 moving forward.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

OK, so there was a fair bit in place then, structurally, before COVID hit.

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

Yes there was. There was brand new servers. There was new IT provision, in terms of the computer resources in school. We'd resourced staff so that they all had their own IT. They had a laptop or Surface Go, which we got from the lecturers funding from the government. That's what we chose to spend that on. Because part of the digital strategy was very much about upskilling staff. You can't upskill staff without what's meant to work on. So that was very much a key part of that.

We replaced all the PCs across the school. We replaced all the whiteboards. We replaced, as I said, Surface. The entire network was basically refreshed and replaced, huge expense for the school, which we had to take out over a sort of an HP agreement. Because we couldn't afford to make the initial outlay. I don't know many schools that could. We purchased a lot of small tablets for children to use in lessons.

And actually, by the time COVID hit, we had also run a pilot program, where parents were offered a significantly discounted monthly rate to pay towards purchasing their own device. That was the Surface Go's, which we knew were effective within school and at home. That was a pilot program that started, ironically, December 29, 2019, just before 2020. So yeah, it was well timed. But it actually didn't get off the ground, partly as a result of COVID. So we've had to look again at that and how we're going to roll that out for parents and children.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

OK, and how, thinking about teachers at that point, I mean, COVID came along and you had this infrastructure in place, you'd made a good inroad into your digital plan. So how did COVID affect all that then?

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

We had to, very quickly, accelerate our teachers' skills. We've done some very soft approach, I guess, to provide them with the right resources, to do some-- almost, you have some nice ideas, you might like to try-- with the idea that without COVID, by the end of the three year plan, which we had in place, the intention was that they would all be having what would be effectively a digital pencil case in the classroom. That was how I envisaged it. That was the vision we had across the school.

With COVID coming, we had to very quickly address the staff needs. The children and the staff had to have the same understanding of the software that was going to be used in lockdown, should we need to use it. So this was September 20-what, sorry, September '20. I've lost track of years, September '20. So obviously, we'd had the lockdown in the January through to the Easter. And obviously, our children came back before the summer, it was a year, six.

So we had some children in the school. And we'd been providing work through one form, through Office 365, through Word. And it just wasn't effective. So we knew from the September-- and obviously, we'd planned it over the summer already, and then start in September-- that every child needed be completely trained in the use of Teams. And all of the resources that would be on Teams were the same with the staff. So the September to Christmas of 2020, we did very intensive training with children and staff to make sure that, should we go into that situation again, we were completely able to just switch over to remote learning.

Obviously, we were providing remote learning at that time as well. Because the children were at home and COVID rates were, probably like every school in the country, quite high. So we were learning as we went. But we were improving the skills of the staff, through very specific and targeted training, over that period of time, and the children.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

And I mean, how were the teachers feeling about this rapid move to the digital? Because in other realms, for example, in higher education, there's an awful lot of research that says that actually moving into a digital space really hits teacher identity, in relation to job satisfaction, et cetera.

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

I can't comment on that side. What I can say is, we worked very, very hard to balance workload for staff. Because we were acutely aware that, to all intents and purposes, colleagues were planning twice. If they had five children off in their lesson and they were remote learning, they were still delivering their lesson to the majority of the children. So we had to make sure that we were very careful to work with colleagues, to look at how we could make that achievable.

So whatever went online needs to be what was being delivered in the class. But there had to be some tweaks rather than fundamental changes because we had to mirror the curriculum, wherever possible. That was more challenging when it was something, a practical science lesson, for example. The best pupil in the world watching a video is not the same as doing their practical.

Because of our close working relationships with the in-school unions, we were able to-- and I don't think any schools got it perfect, we certainly didn't. But we were able to provide a situation where colleagues didn't feel overwhelmed by all the other things that were going on. And one of the key things with our school, and from the way that we run our school, is keep the main thing, the main thing. That is very much our mantra.

So we weren't focusing on 37 different things. We were just focusing on this, within our staff training. And that meant that there was opportunity for staff to have bespoke training as well. So it was more about building confidence. I can't comment on identity. It's not something that I ever really thought about. We kept very much abreast of what, certainly, when we were in the lockdown, in the 2021 lockdown, we kept very much on top of what was National Research telling us. What did we need to tweak as a result? That was very much the focus between January and the Easter.

I’ve completely lost track of years now. That must have been '21, January and Easter, where we were very much focused on what can we learn from this. But the colleagues' feedback, we did a lot of staff feedback at the time, was more than just wanting to get it right for the children. I didn't hear about, I'm losing the sense of myself. And I don't know, maybe that's something I missed and didn't pick up from the staff.

One of the strengths of a classroom teacher is their own autonomy. We're never prescriptive. We try to encourage colleagues to go off and do what worked for them in the classroom. Because the research, particularly once we got to, I think it was for every time. What went on in the classroom, if that was mirrored, was much more successful than trying to do something different and new. And if that's what works, that's what works, irrespective of the format

End transcript: Audio 1

Download

Audio _unit2.4.1 Audio 1

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Ms Nichols Mackay began by analysing the digital baseline before she began thinking about how to implement her digital strategy. She also carried out a stakeholder analysis in order to create buy in for her plans, and create the expertise required to begin the strategy. The school was in a ‘requires improvement’ category at the time, so it was important to act relatively quickly. But by ensuring that adequate resources were in place, and that she had the (financial) support of the governors, she created an environment which was conducive to change. She identified several problems at once, lack of core equipment and the need for some teacher development, but by prioritizing hardware, the school was then in a good position to begin a pilot project. In addition, when the hardware is in place, she would then be in a better position to decide what staff development was needed in order for teachers to be creative with it in their classroom.

Baxter and John (2021) examine strategy as learning in relation to 42 semi structured interviews with Trustees and CEOs working in 8 English Multi Academy Trusts- groups of schools with an overarching senior leadership team and board of trustees. Drawing from Hallinger (2003) , they identify several elements of strategy as learning, illustrated in figure 1. Within the diagram a schema is a framework for understanding. As in the example in box 2 these schemas will enable them to quickly get to grips with what is needed in their new role, and that will be helpful. However, the new school may differ substantially from their old one, and some schemas may need to be adapted, or even reformed in order for them to do their job effectively.

Figure _unit2.4.3 Figure 6: (Hallinger, 2003b) in (Baxter and John, 2021b: ,p:294).(Hallinger, 2003a)

Show description|Hide description

A box/flow diagram. At the top there is the title: Procedural and conceptual knowledge of strategy: A learning perspective. Underneath this, there is another box: Factual knowledge. Below this there are four boxes, side by side. From the left: Person schemas: organised memories, impressions of individuals and groupings of prople and their beliefs regarding strategy. Organisation schemas: the culture of the organisation as perceived by individuals: An individual’s knowledge of the culture of strategising. Object/concept schemas: Guiding the interpretation of physical and verbal artefacts: strategic plans, websites, mission statements. Event schemas: Social context information: meetings; strategy days; formal development days; school visits.

Figure 6: (Hallinger, 2003b) in (Baxter and John, 2021b: ,p:294).(Hallinger, 2003a)

ITQ _unit2.4.1

Which of these elements can you identify in the interview with Ms Nichols Mackay?
The head talks about teachers and their levels of understanding, (person schema) but in assessing the IT provision to be poor, she also gains information about the digital culture within the school (organisational culture). She examines the physical resources needed to implement her digital strategy (object concept schemas) and also examines what opportunities there may be to begin to implement a new digital culture (event schemas).

Research illustrates that a certain level of metacognition is needed by individuals to successfully construct and implement strategy (Balogun and Johnson, 2004; Baxter and John, 2021). This requires an examination of the underlying assumptions and or causes behind the present state of affairs, and a will to address these at a tactical level. This requires not only an ability to confront the situation, but also a candour in acknowledging this as a baseline and involving key stakeholders from the start. As you will have no doubt recognised by now, strategy as learning is very closely aligned to models of change management, which are explored in the next section.

Before you progress to Section 4, you may find it useful to make a note of the following in order to provide a good basis for starting to work on your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

What assumptions am I bringing to the table?
What assumptions are others bringing to bear on the digital strategy?
How might these promote or block digital strategy?

4 Digital leadership in schools

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Whilst integrating digital learning into classroom practice has been on the policy agenda in the UK since the early 1980s it was not until the mid-1990s with the emergence of the concept of a global information society, that it gained momentum. (Younie, 2006). The first national assessment of the impact of ICT was carried out in 1993 and appears as part of the influential McKinsey and Stevenson reports of 1997 (McKinsey, 1997; Stevenson Report, 1997). Both these independent inquiries into the ‘issues and opportunities’ with ICT concluded that, ‘the state of ICT in UK schools was primitive and it was a public priority to increase its use.’ Having identified no coordinated strategy to develop ICT in schools the Stevenson report urged government to develop a cohesive national strategy. Consequently, the new Labour government of 1997 launched the UK’s first national ICT strategy, with the flagship initiatives of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) and the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). (TTA,1998, 2002).Yet 22 years on, despite billions of pounds worth of funding, schools are still struggling with the five key areas outlined as problematic when The ICT in Schools Programme was established: ‘management, funding, technology procurement, ICT training and impact on pedagogy (Younie, 2006: ,p,385).

Figure _unit2.5.1 Figure 7: Digital leadership in schools

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of someone teaching using a whiteboard.

Figure 7: Digital leadership in schools

Research into schools often points to the fact that those who work in a school system are the victims of what Kelly and colleagues call, ‘ TTWWADI-that’s the way we’ve always done it.’ (Kelly et al., 2008). This is also reflected in books that examine internationally, why digital technology has not been embedded in schools in the way it has been in other organisations (Reich, 2020). Part of the reason for this is that often teachers and leaders are not convinced that it will improve learning outcomes.(ibid) It is very difficult to prove given there are so many confounding variables: for example, digital access; teacher expertise. Yet, there is plentiful evidence that digital learning in compulsory education, can be effective, as reflected in an analysis of research carried out by a team at Durham University, into the impact of digital technology on learning (Higgins et al., 2012), which states:

‘Overall, the research evidence over the last forty years about the impact of digital technologies on learning consistently identifies positive benefits. The increasing variety of digital technologies and the diversity of contexts and settings in which the research has been conducted, combined with the challenges in synthesising evidence from different methodologies, makes it difficult to identify clear and specific implications for educational practice in schools. Studies linking the provision and use of technology with attainment tend to find consistent but small positive associations with educational outcomes. However a causal link cannot be inferred from this kind of research. It seems probable that more effective schools and teachers are more likely to use digital technologies more effectively than other schools. We need to know more about where and how it is used to greatest effect, then investigate to see if this information can be used to help improve learning in other contexts. We do not know if it is the use of technology that is making the difference.’ (Higgins et al., 2012: ,p:3).

4.1 Challenge and opportunity

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

The pandemic, in common with other world crisis, forced us to think about digital education in ways that ‘business as usual’, did not. Much research carried out during this time, reports not only to the challenges of digital learning, but also the considerable wellspring of teacher, leader and support staff creativity during this time (Co-operation and Development, 2019; Sailer et al., 2021; OECD, 2021) .

Figure _unit2.5.2 Figure 8: Challenge and opportunity

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a person listening to another person talking, slightly out of shot.

Figure 8: Challenge and opportunity

Research on digital leadership has shown how important it is that leaders are convinced of the case for digital learning, in order to articulate a clear vision of their schools’ digital future. (Domeny, 2017; Sailer et al., 2021)

4.2 Being a strategic leader and change manager

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Strategic leadership whilst not a model of leadership per se is a key dimension of any leadership activity and there has been a great deal written about what strategic leaders do, and the characteristics that strategic leaders display (Davies and Davies, 2006). Davies and Davies, (2006) writing in 2006 described five key activities of strategic leaders:

Direction setters -setting
Translating strategy into action
Enabling staff to develop and deliver the strategy
Determining effective intervention points
Developing strategic capabilities

These 5 activities mirror many models of change management and align well with John Kotter’s 8 step change model, (Figure 5), which has been very influential in the field since it was published in 1995 (Kotter, 1995, 1996).

View larger image

Figure _unit2.5.3 Figure 9: Kotters 8 Step Change model (adapted from Kotter, 1995, 1996).

Show description|Hide description

An image of eight boxes, with arrows going from the bottom to the top. From the bottom, up, they are labelled: 1. Create a sense of urgency. 2. Create a guiding coalition. 3. Develop a vision for the change. 4. Communicate the vision for buy in. 5. Empower broad based action. 6. Generate short-term wins. 7. Never let up - pursue the goal until completion. 8. Embed the change into the culture of the organisation.

Figure 9: Kotters 8 Step Change model (adapted from Kotter, 1995, 1996).

The first priority according to the model, is to create a sense of urgency; on the basis that nothing will be implemented unless there is a need for it. This was very evident during lockdowns, when schools had to implement a digital strategy almost overnight.
Create a guiding coalition – it is important to create support for your strategy, both material and cultural. Any change project includes a substantial element of culture change, and this can be very difficult and time consuming to achieve. Analysing your stakeholders and ascertaining which will be ‘blockers’ and which ‘facilitators’ of your change, is an important element within any change management project.
Develop a vision for the change – if you don’t have a vision of what you would like to happen, it is unlikely that it ever will. You will also fail to convince others of the ‘big picture.’ Your vision may be a blended learning environment, or a fully digital school, either way it is important you are able to set this out from the outset.
Communicate the vision for buy in – As important as the vision is, without an effective communication strategy it is likely to fail.
Empower broad based action – Pockets of innovation are good but in order for a vision to succeed you will need to enable action across the whole school.
Generate short term wins – Pockets of good practice can be used to generate interest, small scale low risk ‘pilot projects’ can do a great deal to get staff onside. Particularly if those staff evaluate them and adapt them for ‘business as usual.’
Never let up – change is difficult, it will take some time to achieve your goals, but persistence and resilience in the face of obstacles go a long way.
Embed the change into the culture of the organisation. This is a key element to achieving any strategic change. Embedding change into projects prepares the school/s for the transition from “how we do things now” to “how we will do things in the future.” Engaging people in the process of change is critical to ensuring a successful outcome

However, Kotter’s model is not without its critics. O’Keefe and O’Riordan (2011), identify 2 primary flaws of Kotter’s model:

The model positions change as a one-off event with a defined beginning and a successful end, reached via the 8 steps. O'Keefe makes the very valid point that in the current environment of global uncertainty continuous change is now the order of the day.
Excludes the informal leaders and distributed models of leadership- O’Keefe challenges Kotter's view that significant change can only come from organisational leaders and says that employees become disillusioned if the change only happens from the top. (O'Keefe and O'Riordan, 2011).

Much of the literature on change prompted by crisis discusses the opportunities that inadvertently arise during a crisis, which can actually advance changes which would otherwise have taken years (Maitlis and Sonenshein, 2010). Crisis can also act as key learning events for leaders, particularly in relation to strategy and vision (Weick, 1988; Thürmer et al., 2020).

Listen again to Audio 1 with headteacher Ms Nichols Mackay. This time, consider which elements of Figure 5 were enacted during lockdown, which may have furthered the strategy in the longer term even though it was officially paused during this period.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 1 (repeated)

Audio _unit2.5.1 Audio 1 (repeated)

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Audio 1 (repeated)

JACQUELINE BAXTER

Hi, my name is Jacqueline Baxter. And today, I'm interviewing Kirsty Nichols-Mackay, who is the headteacher of Monkseaton Middle School. Welcome Kirsty.

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

Thank you.

JACQUELINE BAXTER

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

JACQUELINE BAXTER

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

JACQUELINE BAXTER

OK, so there was a fair bit in place then, structurally, before COVID hit.

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

JACQUELINE BAXTER

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

JACQUELINE BAXTER

KIRSTY NICHOLS-MACKAY

End transcript: Audio 1 (repeated)

Download

Audio _unit2.5.1 Audio 1 (repeated)

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Lockdown created a sense of urgency for the school to ensure that pupils continued learning throughout the pandemic. This meant that the head and staff discovered the true extent of the lack of both hardware and connectivity of pupils and their families.
The school’s vision that every pupil should be able to access digital learning, was furthered due to the measures that were put in place during lockdown. If lockdown had not occurred, the development of the strategy would have stalled due to lack of essential devices and bandwidth. Although this issue is not fully resolved, the crisis meant that it was recognised and acted upon much earlier than it would have been otherwise.
Highlighting the digital divide to governors and other stakeholders, will be key to moving forward with the strategy in future.

4.3 SWOT analysis

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

SWOT analyses (SWOT, 2020), can be applied to an organization, or individual projects within a single department of that organisation. They are normally used to determine strengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats, in relation to the organisational or departmental mission or purpose. They are useful in relation to strategy in order to evaluate how your strategy is faring in relation to the external and internal environment or to initial projections.

SWOT is often presented as a grid-like matrix with four distinct quadrants – one representing each individual element (see figure 6)

Figure _unit2.5.4 Figure 10: SWOT analysis

Show description|Hide description

An image of SWOT analysis. A table with three rows and three columns.

Top row, left to right, there is a blank box, then positive, then negative.

Second row, left to right: Internal, S strengths, W weaknesses.

Third row, left to right: External, O opportunities, T threats.

Figure 10: SWOT analysis

Examples of the SWOT applied to a school strategy might look like this:

Strengths: Governors keen to allocate budget to digital resources; staff in 4 departments are supportive of adoption of digital methods; some parents keen to help pupils at home.

Weaknesses: Government funding for schools being cut; digital poverty problematic in 30% of pupil homes; staff in music and language departments need development in delivering digitally.

Opportunities: new funding for digital teaching due to be announced later this year; interschool collaboration is improving and supportive; new funding could be used to develop staff, and or invest in hardware and connectivity.

Threats: external economic climate very poor with inflation rising and energy bills putting many families on the bread line and increasing digital and actual poverty; families may be evited leading to homelessness, hunger and lack of space for educational work , due to being housed in temporary accommodation.

Think about Kotter’s 8 step model of change, within your own school and evaluate where you are on the continuum. Make a note of the areas that you feel are weak or still need attention. This will form part of your SWOT analysis . (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), as you begin to write your strategy.

4.4 Learning analytics

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Learning analytics is the use of data about pupils and about the context in which they are operating, in order to help those pupils and improve educational processes. Learning analytics is not the kind of activity that takes place, for example, in examining school finance or predicting pupil numbers. Learning analytics is about the learning, how to enhance learning for individual or groups of learners and use these analytics to improve learning outcomes.

Figure _unit2.5.5 Figure 11: Learning analytics

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of two people studying some calculations with a calculator and notepad.

Figure 11: Learning analytics

Schools have access to data from a number of difference sources, these are called learning metrics, for example: from the virtual learning environment, attendance monitoring systems and the pupil records system. These metrics can produce composite metrics; for example, an indicator of a pupil’s overall engagement with their learning. You might combine the number of times they logged into the learning platform with their attendance and assessment, and thus produce an overall metric of engagement. This whole process combined with the interpretation of those metrics and the interventions that you might take with individual pupils to try and help them, for example, if they are at risk of dropout or poor results.

Looking at pupil engagement with learning and trying to understand how pupils learn is not something new for School Leaders, but what learning analytics does provide is a whole new set of data sources and a more in-depth opportunity to analyse pupil learning and engagement. Never before have School Leaders had the ability to focus on pupil’s individual activity in the way that is now possible through online learning, which provides increased data points to extract pupil data.

Activity _unit2.5.1 Activity 5

Timing: 20 minutes

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, all lessons within The Community Schools Trust, have been delivered online, live, using a combination of Dynamic Progress Reporting System and Google Meet. The Community Schools Trust share their approach in dynamic progress reporting. Read the case study Dynamic Progress Reporting and make notes on what you think might be the strengths and weaknesses of learning analytics.

Discussion

Traditionally, school education has often provided a one size fits all kind of educational experience for pupils. At The Community Schools Trust, using learning analytics, staff have the opportunity to adopt a far more personalised approach, thus providing individual help to pupils, pinpoint those at risk and then employ interventions to try and help those pupils.

Why use learning analytics?

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

One of the strengths of learning analytics is that it can be used by different staff throughout the school. The Trust can start with data about an individual pupil, and, for example, use it with the pupil to decide whether there are any areas that they can improve. In other words, teachers use the data and provide more personalised feedback and feed forward to pupils.

Teachers can also group data, to examine the performance of a whole pupil group comparing an individual pupil with the group average This also benefits, for example, a Head of Department who can see how pupils are progressing at a departmental or school level.

Figure _unit2.5.6 Figure 12: Why use learning analytics?

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of two people working on a laptop.

Figure 12: Why use learning analytics?

In terms of weaknesses, we have to be careful not to fool ourselves into thinking that learning analytics can explain everything that is happening in the learning environment. Schools may measure how often a pupil is logging into the learning platform, how long they are spending in the learning platform, but it may well be that they have just logged on, and in actual fact are off task in some way.

What key actions need to be taken at your school?

Add these to your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

5 This session’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this session by taking the end-of-session quiz.

Open the quiz in a new window or tab then come back here when you’ve finished.

Session 1 practice quiz

6 Session 1 summary

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this session, you have thought about how learners differ in their use of digital technologies and in what they need to succeed. You have learned about the power of data and analytics to support pupils’ learning and considered how to overcome barriers to change.

Figure _unit2.7.1 Figure 13: Summary

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of someone using their ruler and pen to underline some text on paper.

Figure 13: Summary

Now move on to Session 2.

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this session on building competencies, you will explore how you support the digital development of teaching and professional staff, and examine how the school develops pupils’ own digital skills as resources for learning, as well as the competencies of parents and carers.

However you see your school thriving as a digital school, that vision can only be delivered by skilled staff. Digital skills are not confined to specialists, although digital enthusiasts and experts are hugely valuable to digital innovation and planning within the school. Many of the school leaders interviewed in a recent study (Baxter, Floyd and Jewitt, 2022) identified one or more digital champions within their schools: people who were happy to build enthusiasm and advise on digital strategy.

Figure _unit3.1.1 Figure 1: Introduction

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a classroom with lots of different learning resources on the wall.

Figure 1: Introduction

In order for any digital strategy to be effective, skills need to be integrated into the day-to-day professional practice of all staff, whatever their subject area or role.

Pupil-facing staff need to understand how digital technologies can support day-to-day learning habits as well as subject-specific practices. This involves understanding the prior knowledge and experience of pupils

So that you can digitally plan for the future, any technologies must feed into the ways that teaching staff need to keep up to date with new approaches in the classroom and new ways of using technology to support and record learning, wherever it takes place. Staff with responsibility for the IT environment need to be aware of how it is being used for teaching and learning, and to appreciate the value of innovation and specialisation as well as safety and standardisation experiences from their use of digital technologies. Some of these may need to be adapted and progressed if they are to support the independent learning demanded of them at school level. But in other ways - such as their use of digital media (images, video, animations and apps) and their habits of sharing and collaborating online - pupils have much to show us. Pupils also expect to leave school with skills for employability. Digital skills, evidence of digital outcomes, and an e-portfolio to show what they have learned, are all vital to what the school experience can offer. Parents and carers also need support in developing digital skills to support their children in online learning (you may want to refer back to your notes from Session 1, Section 1.1 reading of the NP3 report).

Session 2 covers:

Developing digital capabilities for all stakeholders.
Identifying and mapping practice, preferences and opportunities.
Building capacity and resilience.
Change management strategies to support stakeholders.
Addressing barriers and supporting cultural change and staff development.

1 Developing digital capabilities

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

You are now going to carry out a review of digital capacity (digital skills, expertise and know-how) within your school. Use this as a checklist so you can begin formulating a strategy to plan for building digital competencies in your school. You may wish to carry out something similar to poll staff about their development needs.

Activity _unit3.2.1 Activity 1

Timing: 20 minutes

Have a think about the following statements, and score your thoughts, with 1 being ‘not at all true’, to 5 being ‘true for all’.

Our pupils’ digital access and know-how are treated as an asset e.g. through peer mentoring.
We have in-house expertise in content management including open content.
Pupil-facing staff have regular professional development in using digital technologies.
We have in-house expertise in multimedia learning design.
Innovative teaching staff are rewarded, recognised and celebrated.
There are people with digital expertise at all levels of the organisation.
Our pupils can use their own devices in the classroom and pick up digital skills from each other.
We have in-house expertise in learner analytics.
Teaching staff have support to embed digital activities and resources into their subject teaching.
Our pupils' digital capabilities are progressed throughout their curriculum.
Teaching staff regularly see examples of innovative and excellent practice, inside and beyond the school.
Our pupils know how to stay safe and how to behave appropriately online.
Pupils use up-to-date digital tools and undertake authentic digital practices relevant to their subject area.
Digital skills and practices are included in routine observations and appraisals of teaching staff.
Our pupils have their IT skills assessed on entry and are signposted to any support they need.
Parents and carers have their IT skills assessed and are signposted to any support they need.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

After completing the review, note down some actions to follow up on.

2 Practice, preferences and opportunities

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

One of the biggest mistakes teachers can make when they move towards technology supported learning is the assumption that traditional content and approaches can be used unchanged. In most cases, they can’t. If you simply reuse content that has been tried and tested in traditional modes of teaching, you will discover that in a digital environment, it is inadequate. This is because teaching online is an entirely new approach to teaching face-to-face (Puentedura, 2018). Technology supported learning demands a new kind of approach. It also requires appropriate and effective integration of technology into that pedagogy.

Face-to-face teaching has a long history of tradition on which it draws, in order to facilitate the establishment of a channel of communication, for example: bells ring, the teacher clears her throat or shouts, "Oy, you! in the back. Yes, you! Are we quite ready? Thank you!" The chairs in the room are oriented in a certain way to reinforce certain channels and dampen others: theatre style, open U, boardroom table. There may be communication aids: interactive white boards. Similarly, the establishment of relationships is facilitated by years of tradition and mediated by the channels of communication. We draw on a deep tradition of knowledge, much of which is tacit. This tacit knowledge of face-to-face learning interactions might need some re-conceptualisation when we move into the online world. As Robin Mason (2001) said, often the first time we question the meaning and form of teaching at all is when we try to adopt new learning technologies.

There are several useful models of technology integration. One example is the SAMR model (see the illustration below), which was devised by American educator Ruben Puentedura (2018). The model categorises technology use into four levels. At the most basic level, introducing new technology is simply a Substitute for a previous method. Using an interactive white board purely for projection of slides would fall into this category. At the most advanced level, Redefinition happens when a technology opens up new and previously unobtainable areas of pedagogy. The two (top) levels are classed as enhancement, while (Modification and Redefinition levels can be considered transformational.

Figure _unit3.3.1 Figure 2: How SAMR can be applied in practice (Puentedura, 2018)

Show description|Hide description

A diagram of the SAMR model. There are four colours in a step formation. At the top step is S: substitution: Technology acts as a direct subsitute, with no functional change. On the next step below is A: augmentation: Technology acts as a direct substitute, with functional improvement. Them the next step is M: modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign. Then the bottom step is R: redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.

Figure 2: How SAMR can be applied in practice (Puentedura, 2018)

Think about the technologies teachers currently use, or plan to use in the classroom, and imagine how each of the levels could describe their integration into teaching and learning activities. Are you merely substituting, or are you delving deeper?

Teachers will apply the above model according to their personal philosophies of pedagogy. If they prefer a more didactic (instructional) approach, they may wish to ensure that the technology at their disposal is under their control, there to support their teaching. If they teach in a facilitative (pupil centred) style, they may decide that the technology should be in the hands of the pupils, to support their learning. In reality, most teachers oscillate between the two approaches, depending on the lesson, the subject matter, the level of their pupils' understanding, and other variables. Read the box below, written by a teacher, and think about how this applies to teaching in your school.

Box _unit3.3.1

In my teaching, I can think of numerous contexts where the above model can be applied. For example, each and every level of the SAMR model of technology integration might be witnessed in my teaching sessions within a single hour!

Progressing from simple to complex for example, may require different applications of technology to support both teaching and learning. I might move from a didactic style of introduction through more participative elements, and finally to a completely pupil-centred activity, where the technology progresses from substitute to redefinition depending on the mode of pedagogy. On occasions, where my sessions predominantly feature pupil activities, I'm there purely as a support or facilitator if they get into difficulties. In such contexts, technology is driven by the pupils rather than the teacher. This is very similar to an earlier model by John Heron, in which teachers move from facilitative mode, through to didactic and autonomous mode within a single session. (Heron, 1972).

Another useful model of technology integration is called TPACK and is attributed to Mishra and Koehler (see the diagram below). It focuses more upon the knowledge and skills teachers require to successfully adopt a technology supported or online approach to education. Mishra and Koehler (2006) believe that viewing various teacher knowledge domains as separate from each other is a mistake. They prefer to see three integrated sets of knowledge - pedagogical (teaching), content (subject expertise) and technological (use of technology in education) as overlapping and influencing each other. The assumption is that educators who are capable of understanding the overlaps between the domains will have a broader, and perhaps more flexible expertise than those who are solely subject experts, technology specialists or traditional teachers.

Figure _unit3.3.2 Figure 3: How TPACK can be applied in practice (Mishra and Koehler, 2006)

Show description|Hide description

A diagram of the TPACK model: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This is labelled at the very centre of three circles, which all overlap one another. The top circle is labelled Technological knowledge (TK), the right-hand circle is labelled Content Knowledge (CK) and the left-hand circle is labelled Pedagogical Knowledge (PK). Where TK and PK overlaps, this area is labelled Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK). Where CK and PK overlaps, this is labelled Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Where CK and TK overlaps, this is labelled Technological Content Knowledge (TCK). As mentioned previously, where TK, CK and PK all overlap, this is labelled Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). This is all contained in a dashed line circle, labelled contexts.

Figure 3: How TPACK can be applied in practice (Mishra and Koehler, 2006)

No technology can replace good, empathetic teaching and the warmth of personal interaction, but technology can enhance and extend these if integrated appropriately.

Both SAMR and TPACK can be applied to make better sense of how we embed technologies into the processes of teaching and learning.

Activity _unit3.3.1 Activity 2

Timing: 15 minutes

How does your school use technology in the classroom? Do teachers primarily use it to support pupils or to augment their own teaching? Reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on the use of technology. In many schools the IT strategy took a huge jolt through COVID-19. After returning to school after pandemic lockdowns, you may have seen a bit of a ‘bounce back’ with teachers enjoying being back in the classroom and many have become significantly more skillful in the use of ICT – the opportunities are significant! Create a mind map of the possible uses of technology in your school. Some, you might have already used, but also try to include some that you may not have used yet.

View interactive version

Online activity _unit3.3.1 Figure 4 (interactive): Mind mapping activity

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

3 Building capacity and resilience and supporting wellbeing

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Research shows that pupils require three kinds of support for online learning (Moore and Kearsley, 1996). The first is academic support, which is usually offered by the teachers and experts. It's a very specialised kind of support that focuses on the content, expertise and knowledge within the domain of study.

The second mode of support pupils require is technical support. This is increasingly evident as technology becomes more prevalent, and as we rely on it more. Sometimes the support is low level and can be addressed through the technology itself. Many online platforms such as VLEs display Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sections that can be updated regularly as technical issues arise and fixes are found. Sometimes the problem is simple - a forgotten password for example - but occasionally the problem is more complex, so the support of a IT specialist may be required.

Figure _unit3.4.1 Figure 5: Building capacity and resilience and supporting wellbeing

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of two people looking at a laptop.

Figure 5: Building capacity and resilience and supporting wellbeing

The third mode of support required is emotional and social support. Pupils are human, and experience emotional highs and lows, and life happens. As in the face-to-face classroom, pupils will need some encouragement or a listening ear.

All of the above supports are usually offered by teachers and support staff, but increasingly, as online communities of learning develop, pupils within the class help each other in a mutual support system. Enabling this kind of informal, behind the scenes support to flourish may be crucial to the success of online learning (Moore and Kearsley, 1996).

Integrating technology within the curriculum can give pupils greater autonomy, and it also encourages more in-depth learning. See below for an example of a maths activity which also enhances employability.

Box _unit3.4.1

The teacher filmed a property that was for sale by auction. The teacher walked around the property and filmed room by room. The film was then uploaded to Padlet (an online noticeboard tool) (Padlet, 2021). Pupils were asked to work together to renovate the property using Padlet as a collaborative tool to share resources relating to building regulations and costs; budgets and calculating costs, designs for extensions and planning building works. Three pupils who were busy, gathered around a screen were quite animated and very focused on the task in hand and at first, the teacher assumed from the excitement that they were playing a computer game. The teacher saw they were using Minecraft, which confirmed the assumption. But the assumption was wrong. They explained that they had taken the measurements of the entire property (property, outbuildings, grounds etc) and were recreating a scale model in Minecraft. They explained they had taken a lot of time to ensure the length, height and width of each building, the ratio of the buildings in relation to each other, and taken into account the angles and the dimensions. They had to understand the function of each room, and the circulation spaces between the rooms and buildings. They had to find out about the history of the property, how it had been built and with what materials it was constructed. They had to understand the plan, elevations and other architectural mathematics of the entire property.

The teacher asked them what they had learnt so far. 'Not much' they said, 'but it's fun and we've been doing this for a few weeks now'. As an observer, the teacher could see that the three pupils had learnt more than they realised. They were just 'having fun', but they were learning by stealth, and what they were learning was cross-curricular, covering several subject areas. This would have been much more difficult, if not impossible to do, had they not had access to the digital tools and support from each other. If this is related to TPACK, you can see that the teacher called upon all three domains of my knowledge - content, pedagogy and technological - to set up a project that exploited the technology to promote active, engaged and productive learning.

Activity _unit3.4.1 Activity 3

Timing: 25 minutes

Following on from your previous work on scenario planning, you now need to develop (write, draw, create) two scenarios for building competencies in your school. In one you envisage your school responding positively to the change factors for developing the digital environment (the positive scenario); in the other you envisage your school failing to respond or responding in a negative way (the negative scenario). This will move you on in developing your digital strategy.

Here is an example of positive and negative scenario planning for building capacity.

As a result of developing your scenarios and reflecting on them, what key actions need to be taken at your school?

Add these to your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

3.1 Scenarios prompt

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Theme: Building competencies to support new kinds of learning

Describe the positive scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

All teaching staff can use our core systems to support effective learning
All teaching staff are supported on a progression path to more advanced digital skills suited to their subject or role
The school identifies and rewards excellent teachers
Training and CPD, observation and appraisal for teaching staff all incorporate the use of digital technologies
A skilled IT team provides us with a robust, secure but flexible digital environment
We have staff who are skilled in online/blended learning, content development and learner analytics
The school has excellent digital learning resources and learning resource professionals
The school works closely with employers to build partnerships and understand workplace needs
The school values the skills and competences that pupils bring to school and has mechanisms to encourage peer support.
Other...

Ideas to consider:

How would the school benefit if this scenario were fully realised?
In what ways is your school already moving towards this scenario?
What are the barriers?

Describe the negative scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

Teaching staff digital skills remain low or very variable
Teaching staff do not feel trusted or rewarded to innovate
The IT team are outmoded in their approach
Learning resources are dated
No in-house expertise in online/blended learning, content development, learning analytics
Learners do not appreciate safe/ethical behaviour in online settings
The school does not work with employers to establish their needs for digitally-capable leavers
Staff have very little awareness of the IT skills that students bring to school.
Other...

Ideas to consider:

What would be the likely consequences of this scenario?
In what ways is your school already at risk of this outcome?
What can you start doing now to minimise the risks?

Supporting parents and carers

As School Leaders, engaging with parents and carers effectively is critical in supporting pupils’ learning. For parents and carers to best support their child in engaging with online learning or in completing learning activities such as home learning, they need to understand how best to do this. It is important to consider how we can communicate with parents to help them support learning in the home. The EEF’s guide “Communicating Effectively with Families” provides useful tips for communicating with families. There are also a range of useful examples, some of which are specific to literacy and numeracy, giving parents and carers clear examples of how to use day-to-day experiences to support learning at home.

Useful resources

Working with Parents to Support Children’s Learning

Communicating effectively with families

In summary, undoubtedly staff within your school will have developed competencies and skills in response to the unprecedented times of the global COVID-19 pandemic with restrictions and enforced school closures. School Leaders report they do not want to lose the tools and approaches for online learning that have developed. As School Leaders it is important to recognise that online learning is likely to have a place in every school, regardless of whether learning is taking place in school or remotely. It is also important to recognise that students will often have IT skills beyond those of the teacher and actively planning how to acknowledge and build on this could be important?

Perhaps there are ways of harnessing expertise amongst students to help students who are less confident? As always, it is important to consider teacher workload and manageability. There are opportunities to continue to build digital competencies across all stakeholders and embed digital skills as part of an approach to effective teaching in order to capitalise on new strengths that have developed.

4 This session’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Now it’s time to complete the Session 2 badge quiz. This quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours.

Open the quiz in a new window or tab then come back here when you’ve finished.

Session 2 badge quiz

5 Summary of Session 2

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Figure _unit3.6.1 Figure 6: Summary

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a library or reading area, full of bookshelves with books, learning resources and chairs.

Figure 6: Summary

Now move on to Session 3.

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this session of the course, you will think about how your school provides an environment for successful teaching and learning. The digital environment includes networks, hardware and software, and digital content resources. It also includes policies on how these digital facilities are used and support for the staff and pupils who are using them. Finally, you will need to consider the school building itself: - teaching rooms, social spaces, furnishings - and how they support the use of digital technologies or alternatively make new practices more difficult to adopt.

Figure _unit4.1.1 Figure 1: Introduction

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a person on a laptop talking through a headset.

Figure 1: Introduction

You need to understand enough about these issues to communicate a vision for ways that digital can become fully embedded in school practices and to work effectively with IT teams and other staff, ensuring that key stakeholders are also fully involved.

Session 3 covers:

Digital collaboration, communication and inclusion of all stakeholders.
Assess the potential impact of online learning at strategic levels.
Created an action plan for making a step change towards becoming a more effective and collaborative school / MAT.

1 Policy and practice trends

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Community engagement around online safety issues is one of the biggest challenges facing schools when reviewing their online safety policies and practices (Phippen, 2021). Engagement with parents and carers can be challenging but it is important to help them feel empowered, to support their children in safe online practices at home. Read one approach below on how a school has supported online safety:

Box _unit4.2.1

One of our own pupils trained as an intern, did the apprenticeship and is now an IT Technician. He has set up and run a skype line for parents to call providing one-to-one support to homes. He runs weekly drop in sessions for parents and provides tuition. We’ve done a lot of work on safety and a lot of work, working with parents on safety measures, asking do you know what your kids are doing in their bedroom whilst you’re downstairs watching TV?

If you are interested in finding out more, you may find it helpful to read the UK Schools Online Safety Policy & Practice Assessment. Here are some of the ways schools are supporting safe and effective working practices when using digital tools for education:

Providing support for parents and carers to promote safe online practices with their children.
Using the free Parent Info embed tool to add online safety information to the school website and newsletters, providing useful information, tips and resources for families.
Offering online safety workshops for parents and carers.
Sharing information via school social network sites and website blog.
Providing online safety tips, such as, how to hold age-appropriate conversations with children about online safety; via the ThinkUKnow website run by the National Crime Agency.
Sharing with parents, guidance on screen time. The Royal College of Paediatrics have published a guide for parents on the effects of screen time and key questions to ask.
Recommending to parents/carers the NSPCC guide to setting up parental controls, if children are spending more time online to help ensure they are not accessing inappropriate materials.
Reminding parents and pupils of the reporting procedure for grooming or online sexual abuse from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (CEOP).

Activity _unit4.2.1 Activity 1

Timing: 20 minutes

Complete the following review of your school’s digital environment. Use this as a checklist to begin formulating a strategy to develop a digital environment in your school.

Have a think about the following statements, and score your thoughts, with 1 being ‘not at all true’, to 5 being ‘true for all’.

Pupils can access up-to-date personal and lesson information on their devices.
There is a dedicated adviser on assistive technology and a ring-fenced budget.
Different groups of pupils are consulted/represented in decisions about IT infrastructure.
Learning data (e.g. from the learning platform) is used to support planning and to enhance the learning experience.
Pupils have support to build an e-portfolio or other digital evidence of their achievements.
We have a five-year (at least) strategy for allocating resources to meet pupils' changing needs.
Classrooms and other learning spaces are designed to support the use of digital devices e.g. multiple sockets, desk space, flexible furniture, secure storage, plug-and-play screens.
Pupils have support to develop their information skills: searching, evaluating and managing content, referencing and sharing, avoiding plagiarism.
Pupils have a full induction into all the digital systems provided by the school.
Pupils have access to up-to-date hardware and software including any specialised applications they need for their learning.
A clear Bring Your Own policy supports pupils to use their own devices, services etc appropriately.
A video database or video how-to service (e.g. www.khanacademy.org) is available to support Pupils' IT skills.
IT support and skills training is available on a drop-in basis throughout the year groups for both pupils and staff.
We provide classroom IT that works reliably, and core systems without downtime.
Pupils use diverse digital resources e.g. screencasts, podcasts, virtual labs, apps, animations, e-tutorials.
There is robust wifi in all the spaces pupils use, and they can use it to access their own digital services.

After completing the review, note down some actions to follow up on in your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

2 Map the digital environment

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

You will now revisit your scenario planning activity, first started in Session 1, Section 1.1 and continue to consider real challenges and begin to formulate real solutions for your school with the support of other decision makers.

Figure _unit4.3.1 Figure 2: Map the digital environment

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of four people at a table working with some visual cards.

Figure 2: Map the digital environment

Activity _unit4.3.1 Activity 2: Scenario planning

Timing: 25 minutes

Following on from your previous work on scenario planning, you now need to develop (write, draw, create) two scenarios for developing your school’s digital environment. In one you envisage your school responding positively to the change factors for developing the digital environment (the positive scenario); in the other you envisage your school failing to respond or responding in a negative way (the negative scenario).

As a result of developing your scenarios and reflecting on them, what key actions need to be taken at your school?

Add these to your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

2.1 Scenarios prompt

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Describe the positive scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

The school’s network is robust and secure: WIFI is available in all the settings pupils use and the firewall is robust.
Pupils can easily access systems and course materials away from school
Pupils can personalise their experience of school systems
Staff and pupils have support to use their own devices and third-party services
Innovative uses of technology for learning and teaching are supported ( any safety/security risks are communicated clearly to staff and pupils)
Communication technologies are used to support pupils in remote settings e.g. from home or when on work experience or school trips
Teaching staff and pupils are involved in development projects to enhance the learning environment
Digital technologies are used as a core element in our sustainable school plan.
Other…

Now consider:

How would the school benefit if this scenario were fully realised?
In what ways is your school already moving towards this scenario?
What are the barriers?

Describe the negative scenario for your school. Some ideas are given below. Amend, add or delete them to suit your own situation.

Staff and pupils are barred from using their own devices and services on your networks
There are no clear policies on 'Bring your own device', 'Switch it on' etc
The IT team is very risk-averse
The IT team is too busy with upgrades to support innovative uses of the software/network
There are still significant gaps in network coverage and/or pupils cannot get access from home
There is a danger that very skilful students may subvert or abuse school systems.
Other….

Now consider:

What would be the likely consequences of this scenario?
In what ways is your school already at risk of this outcome?
What can you start doing now to minimise the risks?

3 Challenges and opportunities for learning and teaching

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

The United Nations passed a resolution for the ‘promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet’, declaring online freedom to be a human right that must be protected (Article 19, 2021). The Education Endowment Foundation (2021) highlights how using technology can be used to improve the quality of explanations and modelling, the impact of pupil practice and play a role in improving assessment and feedback. As the world wide web becomes more integral in schools helping pupils learn and communicate, there are also challenges associated with working online, for example, ensuring access is inclusive and accessible. The report from the Chartered College of Teaching on Education in times of crisis (Muller and Goldenberg, 2021) provides a detailed review of some of the challenges that pupils faced during the COVID-19 global pandemic restrictions and school closures. The report highlights useful examples of features to consider when delivering online learning for pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND). These include:

Transcripts for lessons
Video captioning
Written instructions and materials (this also supports pupils with ADHD who may not be able to sustain attention)
Clear website navigation
Accessible colours, fonts and font sizes
Makaton signs in lessons
British Sign Language interpreted English and Maths lessons for pupils in years one to three

The UK Safer Internet Centre (2021) stated there are four key potential harms for children using the internet: commercialism, contact from bullies or groomers, inappropriate content and personal conduct where children may share too much online. Depending on the way that you introduce online learning, you may consider utilising classroom tools for example, lock screens and website content filtering, as well as, clearly outlining expectations and explicitly defining internet use in behaviour policies.

Figure _unit4.4.1 Figure 3: Challenges and opportunities for learning and teaching

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of two people at their desk working through a textbook. There is someone standing on the other side of the table talking to them.

Figure 3: Challenges and opportunities for learning and teaching

To learn about the latest trends in teaching, learning and assessment, read The Open University’s Innovating Pedagogy report.

Browse the links below to explore aspects of online learning. These are helpful one-page guides for you to gain an overview of what School Leaders have reported as methods that work in online learning.

It is also important to review the use of technology outside of teaching and learning, for example, for staff CPD, for online briefings and meetings including with governors and for parents’ evenings. The Department for Education’s framework for reviewing your remote education provision is a useful aid to assess your current digital environment and future development.

If you identify any actions you’d like to follow up on after completing your reading, note them down in your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

4 Information governance, safety, security and privacy

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Information Governance is the effective, efficient and acceptable management of your information technology (IT). Ensuring your IT management is continuously improving, as well as, being aligned with your strategy and best practice. Consider the following questions and record in your Action grid, if you identify any actions to take forward.

Key questions for consideration include:

Are all staff sufficiently knowledgeable in online safety?
Are all staff aware of what technical measures to check to ensure safety online?
Are all members of the school community knowledgeable in identifying and reporting online safety incidents?
Is building pupils’ knowledge in online safety embedded throughout the curriculum?
Are your safeguarding policies, procedures and reporting as robust as they can be?

Useful guidance when planning online safety are:

Teaching Online Safety in School provided by the Department for Education
Online safety self-review tool helps schools review their online safety polices
Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance from the Department for Education.
Education for a connected world framework which provides a progression framework for online safety in the curriculum

5 This session’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this session by taking the end-of-session quiz.

Open the quiz in a new window or tab then come back here when you’ve finished.

Session 3 practice quiz

6 Summary of Session 3

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

In this session, we have focused on developing safe practices in developing a digital environment. We have drawn on some of the key guidance and resources available and explored some of the potential issues and how to mitigate against them. Decisions about whether to develop the digital environment should always include careful thinking, consultation and evaluation of costs against the expected benefits. This includes considering what time, resources, training and ongoing support and maintenance will be required. Monitoring the use of the digital environment and checking that all staff and pupils have the digital skills required to use the digital environment effectively is likely to reduce the danger of the use of technology widening the gap between successful pupils and their peers.

Figure _unit4.7.1 Figure 4: Summary

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a classroom, there is a person teaching at the front of the room, and there are children at tables watching and listening.

Figure 4: Summary

Now move on to Session 4.

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

This final session of the course is an opportunity to reflect upon a whole school approach for strategic planning for online learning and review and develop a strategy for leading your school in online learning. You will be asked to complete a survey to help you in formulating your school strategy which will help you to integrate and consolidate your learning so far. The particular aim of this session’s activities is to consider collaborating in multilateral strategies.

Figure _unit5.1.1 Figure 1: Introduction

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a classroom wall, with lots of different learning resources.

Figure 1: Introduction

The work we will do in this session, aims to give you opportunities to:

Clarify your communication and collaborations with stakeholders.
Consider how to plan for impact and to demonstrate forms of evidence to support your claims of online learning in your school.
Create an action plan for digital learning which contributes to your whole school strategy.

1 Collaborative working

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

A multilateral strategic approach involves a collaborative partnership across schools and sectors to implement a blended learning approach that focuses on pedagogy to support the whole child, rather than teaching for examination grades. This includes bringing together various stakeholders and ensuring Teaching and Support Staff voices are at the core of any solutions. Stakeholders may include Governors / Trustees, Community Practitioners, Colleges and Universities, Youth Partners, Local Employers and Pupils to create an integrated strategy to solve inequalities that impact education. Some of the best expertise in the school may sit with the students. It includes working collaboratively over a range of activities, for example, working with primary schools to support the transition between schools, after-school activities such as computer clubs; parenting courses, resilience building, teenage parents’ groups; art therapy and mental health counselling with practitioners such as Mind.

Figure _unit5.2.1 Figure 2: Collaborative working

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of two people in wheelchairs in an open space, seemingly on the move. There are people behind them standing talking to one another.

Figure 2: Collaborative working

You may well consider that the need to collaborate in multilateral strategies is nothing new or even remarkable. Understanding and coordinating across different stakeholders is likely to be an integral part of your work. So, what are the new challenges of collaborating in multilateral strategies? The answer lies in the degree to which school leaders are needing to work in a more integrated and collaborative way with colleagues within their own school and with other schools. Increasingly, school leaders are collaborating and interacting more intensively due to the challenges and opportunities that online learning affords. During this session, you will recognise challenges and opportunities and identify the nature of the complexity that such issues present; develop a range of skills helpful in collaborating in multilateral strategies and recognise the benefits. Using digital to collaborate in multilateral strategies is a new way of operating that takes us to a different level.

Activity _unit5.2.1 Activity 1

Timing: 15 minutes

What are your experiences of collaborating in multilateral strategies? Put down some examples which will be useful to refer to later, as you progress future strategic plans and actions.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

You might have noted some of the following:

You may have noted working collaboratively to manage a project, run a service across schools or co-deliver a curriculum subject. You may have run a community group where people contribute voluntarily. You may have noted how you are already working collaboratively, but to what extent is this digital collaboration?

It can be challenging to generate interest and build trust in a group that is not used to working together. There may be resistance to online learning, for example, due to a lack of resource, lack of time to create online resources, a fear of technology replacing teachers or teachers feeling that they are not skilled enough and lack training and support. There can also be ethical concerns – such as, teachers believing that online learning is not ‘good teaching’, this can be powerful in relation to their identities and job satisfaction (Baxter et al, 2018).

Collaboration implies shared planning and implementation, and can take place within or between schools. It may mean anything from working with colleagues from different departments on a shared project to working with a number of different schools. When establishing a collaborative team, you need to:

Seek agreement at all levels, determining the range of activities, intensity of cooperation, number of participants and if there are any legal requirements.
Identify potential partners and plan initial moves to attract them, followed by some evaluation of the collaborative capability. An explicit statement of shared aims or objectives will help to give a sense of identity, clarify relationships, define the scope of work and establish a way of controlling decision making processes.
Prioritise the formal mechanisms through which collaborative work will be done and to create clear channels of communication.
Measure the degree of shared learning by all parties while also addressing the hard costs and benefits associated with the collaboration.

Collaborative work involves negotiation of boundaries; a lot of work is conducted across different schools. This has taken on new significance with developments such as ‘strategic alliances’ (close collaborative relationships between schools or organisations defined by flexibility, innovation and trust) and attempts to foster ‘intra-school learning’ (collaboration between groups within schools to make the most of the knowledge of each school while reducing the costs of replication) (Huxham and Vangen, 2000). While multilateral work is often characterised positively with words such as ‘collaboration’, ‘alliance’ and ‘partnership’, it is often a source of mixed emotions for those involved.

Failed collaborative endeavours, of which there are many accounts, are often the cause of tension and conflict. Despite this note of caution, the well-publicised achievements of collaborating groups and schools demonstrate that problems can be overcome (see optional reading for some examples). While there can be no simple prescription for how to achieve harmony in working collaboratively either within or outside the school, you can progress towards a better understanding of where key problems might be expected to occur and how you might develop strategies for dealing with them.Optional reading

Box _unit5.2.1

Successful school to school collaboration

Effective school partnerships and collaboration for school

School collaboration during the pandemic

2 Create an action plan

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

As we reach the end of the course, we now want you to carry out a self-evaluation of your leadership in a time of technological and educational change. It will help you to:

develop a vision and plan strategic actions to enhance digital resilience and capacity at your school
build the expertise you need to support your vision in online learning at your school
identify professional development needs that your senior leadership team may have

Before you complete the self-evaluation, you may wish to complete this school review tool and notes and the Review your remote education provision and have the outcomes available to support you in this process.

You can complete this as an individual leader or a leadership team. You may want to discuss it with your trustees and governors, or with your HoDs in relation to distributed leadership. If you are assessing yourself as an individual, please bear in mind that it would be very unusual for all the qualities and capabilities required of digital leadership to be found in a single individual.

You can complete these 6 areas one at a time or altogether. You can then return to your answers to update your Action grid (only use this link if you haven’t already downloaded the file).

Area 1: Developing a digital environment in your school digital self evaluation

Do you regularly visit other schools or are you involved in any external partnerships that allow you to learn from others?
Do you follow digital leaders online?
Do you participate in professional learning communities that deal with digital issues?
Are you informed about current trends in:
- Pupils’ expectations of their learning environment?
- Employers’ requirements for digital skills and confident school leavers?
- Technologies in professional practice?
- Technologies for learning and teaching?
- Efficiencies available to your school through the use of digital systems?
- Assistive technology and the role of IT generally in supporting access and inclusions?
- Sustainability and ‘green’ technology?

Area 2: Understanding technologies in use in your school audit

Have you initiated or played a key role in a project to develop technology provision in the last six months?
Have you adopted a new device, service or technology-based habit in the last two months?
Do you participate in workshops on learning technology alongside teaching staff?
Do you use the same digital environment that staff / pupils use?
Are you informed by the current trends in technology?
- Bring your own device (BYOD)
- Learning analytics
- Cloud-based services
- Mobile learning
- Online learning
- Blended learning
- Flipped learning
- Open Educational Resources (OERs)
- Digital badges
- E-books and e-book readers
- Social media
- Media sharing
- Wikis and blogs

Area 3: Engaging stakeholders and building a culture of change audit

Do you model and inspire a positive attitude to technology?
Do you celebrate the achievements of innovative teachers and give them advocacy roles within your school?
Do you have an established forum for staff and pupils to be involved in decisions around online learning and learning technology?
Have you ensured that Governors / Trustees understand the importance of online learning and the use of digital technology to the overall vision and achievements of your school?
Are you working with employers to understand their digital needs and to explain what digitally capable school pupils can offer?
Are your teaching staff following Ofsted’s guidance, resources and support for teachers on remote education?
Do you engage with pupils on digital issues, for example, through surveys and focus groups, targeted pupil voice initiatives, gathering and responding to their ideas?
Do you foster an environment in which staff feel safe to try new things and take risks?
Do you have an ongoing framework for evaluating the impact of learning technologies on key measures (e.g. retention, progression and outcomes)?

Area 4: Developing a vision and relevant strategies audit

Do you have a clear vision for the digital future of your school? What is it?
Have you shared this vision with your school’s senior leadership team and heads of department and embedded it across different areas of responsibility (e.g. teaching resources, IT support)?
Is learning technology an embedded strand in your Learning and Teaching Strategy?
Have you empowered curriculum leads to develop their own plans for learning technology, appropriate to their subject areas?
Does your IT Strategy provide an appropriate balance between security / control and innovation / exploration?
Do you have a strategy for developing your digital estate (networks, hardware and software, also furnishings, rooms, storage and facilities that support digital ways of working and learning)?
Do you have a forum for all stakeholders – including employers, governors, parents and carers and pupils – to share their experiences and to develop, review and update strategies?

Area 5: Building competencies and capabilities audit

Do all your teaching staff have baseline digital competence and are they all on a progression path towards more advanced skills?
Do teaching staff have opportunities (not assessed / reviewed) to explore digital technologies and try new approaches?
Do teaching staff share ideas in professional learning communities, discussion lists, interest groups, teach meets, showcases or other regular forums?
Do you involve professional staff (e.g. I.T.) alongside teaching staff in development opportunities?
Is the use of digital technologies embedded in your initial teacher induction and CPD?
Do you have a strategy for identifying, supporting and progressing pupils’ digital skills across the curriculum?
Do you actively develop pupils as digital champions, supporting other pupils and staff?
Do you use online resources to support pupil, staff and governor / trustee induction?
Are you building capacity within your school for:
- Data analytics (gathering and managing learning data but also interpreting and responding to it)
- Content development
- Online learning
- e-assessment
- Open content
- Digital badges

Area 6: Decision making about the digital learning environment audit

Are online, blended and mobile learning fully considered in all capital expenditure?
Do you invest in technologies that are mature, meet an identified need and fit with your school’s value and mission?
Do you have a rolling plan to upgrade IT e.g. upgrading networks or investing in additional bandwidth?
Are your core systems designed and upgraded to meet the real needs of pupils and teaching staff?
Do you work with innovative staff and pupils to understand their aspirations for the digital environment?
Do you provide personal devices to staff and pupils where this will make a significant difference e.g. to redress digital inequalities, to support special needs?
Do you have clear policies on e-safety, use of mobile devices in class (switch on / off), digital communications, ethical and fair use of your school’s systems and are they clearly communicated?
Do you recruit/develop IT staff who understand the educational context and can work with people as well as systems?
Are you working closely with and looking at shared solutions / services with other schools?

3 This session’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Now it’s time to complete the Session 4 badge quiz.

Remember, this quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours.

Open the quiz in a new tab or window then come back here when you’ve finished.

Session 4 badge quiz

4 Summary

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

It seems appropriate to finish this course by examining impact and evaluating where you are now in relation to your school’s / MAT’s digital journey. It’s likely that your evaluation will lead you to follow up on ideas, investigate and explore options available to you and look to undertake further digital developments in your school.

As you will have gathered, as with any long-term change management programme, there are challenges inherent within the change, that derive from school culture, teacher identity and pupil perceptions of what it means to teach and learn online. These need to be addressed as part of the programme.

Figure _unit5.5.1 Figure 3: Summary

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of Monkseaton Middle School entrance doors. ‘To care & succeed’ is printed on the doors.

Figure 3: Summary

Leading a whole school approach for online learning, may seem daunting, but we hope this course has provided you with new insights that enable you to strategically plan and create exciting new opportunities for your school to advance into new terrains and evolve rapidly in many areas.

Glossary

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

Online learning: There are many differing understandings of what is meant by online learning, both in secondary education (SE) and higher education (HE). In order to clarify what we mean by online learning, we adopt the OECD definition of it as, ‘ digital learning’- using digital resources in order to effect learning. (OECD, 2021).
Remote education: Remote education is where the pupils and educators are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment. Teaching is conducted through technology, using digital tools and platforms. Remote education can occur synchronously with real-time peer-to-peer interaction or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the educator.
Blended learning: Blended learning refers to the deliberately planned combination of in-person teaching and interaction with supplementary online educational elements. In principle, the traditional facets of high-quality teaching are skilfully weaved across the use of digital tools and platforms to support high quality delivery, personalisation and rapid progress.
Home learning: Home learning is an activity that a pupil is asked to complete outside of the school day, either independently or with the support of an adult. Home learning can range from reading a book, completing a research project about a specific subject, or completing practice examination questions.
Mobile learning: Learning is supported through the use of mobile devices, which can be used almost anywhere (e.g. workplace, fieldwork, home study), are often faster to connect, and have features such as built-in camera and microphone to capture learning events. Mobile devices can be owned or loaned by pupils, allowing them to fit learning into their lives.
Hybrid delivery: Hybrid delivery combines face-to-face and remote education into one cohesive experience. Hybrid delivery provides pupils with education when there is disparity in the mode of access. For example, where a proportion of pupils may need to learn from home, whilst some of the class are in school. We saw this in schools and colleges when school attendance was restricted in March 2020.
Flipped Learning: Flipped learning accelerates learning by flipping ‘lower order’ factual information gathering out of the classroom during home learning and reserving the classroom for ‘higher order’ application and analysis. A flipped classroom can motivate, fully engage and present multiple opportunities to embed learning.
Bring your own device (BYOD): Staff and pupils use their own networked devices and apps/services on the school network. Devices may be produced and/or access supported in other ways. IT help should be available and teachers should be explicit about how they expect devices to be used for learning.
Educational Technology EdTech: EdTech is the technology used to support teaching, education and the effective day-to-day management of educational institutions, including schools and colleges. It includes hardware, as well as, digital resources, software and services that can support high quality education.
Social media: Online services that allow users to create a profile and share personal or professional information such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These tools are increasingly used in education though there are concerns about e-safety, digital identity/reputation, and professional boundaries.
Media Sharing: Online services that support sharing of content such as YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo. Like social media (the terms are sometimes used interchangeably) these services are increasingly used by educators to give access to content and to share pupils' own digital creations. They allow users to set up or import a personal/professional profile, so they too have implications for e-safety and digital identity.
E-books e-book readers: Electronic books or e-books are often available at a lower cost from publishers than their print counterparts. A dedicated e-book reader is not usually required to read and mark-up a text: any tablet or laptop computer will do.
Cloud based services: Third party content and services such as search engines, media sharing sites, collaboration services etc are used to support learning. There may be some merging with institutional services. 'Cloud computing' is the term used when external servers and services are relied on to meet general computing needs.
Learner Analytics: Data generated from learning systems or gathered from learning records is used to inform learning and teaching interventions, either collective (e.g. curriculum review, provision of new support/resources), or individual (e.g. personalised learning pathways, signposting to support/resources).
Wikis blogs: Web-based content in the form of time-ordered posts (blogs) or linked pages (wikis), often authored collaboratively. Many easy-to-use authoring tools and public hosting solutions exist (e.g. WordPress and MediaWiki) to support pupils publishing online. Similar tools are available within virtual learning environments, offering the security of developing content in a closed environment.
Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Educational Resources are forms of learning content that are shared online with minimal restrictions on their re-use. Schools may be producers and/or consumers of open content. Pupils may access OERs independently but can't necessarily tell them apart from other kinds of online content. OER have creative commons copyright licenses.
Online learning: There are many differing understandings of what is meant by online learning, both in secondary education (SE) and higher education (HE). In order to clarify what we mean by online learning, we adopt the OECD definition of it as, ‘ digital learning’- using digital resources in order to effect learning. (OECD, 2021).
Remote education: Remote education is where the pupils and educators are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment. Teaching is conducted through technology, using digital tools and platforms. Remote education can occur synchronously with real-time peer-to-peer interaction or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the educator.
Blended learning: Blended learning refers to the deliberately planned combination of in-person teaching and interaction with supplementary online educational elements. In principle, the traditional facets of high-quality teaching are skilfully weaved across the use of digital tools and platforms to support high quality delivery, personalisation and rapid progress.
Home learning: Home learning is an activity that a pupil is asked to complete outside of the school day, either independently or with the support of an adult. Home learning can range from reading a book, completing a research project about a specific subject, or completing practice examination questions.
Mobile learning: Learning is supported through the use of mobile devices, which can be used almost anywhere (e.g. workplace, fieldwork, home study), are often faster to connect, and have features such as built-in camera and microphone to capture learning events. Mobile devices can be owned or loaned by pupils, allowing them to fit learning into their lives.
Hybrid delivery: Hybrid delivery combines face-to-face and remote education into one cohesive experience. Hybrid delivery provides pupils with education when there is disparity in the mode of access. For example, where a proportion of pupils may need to learn from home, whilst some of the class are in school. We saw this in schools and colleges when school attendance was restricted in March 2020.
Flipped Learning: Flipped learning accelerates learning by flipping ‘lower order’ factual information gathering out of the classroom during home learning and reserving the classroom for ‘higher order’ application and analysis. A flipped classroom can motivate, fully engage and present multiple opportunities to embed learning.
Bring your own device (BYOD): Staff and pupils use their own networked devices and apps/services on the school network. Devices may be produced and/or access supported in other ways. IT help should be available and teachers should be explicit about how they expect devices to be used for learning.
Educational Technology EdTech: EdTech is the technology used to support teaching, education and the effective day-to-day management of educational institutions, including schools and colleges. It includes hardware, as well as, digital resources, software and services that can support high quality education.
Social media: Online services that allow users to create a profile and share personal or professional information such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These tools are increasingly used in education though there are concerns about e-safety, digital identity/reputation, and professional boundaries.
Media Sharing: Online services that support sharing of content such as YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo. Like social media (the terms are sometimes used interchangeably) these services are increasingly used by educators to give access to content and to share pupils' own digital creations. They allow users to set up or import a personal/professional profile, so they too have implications for e-safety and digital identity.
E-books e-book readers: Electronic books or e-books are often available at a lower cost from publishers than their print counterparts. A dedicated e-book reader is not usually required to read and mark-up a text: any tablet or laptop computer will do.
Cloud based services: Third party content and services such as search engines, media sharing sites, collaboration services etc are used to support learning. There may be some merging with institutional services. 'Cloud computing' is the term used when external servers and services are relied on to meet general computing needs.
Learner Analytics: Data generated from learning systems or gathered from learning records is used to inform learning and teaching interventions, either collective (e.g. curriculum review, provision of new support/resources), or individual (e.g. personalised learning pathways, signposting to support/resources).
Wikis blogs: Web-based content in the form of time-ordered posts (blogs) or linked pages (wikis), often authored collaboratively. Many easy-to-use authoring tools and public hosting solutions exist (e.g. WordPress and MediaWiki) to support pupils publishing online. Similar tools are available within virtual learning environments, offering the security of developing content in a closed environment.
Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Educational Resources are forms of learning content that are shared online with minimal restrictions on their re-use. Schools may be producers and/or consumers of open content. Pupils may access OERs independently but can't necessarily tell them apart from other kinds of online content. OER have creative commons copyright licenses.
Online learning: There are many differing understandings of what is meant by online learning, both in secondary education (SE) and higher education (HE). In order to clarify what we mean by online learning, we adopt the OECD definition of it as, ‘ digital learning’- using digital resources in order to effect learning. (OECD, 2021).
Remote education: Remote education is where the pupils and educators are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment. Teaching is conducted through technology, using digital tools and platforms. Remote education can occur synchronously with real-time peer-to-peer interaction or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the educator.
Blended learning: Blended learning refers to the deliberately planned combination of in-person teaching and interaction with supplementary online educational elements. In principle, the traditional facets of high-quality teaching are skilfully weaved across the use of digital tools and platforms to support high quality delivery, personalisation and rapid progress.
Home learning: Home learning is an activity that a pupil is asked to complete outside of the school day, either independently or with the support of an adult. Home learning can range from reading a book, completing a research project about a specific subject, or completing practice examination questions.
Mobile learning: Learning is supported through the use of mobile devices, which can be used almost anywhere (e.g. workplace, fieldwork, home study), are often faster to connect, and have features such as built-in camera and microphone to capture learning events. Mobile devices can be owned or loaned by pupils, allowing them to fit learning into their lives.
Hybrid delivery: Hybrid delivery combines face-to-face and remote education into one cohesive experience. Hybrid delivery provides pupils with education when there is disparity in the mode of access. For example, where a proportion of pupils may need to learn from home, whilst some of the class are in school. We saw this in schools and colleges when school attendance was restricted in March 2020.
Flipped Learning: Flipped learning accelerates learning by flipping ‘lower order’ factual information gathering out of the classroom during home learning and reserving the classroom for ‘higher order’ application and analysis. A flipped classroom can motivate, fully engage and present multiple opportunities to embed learning.
Bring your own device (BYOD): Staff and pupils use their own networked devices and apps/services on the school network. Devices may be produced and/or access supported in other ways. IT help should be available and teachers should be explicit about how they expect devices to be used for learning.
Educational Technology EdTech: EdTech is the technology used to support teaching, education and the effective day-to-day management of educational institutions, including schools and colleges. It includes hardware, as well as, digital resources, software and services that can support high quality education.
Social media: Online services that allow users to create a profile and share personal or professional information such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These tools are increasingly used in education though there are concerns about e-safety, digital identity/reputation, and professional boundaries.
Media Sharing: Online services that support sharing of content such as YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo. Like social media (the terms are sometimes used interchangeably) these services are increasingly used by educators to give access to content and to share pupils' own digital creations. They allow users to set up or import a personal/professional profile, so they too have implications for e-safety and digital identity.
E-books e-book readers: Electronic books or e-books are often available at a lower cost from publishers than their print counterparts. A dedicated e-book reader is not usually required to read and mark-up a text: any tablet or laptop computer will do.
Cloud based services: Third party content and services such as search engines, media sharing sites, collaboration services etc are used to support learning. There may be some merging with institutional services. 'Cloud computing' is the term used when external servers and services are relied on to meet general computing needs.
Learner Analytics: Data generated from learning systems or gathered from learning records is used to inform learning and teaching interventions, either collective (e.g. curriculum review, provision of new support/resources), or individual (e.g. personalised learning pathways, signposting to support/resources).
Wikis blogs: Web-based content in the form of time-ordered posts (blogs) or linked pages (wikis), often authored collaboratively. Many easy-to-use authoring tools and public hosting solutions exist (e.g. WordPress and MediaWiki) to support pupils publishing online. Similar tools are available within virtual learning environments, offering the security of developing content in a closed environment.
Online learning: There are many differing understandings of what is meant by online learning, both in secondary education (SE) and higher education (HE). In order to clarify what we mean by online learning, we adopt the OECD definition of it as, ‘ digital learning’- using digital resources in order to effect learning. (OECD, 2021).
Remote education: Remote education is where the pupils and educators are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment. Teaching is conducted through technology, using digital tools and platforms. Remote education can occur synchronously with real-time peer-to-peer interaction or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the educator.
Blended learning: Blended learning refers to the deliberately planned combination of in-person teaching and interaction with supplementary online educational elements. In principle, the traditional facets of high-quality teaching are skilfully weaved across the use of digital tools and platforms to support high quality delivery, personalisation and rapid progress.
Home learning: Home learning is an activity that a pupil is asked to complete outside of the school day, either independently or with the support of an adult. Home learning can range from reading a book, completing a research project about a specific subject, or completing practice examination questions.
Mobile learning: Learning is supported through the use of mobile devices, which can be used almost anywhere (e.g. workplace, fieldwork, home study), are often faster to connect, and have features such as built-in camera and microphone to capture learning events. Mobile devices can be owned or loaned by pupils, allowing them to fit learning into their lives.
Hybrid delivery: Hybrid delivery combines face-to-face and remote education into one cohesive experience. Hybrid delivery provides pupils with education when there is disparity in the mode of access. For example, where a proportion of pupils may need to learn from home, whilst some of the class are in school. We saw this in schools and colleges when school attendance was restricted in March 2020.
Flipped Learning: Flipped learning accelerates learning by flipping ‘lower order’ factual information gathering out of the classroom during home learning and reserving the classroom for ‘higher order’ application and analysis. A flipped classroom can motivate, fully engage and present multiple opportunities to embed learning.
Bring your own device (BYOD): Staff and pupils use their own networked devices and apps/services on the school network. Devices may be produced and/or access supported in other ways. IT help should be available and teachers should be explicit about how they expect devices to be used for learning.
Educational Technology EdTech: EdTech is the technology used to support teaching, education and the effective day-to-day management of educational institutions, including schools and colleges. It includes hardware, as well as, digital resources, software and services that can support high quality education.
Social media: Online services that allow users to create a profile and share personal or professional information such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These tools are increasingly used in education though there are concerns about e-safety, digital identity/reputation, and professional boundaries.
Media Sharing: Online services that support sharing of content such as YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo. Like social media (the terms are sometimes used interchangeably) these services are increasingly used by educators to give access to content and to share pupils' own digital creations. They allow users to set up or import a personal/professional profile, so they too have implications for e-safety and digital identity.
E-books e-book readers: Electronic books or e-books are often available at a lower cost from publishers than their print counterparts. A dedicated e-book reader is not usually required to read and mark-up a text: any tablet or laptop computer will do.
Cloud based services: Third party content and services such as search engines, media sharing sites, collaboration services etc are used to support learning. There may be some merging with institutional services. 'Cloud computing' is the term used when external servers and services are relied on to meet general computing needs.
Learner Analytics: Data generated from learning systems or gathered from learning records is used to inform learning and teaching interventions, either collective (e.g. curriculum review, provision of new support/resources), or individual (e.g. personalised learning pathways, signposting to support/resources).
Wikis blogs: Web-based content in the form of time-ordered posts (blogs) or linked pages (wikis), often authored collaboratively. Many easy-to-use authoring tools and public hosting solutions exist (e.g. WordPress and MediaWiki) to support pupils publishing online. Similar tools are available within virtual learning environments, offering the security of developing content in a closed environment.
Online learning: There are many differing understandings of what is meant by online learning, both in secondary education (SE) and higher education (HE). In order to clarify what we mean by online learning, we adopt the OECD definition of it as, ‘ digital learning’- using digital resources in order to effect learning. (OECD, 2021).
Remote education: Remote education is where the pupils and educators are not physically present in a traditional classroom environment. Teaching is conducted through technology, using digital tools and platforms. Remote education can occur synchronously with real-time peer-to-peer interaction or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the educator.
Blended learning: Blended learning refers to the deliberately planned combination of in-person teaching and interaction with supplementary online educational elements. In principle, the traditional facets of high-quality teaching are skilfully weaved across the use of digital tools and platforms to support high quality delivery, personalisation and rapid progress.
Home learning: Home learning is an activity that a pupil is asked to complete outside of the school day, either independently or with the support of an adult. Home learning can range from reading a book, completing a research project about a specific subject, or completing practice examination questions.
Mobile learning: Learning is supported through the use of mobile devices, which can be used almost anywhere (e.g. workplace, fieldwork, home study), are often faster to connect, and have features such as built-in camera and microphone to capture learning events. Mobile devices can be owned or loaned by pupils, allowing them to fit learning into their lives.
Hybrid delivery: Hybrid delivery combines face-to-face and remote education into one cohesive experience. Hybrid delivery provides pupils with education when there is disparity in the mode of access. For example, where a proportion of pupils may need to learn from home, whilst some of the class are in school. We saw this in schools and colleges when school attendance was restricted in March 2020.
Flipped Learning: Flipped learning accelerates learning by flipping ‘lower order’ factual information gathering out of the classroom during home learning and reserving the classroom for ‘higher order’ application and analysis. A flipped classroom can motivate, fully engage and present multiple opportunities to embed learning.
Bring your own device (BYOD): Staff and pupils use their own networked devices and apps/services on the school network. Devices may be produced and/or access supported in other ways. IT help should be available and teachers should be explicit about how they expect devices to be used for learning.
Educational Technology EdTech: EdTech is the technology used to support teaching, education and the effective day-to-day management of educational institutions, including schools and colleges. It includes hardware, as well as, digital resources, software and services that can support high quality education.
Social media: Online services that allow users to create a profile and share personal or professional information such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. These tools are increasingly used in education though there are concerns about e-safety, digital identity/reputation, and professional boundaries.
Media Sharing: Online services that support sharing of content such as YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo. Like social media (the terms are sometimes used interchangeably) these services are increasingly used by educators to give access to content and to share pupils' own digital creations. They allow users to set up or import a personal/professional profile, so they too have implications for e-safety and digital identity.
E-books e-book readers: Electronic books or e-books are often available at a lower cost from publishers than their print counterparts. A dedicated e-book reader is not usually required to read and mark-up a text: any tablet or laptop computer will do.
Cloud based services: Third party content and services such as search engines, media sharing sites, collaboration services etc are used to support learning. There may be some merging with institutional services. 'Cloud computing' is the term used when external servers and services are relied on to meet general computing needs.
Learner Analytics: Data generated from learning systems or gathered from learning records is used to inform learning and teaching interventions, either collective (e.g. curriculum review, provision of new support/resources), or individual (e.g. personalised learning pathways, signposting to support/resources).
Wikis blogs: Web-based content in the form of time-ordered posts (blogs) or linked pages (wikis), often authored collaboratively. Many easy-to-use authoring tools and public hosting solutions exist (e.g. WordPress and MediaWiki) to support pupils publishing online. Similar tools are available within virtual learning environments, offering the security of developing content in a closed environment.
Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Educational Resources are forms of learning content that are shared online with minimal restrictions on their re-use. Schools may be producers and/or consumers of open content. Pupils may access OERs independently but can't necessarily tell them apart from other kinds of online content. OER have creative commons copyright licenses.

References

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

OECD (2021) The state of school education: One year into the COVID pandemic, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Argyris C. (1976) Single-loop and double-loop models in research on decision making. Administrative Science Quarterly: 363–375.

Balogun J and Johnson G. (2004) Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Academy of Management Journal 47: 523–549.

Baxter J and John A. (2021) Strategy as learning in multi-academy trusts in England: strategic thinking in action. School Leadership & Management: 1–21.

Baxter J and John A. (2021) Strategy as learning in multi-academy trusts in England: strategic thinking in action. School Leadership & Management 41: 290–310.

Baxter J, Floyd A and Jewitt K. (2022) COVID-19, a catalyylist for change? Strategic planning for digital education in English Secondary Schools, before, during and post, COVID. Under review.

Baxter J. (2017) School Inspectors: Policy Implementers, Policy Shapers in National Policy Contexts. In: Ehren MCM and Maag M, k. (eds) Accountability and Educational Improvement. 2 ed. London: Springer

Baxter J. (2021) Leading learning during COVID-19. Management in Education. 2021;35(3):156–159. doi:10.1177/0892020621996479

Baxter JA and Cornforth C. (2019) Governing collaborations: how boards engage with their communities in multi-academy trusts in England. Public Management Review: 1–23.

Baxter JA and Cornforth C. (2021) Governing collaborations: how boards engage with their communities in multi-academy trusts in England. Public Management Review 23: 567–589.

British Sign (2021) British Sign [Online] Available at: https://www.british-sign.co.uk (Accessed: 10 February 2022).

Co-operation OfE and Development. (2019) OECD skills outlook 2019: Thriving in a digital world: OECD.

Carucci, R. (2017) ‘Executives Fail to Execute Strategy Because They’re Too Internally Focused’, Harvard Business Review, 13 November. Available at https://hbr.org/ 2017/ 11/ executives-fail-to-execute-strategy-because-theyre-too-internally-focused (Accessed: 20 June 2022).

Davies BJ and Davies B. (2006) Developing a model for strategic leadership in schools. Educational Management Administration & Leadership 34: 121-139.

Domeny JV. (2017) The relationship between digital leadership and digital implementation in elementary schools. Southwest Baptist University.

Eickelmann, B., Gerick, J., and Vennemann, M. (2019) Unexpectedly successful schools in the digital age—An analysis of school characteristics of resilient school types based on the IEA study ICILS 2013. Journal for Educational Research Online,11(1), pp. 118–144, 2019.

Ferlie E and Ongaro E. (2022) Strategic Management in Public Services Organizations: Concepts, schools and contemporary issues. , Routledge: London.

Hallinger P. (2003a) Reshaping the landscape of school leadership development: A global perspective: Taylor & Francis.London.

Hallinger P. (2003b) School leadership development. International handbook of educational research in the Asia-Pacific region. Springer, London. 1001-1013.

Higgins S, Xiao Z and Katsipataki M. (2012) The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation. Full Report. Education Endowment Foundation.

Jewitt, Katharine (2021a): Learner Engagement Road Map. The Open University. Poster. https://doi.org/ 10.21954/ ou.rd.17206955.

Jewitt, Katharine (2021b): Enhancing the digital experience for all learners. The Open University. Poster. https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.rd.17198303.v2

Kelly FS, McCain T and Jukes I. (2008) Teaching the digital generation: No more cookie-cutter high schools: Corwin Press.

Kotter, J. (1995). Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 55-67.

Kotter, J. (1996). Leading change. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press

Lindblom CE. (1959) The science of" muddling through". Public Administration Review: 79–88.

MacBeath J. (1998) Effective school leadership: Responding to change: Sage.London.

Maitlis S and Sonenshein S. (2010) Sensemaking in crisis and change: Inspiration and insights from Weick (1988). Journal of Management Studies 47: 551-580.

Makaton.org (2021) Makaton [Online] Available from https://makaton.org (Accessed: 10 February 2022).

McKinsey Report (1997). The future of information technology in UK schools. London: McKinsey & Company

Minzberg H, Quinn JB and Voyer J. (1991) The strategy process. NJ Englewood Cliffs.

Müller L-M. and Goldenberg G. (2021) Education in times of crisis: Teachers’ experiences and recommendations for effective distance learning. London: Chartered College of Teaching. Available at: https://my.chartered.college/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2021/ 02/ MullerGoldenbergFEB21_FINAL-1.pdf(Accessed: 9 May 2022).

Neilson GL, Martin KL and Powers E. (2008) The secrets to successful strategy execution. Harvard business review 86: 60.

OECD (2021) The state of school education: One year into the COVID pandemic, OECD Publishing, Paris.

OECD. (2021) Pushing the Frontiers with Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Robots. Paris: OECD Publishing

Ofqual (2021) ‘The use of assistive technologies for assessment’ [Online]. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/ government/ publications/ the-use-of-assistive-technologies-for-assessment/ the-use-of-assistive-technologies-for-assessment (Accessed: 11 July 2021).

O'Keefe A and O'Riordan F. (2011) Technology and the changing educational environment.

Reich J. (2020) Failure to disrupt: Why technology alone can't transform education: Harvard University Press.

Rouleson S, Taggart S and Brown M. (2021 ) Parents coping with COVID-19: Global Messages from Parents of Post-Primary Children across the island of Ireland Republic of Ireland: Dublin City University /The University of Ulster.

Sailer M, Murböck J and Fischer F. (2021) Digital learning in schools: What does it take beyond digital technology? Teaching and Teacher Education 103: 103346.

Schoemaker, P. J. H. (1995) ‘Scenario planning: a tool for strategic thinking’, Sloan Management Review, 36 (2), pp. 25–40.

Stevenson Report (1997). Information and communications technology in UK schools: An independent inquiry (The Independent IcT in Schools Commission). 78-80 St John Street, London EC1M 4MR.

Sveningsson S, Alvehus J and Alvesson M. (2012) ‘Managerial leadership: Identities, processes, and interactions’, The work of managers: Towards a practice theory of management: 69–86.

SWOT Analysis figure in Shewan, D. (2020) 'How to Do a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business (with Examples)', WordStream, available online at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/12/20/swot-analysis

Thürmer JL, Wieber F and Gollwitzer PM. (2020) Management in times of crisis: Can collective plans prepare teams to make and implement good decisions? Management Decision.

TTA (1998). The New Opportunities Fund: The Use of ICT in subject teaching: expected outcomes for teachers in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Portland House, Stag Place, London, SW1E 5TT.

TTA (2002). The new opportunities fund: Training for teachers and school librarians in the use of ICT; progress review and lesons learned throught the central quality assurance process in England. Portland House, Stag Place, London, SW1E 5TT.

Weick KE. (1988) Enacted sensemaking in crisis situations [1]. Journal of Management Studies 25: 305-317.

Weick KE. (1988) Enacted sensemaking in crisis situations [1]. Journal of Management Studies 25: pp. 305–317.

Younie S. (2006) Implementing government policy on ICT in education: Lessons learnt. Education and Information technologies 11: 385-400.

Baxter, J., Floyd, A., and Jewitt, K. (2022) Pandemic, a catalyst for change: Strategic planning for digital education in English Secondary Schools, before during and post COVID.

Clarke, A. C. (1980) Electronic Tutors in Bova, B. and Sheckley, R. (Eds) Omni, pp.77-80. Omini Publications

Heron, J (1972) A six category intervention analysis. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, Vol 4., pp 143-155.

Jewitt, Katharine (2021): Build capacity to support new kinds of learning. The Open University. Poster. https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.rd.17206937.

Mishra P. and Koehler M. J. (2006) Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054.

Moore, M. G. and Kearsley, G. (1996) Distance Education: A Systems View. Belmont: Wadsworth.

Padlet (2021) Padlet [Online] Available at https://en-gb.padlet.com (Accessed 22 April 2021)

Puentedura, R. (2018) SAMR and the EdTech Quintet: A Hands-On Introduction [Online]. Available from http://hippasus.com/ rrpweblog/ archives/ 2018/ 11/ SAMRAndTheEdTechQuintet_AHands-OnIntroduction.pdf (Accessed 22 April 2021)

Wikimedia Commons (2021) The SAMR Model [Online] Available from https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/ File:The_SAMR_Model.jpg (Accessed 22 April 2021)

Article 19 (2021) UN: Human Rights Council adopted resolution on human rights on the Internet [Online] Available at https://www.article19.org/ resources/ un-human-rights-council-adopts-resolution-on-human-rights-on-the-internet (Accessed 7th January 2022)

Education Endowment Foundation (2021) Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning [Online] Available at https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/ education-evidence/ guidance-reports/ digital (Accessed 7th January 2022)

Muller, L-M. and Goldenberg, G. (2021) Effective approaches to distance learning [Online] Available at https://chartered.college/effective-approaches-to-distance-learning (Accessed 5th January 2022)

Phippen, A. (2021) UK Schools Online Safety Policy & Practice Assessment 2021 [Online] Available at https://swgfl.org.uk/ uk-schools-online-safety-policy-and-practice-assessment-2021 (Accessed 5th January 2022)

UK Safer Internet Centre (2021) What are the issues? [Online] Available at https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/what-are-the-issues (Accessed 7th January 2022)

Baxter J, Callaghan G and McAvoy J. (2018) Creativity and Critique in Online Learning: Exploring and Examining Innovations in Online Pedagogy: London, Springer.

Vangen S and Huxham C. (2003) Nurturing collaborative relations: Building trust in interorganizational collaboration. The Journal of applied behavioral science 39: 5-31.

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:44:00 GMT

This course was funded by the UKRI and developed by the team leading the research project:

Leading school learning through COVID-19 and beyond: Online learning and strategic planning through and post lockdown in English secondary schools. Grant number: ES/V016989/1.

The project was led by Professor Jacqueline Baxter, with thanks to Dr Katharine Jewitt, Research Associate, for her work on the course.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below and in the course is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Week 1

Images

Figure 1: adapted from: Jewitt, K., Baxter, J., and Floyd, A. (2021) Leading and managing online learning in schools during COVID-19 and beyond at EDEN Annual Conference 2021 [Online] 21–24 June 2021. Link to poster: https://bit.ly/ 3w5JWzM

Week 2

Text

Activity 3: positive and negative scenario planning for building capacity: Courtesy: Dr Katherine Jewitt

Figures

Figure 1: Photograph courtesy: Professor Jacqueline Baxter

Figure 2: Lefflerd File:The SAMR Model.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International — CC BY-SA 4.0

Figure 3: from Mishra P. and Koehler M. J. (2006) Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054.

Figure 5: dotshock/Shutterstock

Figure 6: courtesy: Professor Jacqueline Baxter

Week 3

Text

Open University link accessible documents:

Flipped learning; Teachback; Seamless learning; Learning to learn; Evaluating information; Personal inquiry learning; Science in remote labs; MOOCs to support language learning; Maker culture ©The Open University

Figures

Figure 2: Rawpixel/Unsplash

Figure 3: Getty Images

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Week 4

Text

The Digital Literacies School Review has been repurposed from the JISC Design Studio’s Digital Literacies Institutional Audit tool, available under a Creative Commons license from https://www.webarchive.org.uk/ wayback/ archive/ 20140701101500/ http:/ www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ support-for/ digital-literacy/ organisational-review.aspx

Figures:

Figure 1: courtesy: Professor Jacqueline Baxter

Figure 2: Caia Image/GettyImages

Figure 3: photograph: courtesy Professor Jacqueline Baxter

Don’t miss out

If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/ openlearn/ free-courses.