Headspace is key, advises Vicki Hagenaars. You need to have your head in that space; to have been immersed and exposed to a number of different environments. It is essential to listen to the students as well. Students will often raise questions or requirements that may not have otherwise have been considered.
Often the stages taken are 1) connectivity, 2) a change in environment, and 3) then a change in the way of learning via, for instance, communities and reflective portfolios.
One of the initial things that was used in step 1 in the example Vicki shared was a blog (blogspot) - that was owned and populated by the students. The site has now had over 1000 hits, and the students are delighted. It was quite a big step forward for senior management as they weren't sure about having the students voices and images out in the public space.
This was the caterpillar stage. The computers went into the classrooms, and the desktops were, over time, replaced by laptops. The infrastructure, however, was really dodgy. This has since changed.
The process is slow, and often painful. The caterpillar has to disintegrate and re-assemble into the butterfly to then emerge and fly.
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery...
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