Transcript Experience of Short Courses

Portmarnock Community School
Donal O’ Mahony
Our experience – over three phases...
 Autumn 2012
 2013 / 2014
 2014 / 2015
Portmarnock Community School
 850 pupils approximately, co-educational
 Wide catchment-area across North County Dublin
 Strong academic and extra-curricular focus
Some history
 Portmarnock Community School became an NCCA
Junior Cycle Network School in May 2012
 I am the Link-teacher
 Very supportive Principal, Pat O’ Riordan
 I presented about the possibilities involved with Junior
Cycle reform to my colleagues in September 2012
N.S.P.I
A new vocabulary
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Framework document
Short Courses
Subject specifications
Toolkits
Key Skills
Statements of Learning
Assessment for Learning
Moderation
Priority Learning Units
Portfolios
Level Two learning programmes (L2LP’s)
2014: J.C.S.A. – Junior Cycle Student Award
Keep in mind – the student experience is central
 In Portmarnock there seemed to be a lot of interest in
Short Course development
Why this interest?
 A strong history of innovation in Transition-year e.g.
Photography, Heritage, Film, Animation, English,
History...
 A confidence and capacity to introduce new and
innovative methods of teaching
 Junior Cycle reform – an opportunity to mainstream
from Transition-year to the Junior Cycle
NCCA support from 2012
 Online space – J.C. 2.0
 Many teachers from Network Schools were very active
in this during 2012/2013
 Lots of ideas
www.juniorcycle.ie
 Noticed that many Link schools were working with
their strengths, whether Short-courses, Assessment for
Learning, Key-skills etc
We promised
 Support to teachers
 November 2012:
 In-house staff-development particularly in the area of Key
Skills (used a cross-subject approach)
 Denise Kelly from the National Council for Curriculum and
Assessment) presented in the school to about fifteen
teachers (who volunteered) on Short Course development
 Very well received – learned a lot
We lead...
 Management and I are very supportive of the move
from product to process in relation to learning
 Want to develop the students appreciation of the
“how” and “why” of learning over a period of time
 This is a rationale we bring to the table at all meetings
We asked...
 Teachers to volunteer to develop their own Short
Courses
 This was at a time when the NCCA had subject titles
for their for Short Courses but no developed ones as
such (not the case now)
 The NCCA had a template however which was (is)
what the teachers worked off
Areas to be covered
Title
1. Introduction to Junior Cycle: Standard for all short
courses
2. Rationale: Setting the course in the broader context
3. Aim
4. Links: Statements of Learning / Literacy and Numeracy /
Key Skills
5. Course Overview
6. Expectations for Students
7. Assessment and Certification
8. Resources
 Some teachers worked as a group
 Some alone and then consulted each other
 Denise Kelly (NCCA) was available for advice via email. I
was the conduit, as the Link-teacher
 Three Short Courses emerged – Media literacy (David
Clarke and Aileen Bradley), Animation (Karen Tynan),
Robotics (Michael Sweeney and Danny Murphy).
Decisions...
 December 2012 and January 2013
 Principal, Deputy Principal, Link-teacher and our
Time-tabler
 Go with two Short-courses? Yes
 Which ones? Animation and Media Literacy
Why these two?
 The Robotics Short Course was not fully finished
 Animation had been highly developed in Transition-year
 Animation and Media Literacy very much complemented
each other - Good mix of ideas – teachers saw possibilities
between the subjects
 Attractive to boys and girls
Caveat about using pre-existing courses
 Material must be re-modelled for the younger
students, taking into account the principles of the
Junior Cycle Framework
Where on the timetable?
 Within an existing option-block
 No change to the structure of the timetable as such
 Treading slowly...
 Students have to do both Media Literacy and Animation
 One double each – for three years (c. 120 hours each)
 Block with Materials Technology (Wood), Home-
Economics and Technology
 An option block that allowed corresponding subjects to be
taken in 4th / 5th Year
 Banding meant two class groups – offered it to one class in
the band
 Twenty-four students
 School certificate at end of Third-year (2016)
 Assessment focus in Second and Third-year
 There was a very strong presentation to the parents
and guardians of the incoming Sixth-class (January
2013)
 Covered a lot of positives about Junior Cycle reform
and education in general
 Our choice of Animation and Media Literacy reflects
what is relevant to real-world needs and expertise
Digital Animation and Media
 Minimised the use of the phrase Short Course and
looked at it as the introduction of a new subject
A digression!
 I think the term Short-course was unfortunate
 “You mean I’m going to replace my subject with a short-
course”
 “I’ll be a short-course teacher...”
 There is the potential of short-courses to promote and
develop subjects, and indeed to define the identity of a
school over time
Back to Portmarnock!
 A draw from the hat if oversubscribed...
 67 students applied
Lessons learned
 A lot of work (time) developing in-house short courses
– teachers found the Short Course Template a
challenge, but fulfilling when completed
 Reliance on one teacher – what if our animator leaves?
 Don’t become a hostage to one teachers specialism...
 Implications for numbers in the other subjects in the
block
Lessons Learned
 Need for some updated training in Animation – speed
of change of applications
 The need for technical backup – in our case relying on
a technically literate teacher to manage software
updates for the animation teacher
 Need for digital resources – Broadband and Wi-Fi
 NCCA in discussions on ICT infrastructure
ICT Infrastructure
Lessons Learned
 Need for time for conversation with fellow Short
Course teachers
Lessons learned
 Using First-year to establish the Group-work and other
skills – no assessment focus is of great value
 Its insights like this that give an idea as to how First-
year might be re-imagined...
Lessons Learned
 Don’t presume that because students opt for a course
that they have certain competencies
 Don’t underestimate students either – confidence built
during First-year is now becoming obvious
 Hard work to establish the course identity
 Keep trying to establish the Short Course / New-
subject identity – do things to highlight the course – at
Assemblies, on the website etc.
2014 / 2015 Context is changing
 NCCA has drafts of eight Short Courses for incoming
2014 First-years – consultation process in place
2014 / 2015 Context changed in/for
Portmarnock
 Two teachers have been involved with the NCCA,
examining aspects of teaching and learning from the
Short Course in Coding
 Two P.E. teachers have been exploring possibilities
with the Physical Education Association of Ireland and
the draft Physical Education Short Course
 One P.E. Teacher had developed a Sports Science
module in Transition Year
2014 / 2015
 Decided to introduce two new short courses / subjects
 To spread the load amongst a variety of teachers /
subject areas
 In the same block
 Offered to both bands
 A minimum of 48 students
2013 / 2014
 Coding – as per the NCCA draft short course
specification – two teachers
 Sports Science – at the request of a member of the P.E.
Department, who has developed his own Sports
Science course in Transition Year – two teachers
Current teacher concerns
 Sports Science – to develop a separate identity from
the existing Junior Cycle P.E. classes
 Timetabling needs around Sports Science
 Assessment in general, assessing our own students in
particular and exploring moderation
Other Concerns
 Costs associated with these courses – can students asked to
pay for swimming? Buses for external trips...
 Any formal funding for running Short Courses from the
NCCA or others?..... Saving money one way, so give us
money another way
 Do we need to look for sponsorship?
 Do we need to develop linkages with a University who will
work with us as a local-school?
Other concerns
 Started to collect feedback from current First-year
parents / guardians
 Students were telling them about the subjects
 Concern about feedback to date
Other concerns
 If we go with Robotics in 2015 / 2016, what subject
would we place with it so as to attract the balance of
boys and girls?
 What do parents think of the changing of the Short
Course subjects each year?
 What are the implications for Transition Year?
Assessment / Moderation
 We are conscious we have got the Short Courses off the
ground in a creative way – now want to get the
Assessment right
 Support for Short Course Assessment / Moderation
training for teachers
 We would like Portmarnock to get support from the
NCCA in developing this, not alone for the Short
Course teachers, but for all teachers in the school
 Website
www.juniorcycle.ie
 Twitter
@JCforTeachers
Thank you!
 Twitter @domaho
 Website www.elearningisland.ie