A teacher’s best friend
The brains behind the IB’s burgeoning portfolio of online teacher support and professional development tools, Andy Beharrell, tells Laura Bridgestock why educators have nothing to fear from the net.
When Andy Beharrell says this is an exciting time for educators, he really means it. A self-confessed “online evangelist”, his enthusiasm for technology is infectious, largely because it’s not focussed on technology for its own sake, but what it can make possible.
“No matter how wonderful a bit of software is, it’s only as good as the content you generate,” says Andy. That is why he founded the company Triple A Learning in 2002, to provide online support for organizations ready to start using online professional development options. Most of his work is for the IB, and education is certainly something he knows about: he worked in schools and universities for more than 20 years, and spent five years as an IB chief examiner.
Triple A Learning piloted the first online workshops for IB teachers four years ago, and last year around 1,700 teachers took online courses. That figure will be considerably larger this year. Triple A also helped the IB set up its online training for examiners. “That kind of thing puts the IB ahead of the game,” says Andy. “In a sense it needs to be, as a global organization, but I think it is anyway, partly because professional development has always been deeply rooted in how it works.”
Professional development courses are now the main focus of Triple A’s work, although it still produces the online interactive textbooks it started out with, including IB economics, business and management and ToK. Aside from the obvious advantage of allowing IB teachers in different countries to collaborate without flying across the world, Andy believes online courses can provide even stronger support than face-to-face workshops.
“Rather than being bombarded with information in a short space of time, you can develop ideas and relationships over a longer period,” he says. “Teachers end up with support networks that last much longer.”
Courses last between three and eight weeks, usually involving a maximum of 20 teachers and led by a mentor appointed by the IB. “The mentor isn’t there to disseminate information,” says Andy, “Their role is to support people, raise questions, answer queries, prompt discussions when it gets a bit quiet. It’s quite a change from the old didactic pattern – this is all about collaboration.”
An additional reason for teachers to adopt this peer learning approach is that it is a way of life for most students:
“The current generation of students has grown up using internet technologies. As a result they’re more willing to collaborate, and that can only be good.”
What comes naturally to students can seem overwhelming to many teachers, and there’s a danger of a digital divide opening up within the classroom. But, Andy argues, there’s no longer any excuse for teachers not to keep up: “I think previously people were scared off technology because you had to understand it to use it. Now, you just have to understand what you want to do with it. The technology itself is almost irrelevant.”
Many educators are starting to realize that, but Andy says we’re only seeing the start of what technology can do. “People talk about Web 2.0, but Education 2.0 is only just getting started. When you consider networks like MySpace and Facebook, they’ve grown so hugely at a personal level, but we haven’t even started to realize the educational applications.”
Universities tend to be a few years ahead: “They can afford to employ specialist technologists and they’ve got the number of students where they can experiment a little bit more. I learnt most of what I know while I was working at Bristol University. There were about 40 people dedicated to developing learning technologies.” It was also during this time that Andy started meeting people involved with the IB. He was asked to give presentations to subject managers about the latest developments, and in 2001 became chief examiner for business and management.
Soon afterwards, Triple A Learning was born. “I was sorry to leave the university – particularly because starting my own business was quite daunting, but I have no regrets.” Several years ago Andy’s wife joined the business, which they run from an office in their garden in Essex, 50 miles from London, UK, along with five other people who also work from their own homes.
“I like to think we’re a model company in terms of creating virtual networks. We keep in touch using Skype and other technologies,” says Andy, who thinks more people will soon be taking advantage of the flexibility new technologies offer.
Mobile technologies will be one of the main factors in changing the way people work and learn, Andy says – particularly in developing countries, where the mobile network is often the main one.
“The digital divide has closed significantly already – in many areas of the developing world, the infrastructure’s now actually better than in some developed areas. They’re in a good position to jump a level.”
The divide between devices is also closing, as laptops shrink in size and mobiles take on more and more applications. “It’s exciting for educators, but there are some difficult decisions to make too, about which devices you decide to support.”
The challenge for both educators and online course developers is to stay abreast of technological developments, without pursuing technology purely for its own sake. “The main thing is not to be complacent,” Andy says. “It’s important to make sure there’s a strong pedagogical basis for everything you’re doing. But at the same time you’ve really got to keep up. Something like Twitter or Second Life might not immediately seem to have an educational use, but I know teachers who share lesson plans on Twitter, and lots of universities are using Second Life.”
Not that keeping up with technology is really a problem for Andy: “I play for a living – it’s great.” That playing is likely to be a major influence on the way the IB structures itself online in the future.
CV Andy Beharrell
1960 - Born in London, UK
1981 - BSc Economics, University of Leicester
1981-2 - Trainee accountant, Coopers & Lybrand
1982-4 - Economics teacher, Latymer Upper School, London
1984-96 - Head of economics and business, Canford School, Dorset
1996-2000 - Head of economics and business and assistant director of studies, Clifton College, Bristol; visiting lecturer with responsibility for Biz/ed website, Bristol University
2000-2002 - Director of Biz/ed website, Bristol University
2001-2006 - IB chief examiner for business and management
2002 - Merlot Award for creating exemplary online learning resource
2000-2004 - Visiting lecturer, University of the West of England
2002 - Set up Triple A Learning
