Apple Orchards Project in Thailand: Session 1 - Sep 28th 2013

The Horizon Report 2013 states, "In order for students to get a well-rounded education with real world experience, they must also engage in more informal in-class activities as well as experience learning outside the classroom."
And goes on to suggest that too often it is education’s own practices that limit broader uptake of new technologies. The demand for personalised learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices.  
The why of the Orchards Project is to build a network of student groups across Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia who will become advocates - showcasing, modeling and speaking out with a credible voice - to help schools create and articulate a vision for connected, personalised learning.
The what of the Orchards Project is to create frameworks which will help schools to effectively engage learners and teacher-learners in an exploration of how technology tools can personalize learning, and how to better design learning experiences and spaces which connect to the lives young people live. This will include: 

• working with ADEs to create and publish examples of participatory, production-centered learning
• helping teachers to design learning experiences and spaces which connect to the lives young people live helping teachers to understand how technology tools can personalise learning
• working with schools to test the infrastructure requirements necessary to support connected and personalised learning models (network access, appropriate productivity apps, appropriate communication & storage environments, etc)

The how of the Orchards Project is to recruit 10 learners from ISB in Middle School and identify how they are using tech tools in their own lives so that we can better connect with their interests, curiosity, creativity and passions. We will then encourage learners to cluster-up around these areas of interest and introduce them to consultant mentors who will take the groups on a curated journey to raise the level of collective skill and understanding through just-in-time upskilling. These consultant mentors will all be experts in their respective fields and be available throughout the pre- conference events. The project will be lead and managed by a team of ADEs (Apple Distinguished Educators) from across the region and the ADE responsible for the Orchard group from ISB is Mr. Miguel Zambrano.

In addition we will also leverage members of the ADE community to act as learning facilitators and connect them to clusters as and when appropriate. Each cluster will explore the Big Idea of Learning Space Design with the challenge of building a mini-Challenge Based Learning project to connect these digital fluencies being informally developed outside of school, to the more formal learning happening inside schools with technology tools.

Projects will be documented with the ultimate aim of publishing a range of iBooks which teachers can use as a guide to building informal learning projects which are technology driven. There is an expectation that the Orchard group in each of the three countries will showcase their learning in a live studio at regional conferences this coming Fall. For the Thailand Orchard Group this means participating in the EARCOS Leadership Conference. 

Nitty-Gritty Logistics

The project will run from September until November; learners would be expected to commit to participating until the first week of November. During this time there will be at least one major, public-facing event, as indicated above, which may involve learners missing a day of school.
 
To prepare the group for the live learning studios at the respective conferences, two Saturday events have been scheduled; attendance at these two Saturday events will be a high priority for all Orchard members. The first gathering would be to help groups form, provide them with opportunities to upskill with the consultant mentors and prepare the groups to design their projects. The second event would be to check-in with project progress, provide any just-in-time troubleshooting/mentoring and ensure groups were ready to showcase/present their work to a live audience of educators.
 
Confirmed Pre-conference Events:
Thailand Orchard Group - Saturday 28th September and Saturday 19th October (date to be confirmed with the TH ADE team) Each event will run from 9am - 4:30pm and location details will be sent out shortly. Full conference details will be sent out at the first Saturday event for each Orchard Group.
 
Confirmed Conference Event: Thailand Orchard Group @ EARCOS Leadership Conference - Friday 1st November
 
Other possible advocacy activities involving the Orchard Groups would be scheduled to minimize disruption: advance notice would be given to everyone involved and approval first sought from parents and school leaders before participation was agreed. We hope this overview helps to frame the context of the Orchards Project and please do not hesitate to contact the following teacher ADEs leading this initiative: