VirtualNorth

Navigating New Networks

2012-02-19T14:13:00.000+13:00

Navigating the Panmure Roundabout - click for a birdseye

It has been an exciting couple of weeks. Joining a new team, visiting new schools, new learning and giving my Google Maps App a daily workout navigating new routes...and the notorious Panmure Roundabout!

I'm thriving on the new learning opportunities as a result of growing my professional learning networks. Lots of learning for us all including 1:1 Netbooks, Google Apps for Education, Teacher Dashboard and some new Mac users too!

Below are some resources I have shared over the past week. Your recommendatiosns appreciated, use the blog comments to share more.

Interesting Ways - A series of Google Presentations crowd sourcing ideas and resources, including Google Apps.
Snapshot of learning for Google Forms - Contributed by Joy Paton, Panmure Bridge School, Panmure
MasterChef Google - explore this Google site created to support a breakout at uLearn2011
Google Apps for Education - Another uLearn2011 Google site created by Shaun Wood sharing how he is using Google Apps

sMACdown - Loads of top tips for getting the most out of your Mac.
Recommendations for building your PLN...where would you start?
Enabling e-Learning Newsletter - Sign up here, lots of useful reosurces shared each term. February 2012 issue is recommended!

Google Reader
A must for keeping track of your favourite blogs and news sites.
From my Google Reader this week : Keeping Students Engaged in a 1:1 Project-Based Classroom

Learners leading learning

2012-01-23T12:48:00.001+13:00

I valued the opportunity to collaborate with teachers in 2011 to develop and edit snapshots for the Software for Learning site with a focus on eportfolios and mlearning.

Image Source: Lenva Shearing

The process, especially the learning conversations, facilitated some great opportunities to explore how learners are utilising ICTs for learning.

While each snapshot is unique I believe common messages are evident throughout including the relevance of:

context and responding to the needs of diverse learners
teachers actively inquiring into their practice (Teaching as Inquiry)
learning focused relationships (Assessment Online)
elearning and pedagogy (NZC Online)

Snapshots of Learning are framed to reflect the Teaching as Inquiry cycle and reference links to other TKI community resources i.e. NZC Online, Assessment Online, Literacy Online, NZMaths. They can also be utilised by school leaders to plan and support professional learning for their staff and school community.

This Google Doc identifies components of Software for Learning, including the snapshots and describes how they might be used by teachers and schools to build their e-learning capacity through sustaining a professional e-learning community and professional inquiry into e-learning.

A key motivation for writing this post was to recognise and thank the inspiring teachers and students who shared their learning and their practice. I have linked directly to their individual snapshots below plus all snapshots are can be browsed from the Software for Learning website.

Google Apps, Teacher Dashboard and 1:1 Computing

How ePortfolios and student-owned mobile devices have been used to increase student ownership of their learning.

Contributed by Lenva Shearing, Bucklands Beach Intermediate School, Auckland

MyPortfolio and Ultranet

Developing an ePortfolio approach

Contributed by Erin Sawyer, Fairfield Intermediate School, Hamilton

Learning Journals

Learning Journals enable students to become more active partners in the learning process.
Contributed by Amanda Grimsey, Cornwall Park District School, Greenlane, Auckland

iPod Touches and iPads

Implementing the use of mobile devices to support learning
Contributed by Cameron Lockie, Kaipara Flats School, Kaipara Flats

MyPortfolio

Establishing a learning environment to foster student collaboration and ownership of learning

Contributed by Fiona Burns, Mount Roskill Grammar School

MyPortfolio and Google Apps

Utilising an ePortfolio approach to increase opportunities to learn

Contributed by Jon Bowen, St Peter’s College, Palmerston North

mLearning Capability Project

How student owned mobile devices have been used to enhance the relevance of new learning and enable students to take greater ownership of the learning process.

Contributed by Nathan Kerr, Howick College, Auckland

Jogging Digistore

2011-09-14T11:06:00.000+12:00

I have been organising web content for upcoming PD sessions and remembered this useful web tool JOG THE WEB which I discovered last year and used to create the following tour. With JOG THE WEB you are able to group and organise web content plus include comments and feedback.

If you are new to Digistore this tour created in JOG THE WEB is designed to highlight some of the key features and support material to get started.

Click to view Digistore Jog

Recommendations for building your PLN...where would you start?

2011-08-18T07:23:00.010+12:00

I have had requests lately from educators looking to build their e-learning PLN and asking for recommendations on where to start. Rather than respond individually I have shared as a post.

Connected

This may be a bit of a brave new world for some so I have gone for less is more and what I hope provides a range of options (especially for those who may be starting out) to connect quickly through existing professional learning networks and communities.

Please comment if you have other recommendations that may be curriculum or subject specific.

Twitter: there is a very strong group of New Zealand and international educators using Twitter. #DUedchat - NZ Educators and OZ Educators on Twitter
Useful tips for getting started on Twitter:
Twitteraholics guide to tweets, hashtags and all things twitter
The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook
Using Twitter to build your PLN

The Ultimate Guide to using Twitter in Education

EduCampNZ Wiki: a series of e-learning un-conferences that provide a valuable opportunity to connect with like minded educators interested in e-learning and education. Explore the wiki to connect with other participating educators at each of the EduCampNZ events.

ICTinEnglish: a place to share ideas, request help and resources and establish professional relationships. Subscribers to the list will also receive monthly English Onlines updates including access to the ICTinEnglish team blog.

Teacher Blogs: Interface Magazine has an online directory of blogs written by teachers and other professionals in New Zealand’s education space. Use blog comments to connect with others who share your interests

Online Groups and Communities:

The Virtual Learning Network (VLN): A range of professional learning groups from early childhood through to tertiary.
Google Apps in NZ Schools Group:New Zealand schools keep you up to date with the latest news and technology available for Google Apps for Education
MLE Reference Group: Discuss the software and digital content that support learning in New Zealand schools.

"Fantastic turnout for #EduCampAKL" via @lenva

2011-08-07T13:16:00.011+12:00

Posting to organise and record some of the excellent contributions from EduCampAKL yesterday. Ka nui te mihi to everyone who participated and contributed, you continue to inspire me.

Also thanks to our hosts @ClaireAmosNZ and the IT team from Epsom Girls Grammar who worked wonders with the network when around 80 of us (with multiple devices) descended for the Smackdown at 10am.

For those of you who like to take time and explore, the EduCampAKL wiki includes a multitude of links and resources shared on the day. I have also summarised and book marked contributions in My Delicious below.

@myen - archiving my tweets on the run

2011-07-04T14:30:00.006+12:00

Posting in response to a question from @JoBrodie: How did you set up the Twitter archive in Evernote?

Twitter is dynamic and typically I don't save tweets rather the links and resources, recommended by my PLN are saved to Delicious. Sometimes I favourite a tweet in Twitter (although not a great solution for sharing and categorising to revisit later)

There are tools for archiving tweets however I was looking for a way to collate specific tweets from an event so I could save quickly and share them later. I decided to try using EverNote by syncing my account with Twitter.

At events like EduCampNZ the Twitter #tag is an effective way for participants to share with each other as well as those who are attending virtually.

During EduCampTaiTokerau I followed #EduCampTT . Any tweets I wanted to keep were either re-tweeted (RT) with @myen included in the tweet or I sent a direct message (DM) to @myen

Each tweet was saved in a new Evernote notebook, so I did have to copy and paste them into one notebook to share. It would be ideal if the tweets could be saved to a single notebook or online document for sharing. Any suggestions, please let me know.

This worked for me as EduCampNZ events are fast and furious and I was able to respond on the spot to a tweet, saving them in one place, to review later.

Here's how from the Evernote blog:

EduCampNZ: Interface Magazine, July 2011

2011-07-01T13:57:00.019+12:00

Click to view pdf.

Thanks to Interface Magazine for sharing EduCampNZ story in their latest issue.

Looking forward to EduCampTaiTokerau tomorrow, check the wiki for details or follow #EduCampTT

"EduCampWelly was about wanting to be there, it's self directed and personal"

@teachernz

Tāngo Whakaahua

2011-06-27T17:54:00.002+12:00

Tāngo Whakaahua– Creating a visual collaborative metaphor in response to our mārae noho through the medium of digital photography.

Photo: Cheryl Harvey

Facilitators from Team Solutions had the privilege of staying at Motatau Mārae in April. Motatau is located in the far north of New Zealand approximately 3 hours drive from Auckland (View Google Map). The mārae was built in the 1920s and, as we learned, has contributed significantly to the history of the area and New Zealand.

After the powhiri, that included a waiāta from Motatau Primary, many of us were drawn to the images that line the walls of the wharenui. They hinted at what we were to hear later that evening when we gathered for a more detailed history from local whanau.

Motatau Mārae was built in the 1920s to honour
Northern Maori Member of Parliament Tau Henarae

Much of the history of Motatau Mārae is also recorded through significant carvings inside the wharenui. It was fascinating to learn about the connection Motatau has with the meeting house, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Built in the grounds of the Treaty House at Waitangi, the meeting house commemorates the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The wood used for carvings for Te Tiriti o Waitangi was sourced from the forests around Motatau and were also initially carved at Motatau Mārae before being transported to Waitangi.
Digistore Learning Path: Te Tiriti o Waitangi

On the second day of our mārae noho facilitators were able to choose from a range of sessions, Te Ara Hikoitanga, opportunities to explore "Maori Achieving Education Success as Maori".

Cheryl Harvey and I were invited to collaborate on a session and with our mutual interest in things digital we developed Tāngo Whakaahua.

Our planning for the session has been shared on this Google doc. The link to the Google doc was shared with participants a few days before the Marae noho. This provided the group with an opportunity to think about their participation and responses before the actual workshop on the second day of our visit.

Anō te ataahua (a time to view creations and experiences from Te Ara Hikoitanga sessions) provided us with an opportunity to share our visual collaboration and also individual slide shows from each of the Tāngo Whakaahua participants. I have uploaded our collaborative response below. Ka nui te mihi to facilitators who contributed and to tamariki from Motatau Primary School for the waiata.

Digistore Learning Path - Marae noho
I have also shared this learning path created to support further thinking and learning opportunities in response to the mārae noho. The learning path includes:

digital resources from Digistore and other digital collections
primary source analysis tools for students
online resources and support for Mārae noho
Te Tiriti o Waitangi - primary sources and links to further digital collections and historic articles and information.

Motatau Mārae taken using 360 Panorama app for iPhone (click to enlarge)

"Where good ideas come from?"

2011-06-15T16:52:00.000+12:00

The e-Learning Lead Team at Mt Roskill Grammar represent a number of learning areas and departments across the school. Face-to-face time is one opportunity to connect and learn.

Today's agenda included many opportunities for conversations specifically targeted at sharing the impact of the team's teacher e-learning inquiries.

We kicked today off with this short clip by Steven Johnson, and shared some of the ideas that resonated with us on this collaborative Google doc.

"...we have so many new ways to connect, so many new ways to reach out and find other people...that's the real lesson of where good ideas come from, the chance favours the connected mind"

(Steven Johnson)

Exploring the "Raw Materials of History"

2011-06-07T06:22:00.000+12:00

Exploring primary sources or the "raw materials of history" provides students with an opportunity to examine the past free from the interpretations of others.

(Library of Congress)

The following Google presentation has been created to explore strategies and resources for teaching and learning with primary sources. It also includes:

strategies to support students to analyse primary sources
support for using analysis tools and Google docs for collaboration
links to Google research and search tools for locating and organising data and information
support for creating and integrating Learning Paths in Digistore

The intention is to revisit and add to this resource in response to feedback and the evolution of further resources and web tools.

Click the 'open in a new window' icon above to view a full screen version

"Because context matters...inquiry is important"

2011-06-02T12:35:00.000+12:00

I have been fortunate in the past couple of months to have had opportunities to collaborate with teachers and colleagues focusing on a variety of educational contexts including: curriculum, pedagogy, e-learning, leadership and assessment. Our conversations and thinking often include reference to Teaching as Inquiry (NZC and TMoA).

Context matters (click to enlarge)

As we have explored examples of Teaching as Inquiry I have been reminded of a statement from Claire Sinnema that I referenced in an earlier post on this blog "Inquire with a Travelling Mindset" ...

"because context matters...

inquiry is important"

The New Zealand Curriculum Online describes the Teaching as Inquiry cycle as "an organising framework that teachers can use to help them learn from their practice and build greater knowledge."

While the framework provides us with a common understanding and language for inquiry into our pracitice, the context is what brings life to the inquiry and to the learning.

Click to view bookmarks

To explore and share examples of teaching as inquiry in different contexts I have saved links to my Teaching as Inquiry Bookmarks in Delicious.
Each link includes a brief description of the inquiry context.

If you have an example of Teaching as Inquiry in context and are able to share please add to the comments below or my Delicious Network.

...to the power of three...now four!

2011-03-30T09:50:00.000+13:00

For the past three years our professional learning networks have supported an e-learning un-conference in Auckland. Tagged EduCampNZ the success of our day of learning, links and laughs is truly down to the participation and energy of the educators who contribute before, during and after the actual event.

Update...to the power of ~~three~~ four!

This year, thanks to enthusiastic participants in other regions, EduCampNZ will also be hosted in Wellington, Whangarei and Tauranga!

EduCampWelly: Wellington College, Saturday 21st May

EduCampTaiTokerau: Whangarei St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, 2nd July

EduCampAKL: Epsom Girls Grammar, Saturday 6th August
EduCampBOP: Tauranga School Support Services, Saturday 13 August
...and then there were five!

EduCampDunners: St Clair School, Dunedin, Saturday 27th August

Participants are also using social media to share and collaborate.

Details of how you can participate and what to expect can be explored on the wiki including:

images and video from previous years
Twitter #tags for each venue
opportunities to connect with participants & share your interests

The focus is on e-learning and education, sharing ideas we've discovered and learning from each other. Everyone is invited to participate. The purpose of EduCampNZ is to both learn and contribute.

"Go with the flow, follow your passion, take responsibility for your own learning" (unconfernece.net)

Snapshots of Learning

2010-12-20T14:56:00.000+13:00

A focus of the Digi Advisor roll this year has been the further development of the snapshots for the Software for Learning website. While the snapshots are intended as a taster to the software and digital content – an indication of how one teacher has recognised the potential to support learning, we also wanted to make explicit the links to e-learning and effective pedagogy and explore how the snapshots might be utilised by leaders to support professional learning.

Initially we reviewed the format of the snapshot to align with the teaching as inquiry cycle. While this provided us with consistency in both the format and framework for publication, the intention was to improve their potential as a catalyst for thinking and dialogue within our professional learning communities. We considered the qualities of professional communities that promote teacher and student learning (Teacher Professional Learning and Development:BES. p.203) and have increasingly integrated the new snapshots into our online support and face-to-face facilitation to reinforce these.

As an e-learning facilitator I have also used the snapshots with our e-learning cluster to explore how teachers in other schools are integrating e-learning and the implications for teaching and learning. Additionally the links to the teaching as inquiry cycle provide a useful framework for teachers to inquire into their practice. The cycle provides common points of reference in relation to effective pedagogy and teacher actions. This can be useful to support dialogue as teachers in a professional community also have diverse learners and consequently may have identified different professional learning outcomes from those of their colleagues.

"Because context matters...inquiry is important"
(Claire Sinnema)

Snapshots in the new format are continuing to be edited for the website and we would like to acknowledge and thank the teachers who have shared their teaching and their students' learning. Their collaboration on this project is both valued and appreciated. While the snapshots are accessible from the Software for Learning home page, links to the new snapshots have been saved as a group in the Software for Learning Delicious. Browse each of the snapshots using the arrow on the top right of the Delicious navigation bar. Teachers are invited to share their snapshots of learning, visit the wiki for details.

Click to enlarge

Celebrating 50 Years of Teacher Education

2010-12-08T18:15:00.000+13:00

Howls of laughter today working with a teacher who is also a past T-Group buddy from our days at the Hamilton Teachers’ College. Waikato's Faculty of Education have been celebrating 50 years of teacher education and all our original photos have been posted on the Hamilton City Libraries website, Kete Hamilton. We hadn't seen our T-Group photo since it was taken way back when!

"The library is promoting digital storytelling to create a digital library of arts, cultural and heritage resources to help create a digital knowledge basket of Hamilton memories for future generations to enjoy and everyone is invited to join the fun..."

...and we did have some fun today, testing our memories and sharing stories from our student days. If you attended Waikato's School of Education (formerly the Hamilton Teachers’ College) search the archives from the Kete Hamilton website for student teachers as far back as 1960...I found mine...a chocolate fish if you can identify me ;-) Click photo to zoom.

Geocaching

2010-12-06T16:01:00.000+13:00

Many thanks to Gerard and his students for inviting me to tag along last week on their Geocaching session at the Auckland Domain. Lots of learning and laughs, plus it was great to see Gerard's programme in action with the students.
Find out more about Geocaching and the Key Competencies on Software for Learning or see the 60 second snapshot below.

Crowd-sourcing...

2010-10-12T05:56:00.000+13:00

...it might not work for everyone however crowd-sourcing, in the form of a 'Smackdown' has provided lots of learning and fun collaborations for us over the past couple of months. Back in June this year Dorothy, Rocky and I attended edubloggercon, an all-day unconference held before ISTE 2010. I was also on a bit of a recce for EduCampNZ where we included a Smackdown as a quick and effective way of connecting with people and ideas. Starting the day with this type of activity can be quite important for an un-conference, where the programme is developed on the day and there may be participants who are attending for the first time. We set up a Wallwisher and everyone was invited to contribute before, during and after EduCampNZ.

This can be quite important for an un-conference, where the programme is developed on the day.

I was excited when Dorothy came up with the idea to try this out at uLearn10 this year even more so when I found out the theme was Apple Tools...a "sMACdown!"

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

The standard rules applied and this time Dorothy also created a GoogleSite and invited other Mac enthusiasts to contribute their tips to kick-off. A Wallwisher was posted for participants to add their tips and it was great to see how many were also added by people not attending the conference. We also tapped into Twitter using the conference hash tag #ulearn10 and #sMACdown

The Smackdown concept has worked for us in both an un-conference and traditional conference setting and we have been able to adapt to suit the context and purpose. From the feedback received it also seems to have worked well for the 'crowd' who at the end of the day are the reason why these types of collaborations are valuable.

If you participated or contributed...many thanks! The 'what the who and the how' can be accessed from the sMACdown Google site along with everyone's contributions.

If you are planning a Smackdown please share it with us...the crowd will be ready and waiting!

Can Digistore contribute to sustaining e-learning in your school?

2010-08-22T17:23:00.000+12:00

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

In a recent Interface article David Kinane makes valuable recommendations for school leaders to consider if they are to develop sustainable e-learning models for their schools.

David specifically refers to the impact of teacher turnover and subsequent loss of knowledge suggesting that "ICT knowledge and skills should be actively collected and accumulated not randomly swapped."

"...good skill sets and a wealth of IP just walk out of the door" (David Kinane)

We have been exploring the possibilities within Digistore to create collaborative learning spaces. These include functions that can enable schools to develop and share resources and strategies both in and across schools. Using their school's current Digistore school login, teachers can develop Learning Paths that can also be shared publicly. The single sign in for educators (coming soon*) will also enable teachers to share resources between their school and their individual Digistore account. Consequently when a teacher leaves a school resources that have been developed are not lost to either the school or the individual teacher.

Harnessing tools for collaboration and sharing can also provide valuable opportunities for educators when planning and reflecting on their practice. This includes opportunities to model effective e-learning integration and develop sustainable procedures within schools that can lessen the impact of staff turn over.

These functions in Digistore include:
Learning Paths
A collection or sequence of learning content interwoven with teacher comments and descriptions. Learning Paths can be created and shared between schools, and publicly. This functionality enables educators to develop resources collaboratively and share within and across schools. Read more about Learning Paths on the Digistore wiki.
(see the Digistore User Guide, p.30)

Star Rating and Comments
Share knowledge on the value of Digistore content in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum. Rating content and sharing comments will support others to identify and select digital content more effectively. This will enable a collaborative understanding of the pedagogical value of content to grow both in and across schools.
Tags
Add your own tags to content to improve searches and highlight specific keywords and phrases relevant for use across the curriculum.
(see the Digistore User Guide, p.24-28)

*Watch the Digistore website and subscribe to the Diginews for updates on single sign in

Learning, Links and Laughs @ EduCampNZ

2010-07-28T14:40:00.000+12:00

"Go with the flow, follow your passion, take responsibility for your own learning"...three tips from unconfernece.net as we headed into our e-Learning un-conference, EduCampNZ, on Saturday 24th July.

Hosted at Summerland School in West Auckland, over 70 inspirational educators participated and contributed to a day of learning, links and laughs. We kicked EduCampNZ off with SpeedGeeking. Using TwitterTime each participant had 140 seconds to introduce themselves and share what is currently on their radar.

We also introduced a Smackdown to EduCampNZ this year after Dorothy, Rocky and I had participated in similar sessions at the ISTE conference last month. Both these sessions provided opportunities to connect with others and identify similar interests to pursue throughout the day.

'Everything EduCampNZ' can be explored from our wiki including a shared Google Doc with links and contributions from participants, The Smackdown WallWisher, #EducampNZ Twitter stream and photos.

We would also appreciate your suggestions and feedback to assist the organisation of future un-conference events. We are excited that educators in other regions are exploring the possibilities of running similar events and your recommendations would be valued. Feedback can be posted on the wiki.

I want to again acknowledge the generosity of all participants... from the staff and students of Summerland Primary, to the educators who contributed especially those that travelled from beyond West Auckland... Arohanui.

The following video is my attempt to capture some of the EduCampNZ highlights! Because it was shot on July 24, 2010 I have also submitted it to Life In A Day, a project documenting a single day on earth.

Artefacts of Assination & Tweet Preservation*

2010-07-06T22:33:00.000+12:00

At ISTE10 I targetted a number of breakouts focussing on the use of primary sources. Fascinating to spend time exploring "the raw materials of history" and considering potential to guide students towards higher-order thinking.

Identified a number of resources and strategies with possibilities to support the effective use of digital content relevant to the development of Digistore. Rocky and I will share further on the Digistore wiki in the coming months.

Until then here are a few primary source taonga (treasures) worthwhile exploring. Most of these sites also include useful guidelines for teaching with primary sources:

The Library of Congress: A variety of useful resources for teachers. I have highlighted and saved to my Delicious Links with descriptions.
DocsTeach an educational tool from the US National Archives Experience that includes support for using primary source documents.
NASA eClips short, relevant educational video segments.
C-SPAN Classroom Free primary source materials covering government proceedings and public affairs programming.
Digital Vaults: Explore the US National Archives collection, using the media rich version of this site browse through hundreds of photographs, documents, and film clips. Register and create your own collection of records, create pathway challenges, posters and films to share. Also see example Creating Student Sleuths: Primary Source Investigation
World Digital Library Home primary materials from countries and cultures around the world in multilingual format.

What are primary sources? Check out these two extremes...

Artefacts of Assassination and Tweet Preservation*

Math Snacks...yum!

2010-07-04T12:38:00.000+12:00

We had a great conversation with some of the Math Snacks team on Wednesday, Debbie Michels and Milos Savic. Math Snacks are short animations and mini–games, each presenting a mathematical concept and designed to help learners "get it".

Each snack can be used and integrated much the same way as we use Digistore content and can be saved on mobile devices (from iTunesU) for students to revisit. They are also supported by both student and teacher guides, available for download.

Debbie shared examples of student outcomes from the use of Math Snacks and very kindly agreed to an on the spot, impromptu, reflection on the benefits of integrating Math Snacks in combination with other relevant digital content and learning experiences. The following was filmed on my iPhone in a very busy open space @ ISTE 2010 (~3:30min). Debbie makes useful connections to the key messages about when digital content is most effective.

Debbie on the purpose of Mathsnacks..."can students develop enough of a conceptual understanding to give greater meaning to their learning?"

Day in Denver

2010-07-04T09:37:00.000+12:00

Took a few hours to engage my "travelling mindset" on Thursday, after 5 valuable days of ISTE10 conversations, challenges and new ideas. We were lucky enough to be guided by a home grown Denverite. He must have told his stories many times over in the past however his first hand historical knowledge of the area and its people added much depth and colour to the experience.

"Can't you see...life's easy...if you consider things from another point of view" (DB Boulevard)

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

"Dream big and be brave..."

2010-06-28T09:12:00.000+12:00

The title of this post comes from The Third Teacher, referenced today at the ISTE Leadership Symposium: Innovation--Design for Learning. I valued the conversations and time to explore the connect between design principles and our values and beliefs about effective teaching and its impact on student learning.

I love to dream and I want to be brave. Yes... this has definitely contributed to my thinking, and...I need to explore these ideas further through the links below and supporting similar conversations.

One strategy that I will certainly follow up on is to add a photo to the Learning Space Blog. This is smart...if we see a space or environment that resonates with us we are invited to email a photo to seems99level2blog@flickr.com to contribute.

...in the meantime sharing my ISTE10 photo set on flickr.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

EducampNZ Recce

2010-06-27T09:42:00.000+12:00

Participating at EduBloggercon2010 this morning was in part a reconnaissance (recce) for ideas to share at EducampNZ.

Enjoyed the "Smackdown" speed demos session where participants are invited to take a couple of minutes only to share a cool Web 2.0 tool. Thinking this could work well for EducampNZ as ideas are shared quickly and very little preparation time is needed.

Shared links from this afternoon's smackdown, with my notes, on Delicious .
For more links and resources search #EBC10 in Twitter

Thanks to participants for sharing and organiser Steve Hargadon ...excellent kick off to ISTE10

Kiwi Educators Heart Wikispaces

2010-06-27T06:09:00.000+12:00

As a warm up to ISTE10 had organised to meet up with Adam Frey & James Byers co-founders of Wikispaces at EduboggerCon2010 this morning. We simply wanted to say thanks and share briefly some of the innovative ways Wikispaces have been used by Kiwi educators.

Very excited to hear from them that Wikispaces editing is undergoing a major rebuild and will include many new and updated features ironing out those little glitches ;-) James shared a few of these today (see Rocky's blog for more details)

An invitation to all Wikispaces users - please let them know if you have feedback, need support or notice any glitches or anomalies - http://help.wikispaces.com or http://twitter.com/wikispaces 'coz we know kiwis heart wikispaces

Digistore's Golden Egg

2010-05-24T15:05:00.000+12:00

Since the release of Digistore v2.0 we have been exploring, what Rocky refers to as Digistore's Golden Egg....learning paths.

I have created and shared two learning paths below to support He Reo Kōmanawa one of a group of resources for teachers of te reo Māori. Using the He Reo Komanawa teaching and learning framework and the key messages about effective use of digital content these learning paths are for teachers and include strategies and links to further resources. They could also be copied and re-purposed for students.

These learning paths support specific steps in the He Reo Komanawa framework. However the design and selection of digital content from both Digistore and other sources, is guided by the kinds of teaching approaches that promote student learning (NZC, 2007; MToA, 2008). The intention is that they might also support further thinking around developing learning paths in other learning areas.

While the learning context is te reo Maori, the thinking around the selection and integration of the digital content in relation to the key messages about effective use of digital content could be applied to other learning areas.

The next step is to hopefully collaborate with teacher/s to trial these. Let me know if that might be you or if you are interested in developing learning paths to support a current focus in any learning area.

More support for learning paths and examples from other learning areas can be accessed from the Digistore wiki or please contact us directly.

Click the links below to view these learning paths in Digistore

He Reo Komanawa: Viewing Image/Discussion

Developed to support steps 1 and 2 of the framework for using He Reo Komanawa, viewing of image and pre-reading discussion. Initial viewing of the image provides students with both visual information and stimulus for participation.

He Reo Komanawa: Mind Map and Inquiry

Developed to support steps 6, 7 and 8 of the framework for using He Reo Komanawa, group mind mapping of discussion points and opportunities for inquiry.

Whakanuia Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Te Mahi Kai

A collection of images reflecting theme Te Mahi Kai - The Language of Food. Includes tools to support students to analyse photographs.

Exploring Artefacts

A collection of images of primary source Maori artefacts for comparison and exploration.

Re-thinking Digistore: new opportunities to create collaborative, interactive learning spaces for your students.

2010-03-27T14:56:00.000+13:00

Accessing learning through the Read/Write Web has changed teaching and learning for many of us. The freedom and flexibility to organise and access content for a specific purpose is having a significant impact on teaching approaches and learning design. With the launch of Digistore 2.0 we have been considering how some of the new functions might operate with existing online environments and tools. While we have been hyperlinking and embedding Digistore content successfully for some time using social bookmarking, Moodle, wikis and blogs...

...do we need to start thinking differently about how we organise and access digital content?

An exciting new feature of Digistore 2.0 is the ability to create Learning Paths, a collection or sequence of learning content interwoven with teacher comments and descriptions that can be created for a particular audience eg: Students, Teachers, parents or as a personal collection. View a Learning Path that has been created and shared on Digistore

Does our use of Digistore content change when we can select, organise and then share from within Digistore itself?

Questions we might consider at the planning and design stage:

When is creating a Learning Path vs linking or embedding digital content a more effective option?
What are the benefits to the learning process?
How can I re-purpose content and what are the possible opportunities for shared learning?
How do my decisions reflect the key messages about when digital content is most effective?
Will this save time?

Read more about Learning Paths on the Digistore wiki

Digistore... 'from catalog to community'*

2010-02-27T20:45:00.000+13:00

On the coat tails of Rocky's recent post The New and Improved Digistore, we have been enjoying exploring the possibilities and receiving the feedback as Digistore evolves from a "catalog to a community."*

Features such as the learning paths and tagging, plus tools for users to rate and comment, mean that the boundaries for use of Digistore content can be pushed. While content is easier to search and find using the advanced search features, browse topics and filters the potential for teachers and students to recommend content, reflects the concept of 'community' verses 'catalog'.

Because content can be now categorised by the community the possibilities for users to share and explore strategies for selection and integration has increased. Key messages that support the effective use of digital content remain a priority and are explored further through the development of the Digistore wiki. This wiki will include examples of how digital content has been embedded into existing programmes of learning and links to other relevant digital content and learning experiences. Like Digistore, it will continue to evolve as we develop our capacity to effectively integrate digital resources to improve learning outcomes.

We have also posted resources, strategies and links from our breakouts at the Learning@School Conference. The content was designed to scaffold dialogue and understanding as we explored the key messages that support the effective use of digital content.

We hope that the ideas and strategies can be used and adapted by school leaders and cluster facilitators to reflect the needs of learners in your schools.

* Concept shared by CORE Education Ltd 2009 for Software for Learning

The wikification of Fiona

2009-08-23T11:01:00.000+12:00

Attribution: Image Koru

Along with over 150 participants from 29 countries Rocky and I have registered for the Learning4Content 29th Online Workshop. Wikispaces has been my wiki of choice for the past few years and was the software we selected to develop the Software for Learning wiki. Regardless of wiki preferences, what attracts me the most to these online spaces is the potential for user generated content and everything that goes with it...creativity, collaboration, exploration, risk-taking, learning...

I am looking forward to learning about the Wiki Educator environment and exploring it's potential to support online collaboration specifically the OER Commons for New Zealand schools.

If you are interested in signing up the workshop starts on 24th August, commitment is approximately 4-5 hours over 2 working weeks.

As I write I see another NZ participant, Jo Fothergill has posted a comparison between Wiki Educator and Wikispaces on her blog.

See who else is enrolled and sign up here.

"Inquire with a travelling mindset..."

2009-07-12T17:08:00.000+12:00

"Inquire with a travelling mindset"...an analogy used by Claire Sinnema while exploring teaching as inquiry with Team Solutions facilitators recently. Useful and timely messages from Claire in light of some of the confusion between teaching as inquiry and inquiry learning, that we have experienced as schools move towards implementing the New Zealand Curriculum (2007).

Image Attribution: 'je dois apprendre aux curieux'

More from Claire...

The NZC(2007) describes some ways of thinking about teaching and learning using evidence based approaches, "the kinds of teaching approaches that consistently have a positive impact on student learning" (p.34) and also thinking about teaching as inquiry, a way of 'being' or the underlying attitudes that influence our practice.

Focusing inquiry is about:

Prioritising what is most important: "Every 10 minutes matters"... image the impact on student learning if those 10 minutes every day of every week are added up over the years a student is at school.
Learner diversity
National and community curriculum aspirations
Information and data
Individual group needs

The above can be informed by research however the value of a teacher's past practice should not be overlooked. What good are the approaches, principles and mechanisms in the research? Why inquire if we know what works?

"Because context matters... inquiry is important"

As Claire shared some examples from her own experiences and observations I found myself making links to how e-learning and pedagogy (NZC, 2007, p.36) can also provide us with many and varied opportunities to inquire into the teacher actions that promote student learning.
A wonderful example of this can be viewed on Helen Rennie-Younger's wiki. Helen shares both her inquiry and student learning and effectively models how e-learning can make a difference to her practice and student learning.
Further reading that may be of interest - Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences: Tikanga ā Iwi: BES, Aitken and Sinnema (2008).

"Approach teaching as inquiry as we would approach
travelling to new places"

Claire left us with the following message inspired by Alain de Botton's, The Art of Travel...
"To inquire with a travelling mindset!"

From the book...

“What, then, is a traveling mind-set? Receptivity might be said to be its chief characteristic. Receptive, we approach new places with humility. We carry with us no rigid ideas about what is or is not interesting. We irritate locals because we stand in traffic islands and narrow streets and admire what they take to be unremarkable small details. We risk getting run over because we are intrigued by the roof of a government building or an inscription on a wall. We find a supermarket or a hairdresser’s shop unusually fascinating. We dwell at length on the layout of a menu or the clothes of the presenters on the evening news. We are alive to the layers of history beneath the present and take notes and photographs. Home, by contrast, finds us more settled in our expectations. We feel assured that we have discovered everything interesting about our neighborhood, primarily by virtue of our having lived there a long time. It seems inconceivable that there could be anything new to find in a place where we have been living for a decade or more. We have become habituated and therefore blind to it.”
–Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel (2002)

Image Attribution:'Atlas, it's time for your bath'

"Teaching as Inquiry"

2009-06-05T06:57:00.000+12:00

In my last post I explored the relevance of teachers developing the confidence to approach new technologies with an inquiring, open mind and learning about the technology within a context that is connected to their current classroom practice.

Also for those who are considering how twitter might be useful in an educational setting...

"life is too short to edit video on an iPod"

2009-05-26T01:58:00.000+12:00

Continuing from my last iPod Post... we have since visited a class at Bernadino Elementary who also have the 1-1 iPod and Fisler Elementary that have a 1-to-1 24/7 laptop programme for grades 3-8.

While I have acknowledged the challenge that the teachers in California face in relation to their curriculum what is important for me is to attempt to consider what we have observed and the possibilities for integration in a New Zealand context (for our students), specifically in relation to our curriculum (NZC, 2007), what the evidence tells us about student learning and the potential for e-learning and effective pedagogy (p.34-36).

I would like to suggest we avoid a debate on ipod vs laptop/desktop but rather dialogue that focuses on the purpose and how does access to different technologies add value. Thinking about my own practice and what I know about New Zealand teachers, I can see huge potential for iPods because of their portability and flexibility to access the web plus recording and storing data in various formats (note to Apple - iPod needs video!)...at the same time life is too short to edit video on an iPod.

What are some of the potential benefits?

Access and choice for students and teachers...Web, resources, tools, applications, quality digital content...when they need it.
Greater flexibility and possibility:

- for students to direct and pace their learning (set goals, receive feedback and identify support options)
- for parents to communicate with, respond and support their children and teachers
- for teachers to design learning opporunities that are relevant and effectively integrate digital content.

Potential for teachers to stretch themselves pedagogically and explore new and different strategies for teaching and learning based on what they know about their students.
Potential for students to develop a clearer understanding of the learning process and confidently communicate how this impacts on them as a learner.

What are some of the factors that can influence this?

Professional development for teachers - meeting needs, collaborative, building capacity and sustainability. This also includes supporting teachers to be confident users of ICTs. By this I do not mean attending workshops to learn how to use the tools rather a variety of opportunities (planned, facilitated, informal and just-in-time) to learn about the technology within a context that is connected to current classroom practice. Developing the confidence to approach new technologies with an inquiring, open mind...you don't have to know how to use every Web 2.0 tool in the book.

e-Learning and effective pedagogy - Teachers PCK, knowledge of teaching approaches that consistently have a positive impact on student learning.
Classroom environment, access to a variety of technologies depending on purpose.
Infrastructure*, school leadership, commitment and beliefs of all stake holders.

*Fisler has over 500+ laptops supported in their 24/7 programme, the school district supported maintenance of the network, all software and personal files were stored on a central server, there is an onsite, full time technician, students can walk in and loan a laptop if needed.

More video and feedback to come...pictures here.

CHSTV

2009-05-21T00:28:00.000+12:00

I am often disappointed when technology is condemned for our woes and I suspect that most of the time if we look further we will find what is important is people and relationships. Our visit to Carlsbad High School to meet with Doug Green and his broadcasting students demonstrated explicitly the importance of this for me today. In the mist of all the technology there was a wonderful buzz of students working collaboratively, all very clear of the purpose and what was expected of them. In California schools are required to work to a fairly prescribed curriculum and it takes an innovative and brave teacher to engage student learning through technology as exemplified by Doug Green.

Each morning the students produce a live show which is broadcast to an audience of over 3000. We were welcomed by senior students Jerry and Riley who confidently guided us through each part of the process. Student are responsible for all of the production and they have covered local school news and events to stories with wider impact such as the recent bush fires where their work was picked up by local TV stations and broadcast to millions statewide. This morning's broadcast seemed to run like clockwork and was totally student led and driven.

The students are very aware of the responsibility they have to produce balanced stories and the role the broadcast has in connecting many of the different interests and groups that make up their local school community. Students are expected to learn all of the roles from writing, editing, production and presenting and pitch at least 2 stories every six weeks. These are critically reviewed and assessed by Doug and they are provided with clear feedback. The students believe that CHSTV is responsible for developing a real sense of community in their school and has has developed their abilities as critical viewers and processors of information, including their ability to communicate in the many and varied situations they find themselves reporting from.

Jerry describes the impact of the broadcasting course on student learning (apologies for the background noise)

We were privileged to hear directly from some of the students (including Jerry) who were part of the team responsible for a yearlong documentary project called "We Must Remember", the story of sixteen American high school students who discover the horror of the Holocaust while producing a film about the Holocaust. The film was originally produced to be used as a teaching resource so students would be able to experience its impact through a perspective of others of a similar age. Doug and the students are traveling to Croatia next week for the films release, it will be featured in film festivals internationally during 2009, and in 2010 it will be distributed to schools across the United States. A trailer and further information is posted on School Tube

The experiences shared by the students at CHSTV have had a very real impact on their learning and have taken it way beyond the classroom. The mutual trust and respect between Doug and his students underpinned everything we experienced today and we are looking forward in the hope that their documentary will be released in New Zealand.

One-to-one iPods

2009-05-20T18:36:00.000+12:00

Reo and his friends from Central Elementary in San Diego talk about learning with an iPod. Watch Sandra as she quietly demonstrates how to record, which Reo and Kyle had yet to discover, but it did not take them long! My 'roomy' on tour @suebrownnz has already requested a class set from her boss, me... I'll take a class and a set!

The school discovered that the improvement in basic facts had increased markedly since students had been using the ipods.
Students are using the iPods offsite and uploading once they returned to school using iBlogger.
The bubblewrap app. was created by a kiwi!

"watch this everyday, or we'll know"

2009-05-19T19:07:00.000+12:00

Connie is passionate about making a difference for her students at Central Elementary in San Diego. She teaches the students from 4-5 years of age, preparing them to enter school at age 5-6. Her integration of technology has been a steep learning curve but the benefits have impacted on students and the wider community in ways not first envisaged.

For the majority of students English is a second language. To support families whose children will be starting school and to lessen the impact of the long summer break, Connie along with her fellow kindergarten teachers, produced a multimedia DVD to support families and their students. It includes the teachers modeling counting, alphabet, days of the week, shapes etc. This is sent home with every student along with other goodies, crayons, paper etc and they are encouraged to "watch this everyday, or we'll know" says Connie. The purpose of the video was originally to assist students with preparation for entering school and to help support their parents. Connie reported that as a consequence children arrive at school more prepared, often recognising the teachers from the DVD and more confident and aware of the exceptions for their learning...learning is not a secret!

Parents are also more confident to support their children and have become more actively involved in their school community. For Connie the technology provides another strategy to support her practice and an opportunity to "grab" her students and she has continued to push the boundaries with her use of e-learning...what drives her to make a difference for her students?

"This is how James learns."

2009-05-19T17:17:00.000+12:00

For all the differences between the schools we visited today the similarities were perhaps even more pronounced. Both Carol Anne McGuire, New Village Leadership Academy and Elaine Wren, Echo Horizons have responsibility for working with students and supporting their colleagues to integrate e-Learning into their practice. The impact of having dedicated teachers in these positions seemed to link much of what we saw in today's school visits.

While both Carol Anne and Elaine acknowledge this is a collaborative effort (dependant on the support of their individual school's leadership and beliefs about the role of e-learning) the impact their support was having on both teacher confidence and student learning was evident. Similar to New Zealand, working collaboratively, ensuring access to support and relevant professional learning and removing barriers for teachers, were all identified as important to effective integration of e-learning.

The following clip features students who have had access to the one-to-one laptop programme for the past 2 years. Accessing the technology and the confidence with which they utilised it for their learning was noticable and at times scaryingly innate! (Thanks to Ash for sharing his video to pick up some of the gems I missed.)

Elaine from Echo Horizons describes how specialist teachers collaborate and use technology to provide rich learning opportunities for their students and continue learning themselves.

How might having a dedicated e-learning specialist teacher working in your school make a difference for teachers integrating e-learning? If you already have someone working in a similar role, what is it that they do in this role that makes a difference for students and teachers?

Delicious Library

2009-05-19T17:00:00.000+12:00

James from New Village Leadership Academy was introduced to us as Carol Anne McGuire's right hand man. I recorded him talking about Delicious Library as I had not yet seen an example of a school who had utilised it to manage their school's library database and loans. The video is not as zoomed in as a screen capture however James does such a great job of describing how they have set up this system in their school, I am confident that you will 'get the picture'.

e-Learning and pedagogy

2009-05-10T15:47:00.000+12:00

I have been following Michael Wesch online, many of you may be familiar with the videos he has created with his students exploring the impact of new media on society and culture ( "The Machine is Us/ing us" and "A Vision of students today").

While the ideas that they explore are significant, what also challenges me is thinking about Wesch's application of new media in his practice. See a previous post "There are no natives here" Again I would recommend that you invest some time and watch "A Portal to Media Literacy".

Last week Wesch posted a link to some work created by one of his students Kevin Champion. I have watched this video a number of times since ( embedded below) and have enjoyed thinking about the concepts Champion explores around connectedness, the impact of new media and the breaking down of barriers in education that are now possible as a result.

" In education, this is seen in the emphasis on cross-disciplinary, multicultural, holistic, and interdisciplinary studies. It becomes clear that no one discipline and no one perspective can provide all the answers. Over the last 50 years, this theoretical connectedness has been expressed in the physical world through media. Television, cell phones, and the internet have added both a new level of connectivity and new ways to connect." Kevin Champion

What continues to capture my thinking is the question of how Champion's use of new media to explore, share and create his understandings, may have been supported by the teaching actions of Micahel Wesch? During repeat views of the video I have tried to identify links and examples that may reflect effective pedagogy in the NZC specifically e-learning and pedagogy (p. 36).

This exercise has continued to extend and challenge my thinking around "the changing role of the teacher and also our understanding of elearning as a pedagogical practice"...and also what this might mean for how we use assessment to both provide feedback and inform future action.

For me this has been a useful next step from 'A Portal to Media Literacy' and the concepts of what it means to be a teacher in this century. I plan to use this example to further explore the concept of e-learning as a pedagogical practice with colleagues.

Many thanks to both Michael Wesch and Kevin Champion for their inspiration.

"Whoever comes is the right people"

2009-04-10T02:46:00.000+12:00

Last year an unconference was coordinated in Auckland by Suzie Vesper. You can listen to feedback from participants on the VoiceThread below. We have had a number of informal requests to repeat this get together or 'unconference' so have decided to hold it again on Saturday May9. The venue will be open from 10am -4pm and in the spirit of an unconference there is no registration, cost, or required time to attend.

What is an unconference?
We have set up a wiki page with more information here. You are invited to add your details to the wiki as it could be useful for people who are thinking of attending to have some idea of who might be there and areas of interest. There is no commitment as we are acknowledging the openspace rule... "Whoever comes is the right people".

There will be updates on the wiki closer to the day. You can keep up-to-date by joining the wiki and clicking the 'notify me' tab at the top of the wiki page to set up notifications. There is also a hash tag in twitter you can follow by searching #may9 from Twitter. This will show you updates about the unconference and can also provide you with some idea of who might be attending and topics they are interested in exploring.

The unconference is very much about giving and receiving, while I admit that there will probably be a few geeks there (not looking at anyone in particular... lol) this will be a valuable but relaxed opportunity for participants to learn. If you have been thinking about using some of these new technologies and have questions, this might very well be the place for you on #may9!

Images from last year's unconference.

Lunchtime conversations still reign!

2009-03-25T13:38:00.000+13:00

Received an email from a friend recently, quote... "Man I didn't know whether to tweet, to delicious , blog or spam you"...however today's impromptu lunchtime chat with friends proves face2face still rates when it comes to my personal learning network.

This from Jenny Pope in the lunchroom today...Apture a very cool Web 2.0 tool that works with most blog platfroms, wikis etc... to "integrate reference guides, images, video, maps, music, documents, presentations". I have integrated Apture into this blog post to demonstrate some of these options. (Note: when you add video you can also control the timing ie: identify a part of the video you want to display).

Lots of opportunities here for teachers to develop interactive learning objects online and for students to make connections and apply their learning in new contexts. I am especially attracted to the potential of including multimedia and other Web 2.0 applications.

Also includes a Twitter Viewer which lets you embed your Twitter stream and the Twitter experience on your sites and across the web right next to relevant content on the page (...say that fast in less than 140 characters!)

If anyone has examples of how teachers and students may have been utilising Apture please leave a comment and links on this post. I am keen to see how you have integrated and hear from you on the impact on students' learning as well as your teaching.

'Learning Everywhere'

2009-02-28T16:39:00.000+13:00

As I synthesise some of my thinking (and hyper-linking) from the last three days of the Learning@School09 conference the three keynotes from Andy Hargreaves, Pam Hook and Wes Fryer have provided both an anchor point and many springboards for my learning.

If our students “are messages we send into the future”, how do we best prepare them to succeed in a future that is increasingly unknown? Within the context of his book written with Dennis Shirley, The Fourth Way, Andy focused on the importance of investing in people and community to better develop more creative and inventive individuals, better prepared for the changing global economy. Stories from both industry (Nokia) and education (Tower Hamlets) demonstrated the improved outcomes and possibilities that can be achieved as a result of communities “connecting to the best they have been” while investing in people, through building stronger schools with increased community engagement and support for each other.

A focus on collective responsibility and communities setting high standards for achievement, in contrast to individual accountability, has proven to have a greater impact on student learning. These examples reflect the concept of Ako in Ka Hikitia and also Pam’s questioning of where and how learning takes place… “learning at school verses learning everywhere”. ICT enables students to “bypass teachers altogether” and we were reminded again about the evidence that class sizes and ICTs alone have little impact on student achievement. What makes the difference is quality teaching – what happens when we change our practice based on the evidence? ...and how can we utilise the technology and online environments to support learners more effectively as demonstrated by Wes in the final keynote? (see conference blog).

As a result of the conference keynotes (and the many conversations with others attendees in between) my thinking has predominantly been anchored by the importance of the collective responsibility for student learning. Amongst the many, many springboards the following stand out for further exploration and thinking:

Read - Visable Learning (Hattie) and The Fourth Way (Hargreaves and Shirley)
If you have access to EBSCO a preview by the authors can be downloaded from Educational Leadership, Oct 2008, Vol. 66 Issue 2, p56-61

Explore - Hooked-on-Thinking Pam and Julie’s wiki

Participate – The e-Learning Research Network online discussion Hattie and ICT Implications

Stumbled on the following video while writing this post. How is this a metaphor for the history of education?

learningatschool

A Portal to Learning@School

2009-02-20T14:02:00.000+13:00

Last year I created a public portal to the uLearn08 conference in my aggregator, Netvibes. This was useful as I was quickly able to scan updates from the numerous conference feeds including blog posts, tweets, photos etc. Also able to share these with virtual attendees and others who could not be there in the flesh with some interesting consequences (see Reflections and Connections post).

I have created a portal for the Learning@School 09 Conference in Rotorua next week to keep track of the various conference channels and 'back chat'. I have previously blogged about the value of using an aggregator to manage online learning and maybe a conference portal could also be useful if you can't make the conference and want to personalise the conference channels you follow.

Looking forward to seeing my virtual learning network face-2-face and also collaborating with Rochelle Jensen to facilitate a few breakouts. Rocky and I are very excited to be working together over the next couple of years and will be utilising the Software for Learning wiki to learn more about how teachers are utilising e-learning to support student learning.

See you all next week,
Hei konā

tags technorati : learningatschool

Welcome to the Eastern Block e-Learning Cluster

2009-02-02T18:40:00.000+13:00

Welcome again to Willowbank Primary, Point View Primary and Somerville Intermediate who together form a new ICT PD cluster for 2009, Eastern Block e-Learning. Today was the cluster's launch at Point View School. I have posted some photos on Flickr embedded below. As promised links to online resources explored this morning have been posted on my Delicious, a Social Bookmarking tool, which enables me to save my bookmarks online. I have included a brief descriptor for each however please contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks again to Suzie Vesper who joined us on skype. You can access Suzie's blog here, I would recommend that you add this blog to your reading list. Suzie also highlighted the website ICT PD Online the learning community area that provides support for schools involved in the ICT PD Cluster programme. Instructions for joing ICT PD online can be downloaded from the cluster wiki here.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the teachers from each of the cluster schools who stepped up and shared their knowledge at the taster sessions today, it was appreciated. If you have links and resources to support your sessions links can be included from the cluster wiki. If you need support with this contact me or your Principal.

iThink

2008-11-28T07:05:00.000+13:00

I am loving this series of digital resources available through digiStore on TKI. Schools will need to register to access here.

iThink is a series of animated short features that include the unscripted voices of some engaging groups of children discussing their ideas on a range of topics from rubbish to relationships. The style is similar to that of the documation creations by The Simmonds Brothers and the UKTV series Creature Comforts.
I can see these being used with students in a variety of ways:

To model and promote dialogue between groups of students
Explore concepts in a real life context students will find engaging and can relate too
Demonstrate the use of animation to communicate thinking and new understandings
Students may develop their own iThink style animations to reflect on their learning.

Central North Shore Cluster Celebrates

2008-11-25T19:08:00.000+13:00

Auckland turned on a spectacular day for our cluster celebration last Friday. Many thanks to Milford School for hosting us...the view of Lake Pupuke from the hall says it all.

It was wonderful to celebrate our eLearning journey together and look back over the past 3 years. Each of the schools presented a celebration of their learning and the impact of viewing these reinforced not only how far everyone had come but also how much we had grown in confidence...and what a lot of fun we are having learning together!

I have embedded all the presentations in the wiki here...(where else...lol!) I have cut some of the original sound tracks and replaced with FreePlay music because of copyright but feel confident that the images and video continue to convey these messages about our journey...

Change ...Everybody Learning Together...Shift Does Happen...
Student Voice...Thinking Differently

Finally what's a celebration without some dancing!

Congratulations Stephen and Helen!

2008-11-04T04:03:00.000+13:00

We have acknowledged both our cluster and ICT PD network links as primary sources for staying current with both educational research and elearning trends as the cluster plans for 2009 and beyond. This also includes identifying opportunities for teachers to both continue their learning and to support sustainability of the learning community the cluster has developed over the past 3 years of the contract.

We are therefore very pleased to congratulate two of our teachers, Stephen Gordon and Helen Rennie-Younger who have successfully applied for teaching scholarships for 2009.

Stephen has been awarded 1 of 40 paid Primary Teacher's Sabbatical leave positions for 2009. The purpoase of his work will be to continue to build teacher capacity and understanding of eLearning and effective pedagogy and further inquiry into the development of the school's LMS to support professional development, eLearning and the NZC2007.

Helen will be one of the 10 e-fellows for 2009. Helen's research will be to inquire into strategies that may increase the level of motivation and engagement of a diverse group of young learners who are experiencing difficulties in producing written text.

We are very happy for both Helen and Stephen and recognise the value their work will bring to the continued learning opportunities for the cluster as we approach the end of the contract.

"It's on the wiki" is in the Gazette!

2008-10-28T15:38:00.000+13:00

Our Central North Shore Cluster wiki features in the latest volume of the Education Gazette this month. Nice work everyone ;-)
Catch a preview online here...

Cluster Reflections from uLearn08

2008-10-20T12:52:00.000+13:00

We have set up a page on the wiki where cluster teachers who attended uLearn08 will post their reflections over the next 2 weeks. View it here.

It is also useful to see how teachers are applying some of their new learning with students. Helen attended an inspiring breakout from Sara Taylor which she recommends for all junior classroom teachers and has also tried out with her class. View Helen's reflection here.

What teachers are saying:

"Spending time with colleagues from my own school, the cluster and a range of learning environments in New Zealand is a wonderful opportunity to hear and see the great things that people are trialing and using in their schools" (Karen)

“A highlight for me would be the planning, preparation and presentation of our breakout with a member of my syndicate team. The planning and preparation process gave me an opportunity to reflect and highlighted how far we have come with our ICT PD...It was not just the tools that we were using that has changed but also how our pedagogy has shifted when planning... It was also personally very special to present at Christ's College (a lovely venue) in the same room where I attended an inspiring session in 2006. I would have never have guessed at that time that I would be presenting at the next Christchurch ULearn conference" (Stephen)

“The whole conference really got me thinking about how can I use my skills and knowledge and enthusiasm and passion to really enable my students to change the world!” ( Jo )

tags technorati : ulearn08

ulearn08 Reflections & Connections

2008-10-12T13:19:00.000+13:00

Even before the conference started the impression was there were alot of first time presenters at a national conference contributing this year (including our own Felicity from Northcote Primary and Karen from Sunnybrae Normal, ably supported by Stephen and Helen - see their presentations here).

Through the conference back channels, twitter and during the actual conference it was wonderful to see and hear so many teachers sharing and supporting each other, receiving feedback on their conference preparation and tips and encouragement from those who had presented before. Having access to these online is invaluable and there is some impressive work and resources being shared, well done to you all. (see my delicious)

The technology is being utilised in ways that I find attending a face-2-face conference is quite a different learning experience for me than it was 4-5 years ago. For example can you follow this...

I am attending the Unconference in Breakout 7

Participating in a F2F with Dave, Ian and Neil

I am also keeping up with the next table's discussion in the Unconference on twitter ettiquette through the conference website backchannel

@heymilly is in another breakout and leaves a comment in twitter ( see below)

@mumbleboy and Luke in Auckland see the link in my twitter response to @heymilly and join the conference backchannel along with others from around the conference.

Will Richardson commented in the opening keynote that before we can teach differently we have to be able to learn differently. As I left the Unconference that day I wondered how learning would be for me if I were a student at school today?

Thanks to Christina for highlighting at the Unconference - Te Awamutu - you have a message.

tags technorati : ulearn08

Haere rā Lynne

2008-09-20T07:11:00.000+12:00

We said goodbye to Lynne yesterday at Team Solutions. Lynne has been co-facilitating the cluster with me this year and has become a valued friend and colleague. She is off to Qatar on Tuesday to work as an elearning facilitator and we will miss her but I know she will be blogging about her adventures.

When friends leave you give them a gift and that was just what I was doing when Lynne turned the tables and presented me with something to remember her by. I think this will bring a smile to the faces of most of you who know me...Arohanui Lynne ;-)

Will and Sheryl at uLearn 08

2008-08-18T15:16:00.000+12:00

The uLearn 08 conference is fast approaching and there will be an enthusiastic contingent from our cluster plus some of my curriculum colleagues from Team Solutions attending. Two of the conference keynote speakers are Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach.
Both Will and Sheryl's blogs are well worth adding to your aggregator. They share many interesting insights into their experiences and reflections of both their learning and the teachers and students they connect with.

It is so easy now to make a connection with speakers prior to these events through their blogs and podcasts and is often a useful 'heads-up' before hearing them at the conference. You might even leave a comment or ask a question on their blog for consideration and discussion at the conference.

If you are not using an aggregator to manage your online learning I recommend you invest the time. Read more about how to set one up here.

tags technorati : ulearn08

Te Manu Aute: Web 2.0 Tools for teaching and learning (GATE - Arts)

2008-08-17T08:39:00.000+12:00

This just in from Mark Dashper at Te Manu Aute...

You are invited to watch this Mediasite presentation over lunch on Monday: Web 2.0 Tools for your teaching and learning programme

"Te Manu Aute helps introduce some Web 2.0 - 21st Century teaching pedagogy as part of its GATE in the Arts programme. This first webcast looks at an overview, then each week we will have fun looking at one or two of the Web 2.0 tools and whether it could be applicable for your needs."

Date: Monday, 18 August 2008 (live webcast to internet and then available on-demand)
Time: 12:45 p.m - 1.15 pm
Duration: 30 minutes approx

Link: Click here
Requirements: Broadband connection, speakers or headphones
Help: Your computer may require a once only download of the new Microsoft free-ware 'Silverlight' (alerting you ahead of time in case you need systems admin rights). You will be prompted, so might be worth clicking the link above prior to viewing, just to check.
Login: The webcast should allow you unrestricted access if viewing live, or you can use your name logins you have been sent previously. Try it out to see anytime from now until the live start. Email if you need a login before 11.30am Monday.
Questions: Simply click the 'Ask' tag on the video screen to have questions answered in the presentation (live viewing only). Alternatively you may 'Ask' when viewed later (on-demand) for an email reply.

About:
In alliance with the UoA and Team Solutions, Te Manu Aute present Talent Development Initiatives for Northland school students, gifted and talented in the Arts. Find out more online here (Te Manu Aute)

Cluster Share August 2008

2008-08-15T06:54:00.000+12:00

There is no need for me to write a post for our last Cluster Share at Takapuna. Will says it all...click play to listen to his podcast.

Read more about how Will created his story and access resources from the Cluster Share on our wiki here...

"There are no natives here"...

2008-07-29T20:27:00.000+12:00

...so says Michael Wesch as he reflects on his use of technology to support learning. His experiences also highlight a key message in the New Zealand Curriculum...to explore new and different ways of teaching and learning. The reference to Prensky's (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants also challenge some of the assumptions that we might have around our use of technology and student learning.
As a cluster we are constantly exploring the changing role of the teacher and also our understanding of elearning as a pedagogical practice. Concurrently, while we recognise some students may have grown up with the technology and are confident adopters, this may not always automatically transfer to purposeful use that can impact positively on their learning? To engage with the technology simply to entertain without appreciating how it can be harnessed to make a difference to learning and consequently actions that are 'significant' involve development of new understandings about the technology for both teachers and students..."there are no natives here".
Michael Wesch explores these ideas and provides some useful frameworks, understandings and examples of a 21st Century teacher...well worth investing the time to listen and consider.

Thanks to Jo McLeay for highlighting.
More videos by Wesch and his students...Vision of Students Today, The Maching is Us/ing Us etc...

Fire Engines and Praying Mantis

2008-06-28T05:43:00.000+12:00

I dropped in on Room 3 at Northcote Primary last week. They have been learning about their community and the different jobs everyone has "because no one person can be an expert at everything." (wise words from Room 3). You can read all about this class of New Entrants and their learning adventures on their blog.
I particularly enjoyed their drawings of the Fire Engines and they have kindly shared some with me.

The slideshare, with drawings that have been completed this term, reflects the changing confidence and attention to detail that the students have developed over time. Some of the students have been at school less than a term so their teacher, Mrs Rennie-Younger, is very proud of them. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us Room 3.

| View | Upload your own

"It's on the wiki!"

2008-06-17T12:26:00.000+12:00

I seem to be 'saying' and 'seeing' this more and more lately (Rachel says it warrents a tshirt ...lol). But fair dues to the wiki...it has been an amazing environment to support learning, for me over the past 2 years as a facilitator, and I know if I was in a classroom full time it would be number 1 on my hit parade. The ability to organise and share is not only a great way to connect and support learning programmes but gives both freedom, speed and creativity to my work flow.

Some featured wikis in our cluster include -Miss Gamby's wiki and Room12
Felicity (yr 1-2)and Jo (yr 5-6) at Northcote Primary are using their class wikis to enable students to access online resources to support current classroom learning and share this with home. Sometimes it can be challenging for the younger students to navigate and these wikis are a useful way for teachers to organise resources and improve access for students.

Charlotte and Nicola from Sunnybrae have used del.icio.us in a similar way to group learning objects for their senior students to access which has worked successfully. Rachel from Nelson Central has also simplified this for her 6 year olds by linking from individual graphics on their wiki to del.icio.us tags. Let me know if you have any other wiki solutions.

Cluster Share May 2008

2008-05-29T19:23:00.000+12:00

Again teachers shared and reflected on a variety of elearning strategies they have been exploring over the last term. Thank you to everyone for your contributions and support.

All teacher presentations and links can be accessed from the cluster wiki.

As I moved between the sessions I noted how often teachers reported on the engagement of students in their learning as a result of their participation and opportunities to collaborate with others, including a wider audience beyond their school.

One example of this is Living Heritage (available free to all NZ schools), an opportunity for students to "become investigators and storytellers, collaborating with each other to research, write, and publish for an online audience". Students from Northcote Intermediate have developed and published an online resource from their explorations of Tawharanui National Park, its endangered species and the impact of humans . Alison shared the process her class went through to publish their inquiry and some wonderful examples of how elearning can be integrated for a specific, authentic purpose.

Also see Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand for similar opportunities for student's to share their stories ( bottom left of the Te Ara home page)

Slideshare Tip

2008-05-11T14:34:00.000+12:00

Many of you have started using slideshare to embed presentations in your class wiki and blog and have been disappointed by the recent addition of a link to other random presentations and advertising. Many thanks to Dorothy Burt for sharing her solution to this problem on twitter.
Give it a go and if you have any questions let either Lynne or myself know.

SlideShare - removing link to random slideshares when you have embedded in your wiki or blog.

Rest of the code remains exactly the same.
An example from Dorothy here

Dear Room 3...

2008-05-06T16:03:00.000+12:00

Thank you for emailing me your pictures and writing. Your butterflies and moths are wonderful with lots of detail, I could even see the little hairs on the moths antennae! I loved them so much I have printed them out and stuck them up around my desk at work...makes it look very cheerful on a dull rainy day. I have posted a picture below.
I know from reading your stories too, that you have been busy exploring and finding answers to all your questions. I am looking forward to reading more on your blog.

Have a wonderful Term 2

Transforming Learning with Tony Ryan

2008-04-22T13:54:00.001+12:00

Our day with Tony was about transformation through action. To first recognise and acknowledge that as teachers we matter and already do so much, so well. We are also learners and were challenged by Tony to explore strategies that not only strengthen our professional practice but also our heart and spirit...what actions inspire us every day? On reflection a couple of key messages included focussing our energies on "The Strength to Teach".

Tony Ryan (2008)

Also the importance of promoting thinking...the "capacity to think and create, and to enact solutions, will become the core survival skill in the next decade". An attitude shift here too in terms of how we respond to a problem. "Everyone is on a line from problem to solution" Tony reminds us. What makes the difference are our actions.
Links and resources which have been generously shared by Tony can be accessed from the wiki
Please share your reflections/highlights/thoughts by commenting below.

Also it was wonderful to have the opportunity to farewell Margaret, Principal at Takapuna Primary and acknowledge her contribution to the cluster over the past 2 years. We wish Margaret all the best and thank her for all her support.

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Cluster Share April 2008

2008-04-07T15:34:00.000+12:00

Thanks to everyone in our cluster for participating in the first cluster share for 2008, specially to those of you who facilitated the breakouts. While this was a first time experience for some teachers both your presentations and your willingness to reflect on your learning and share new understandings with the cluster were much appreciated. Lynne has posted resources and links on the wiki however if you have further questions please feel free to email the relevant teachers.
Instructions for joining the wiki are online too... plus there are lots of wiki experts out in your schools that can help. Remember there are two stages to joining.
First - join wiki spaces and create your user name and password.
Second - login using your username and password then request to become a member of our Central North Shore wiki. This will allow you to edit pages. Please email me if you have any questions or catch up with Lynne when she is in your school next.
Thanks to Sunnybrae Normal for hosting us. Our next cluster share will be on Tuesday May 27th, hosted by Northcote Primary School. If you missed a breakout and would like an opportunity to see it repeated please visit the quick online survey here.

Please let us know if you are interested in contributing either individually or as part of a teaching team.

NZ Interface

2008-03-31T08:12:00.000+13:00

It was very exciting to see Sunnybrae Normal School's hand message project referenced in the latest edition of NZ- Interface. Well done Stephen and Room 12!
You can access the article written by Sarah Jones from the MoE's eLearning team online.

NZ-Interface is a quarterly magazine that includes reviews, comment and links to online resources specifically relevant to NZ schools but also includes international trends and issues that are topical.

Teachers in NZ schools can register for a free copy of NZ-Interface online here.

Also if you look on page 11 you can see Lynne Thomas (and her new Mac) caught on location at the Bloggers Cafe at Learning@School.

Software for Learning

2008-03-02T16:12:00.000+13:00

Stephen (Sunnybrae Normal) and I sat down with other teachers and advisers last week to explore Software for Learning on TKI. While there are a wealth of great sources for software support and information on the web, Software for Learning enables teachers who are purchasing software to source comparative pricing and support within New Zealand.If you are considering buying software or working on your school’s software budget it is recommended that you check the pricing as listed on the Software for Learning site before you buy. I want to stress this as I am still receiving reports of schools who are purchasing from retail and paying more than they might if they accessed pricing through the Software for Learning site. Also check out the Snapshots of learning where screen shots from software (both freeware and non-freeware) are used to illustrate how the software has been used in learning sessions in New Zealand schools.

If you have any feedback, contributions or suggestions for improving the site please contact Sarah Jones from the elearning unit at the Ministry of Education.

Also recommended:
Directory of Learning Tools compiled by Jane Hart

Educational Software compiled by Suzie Vesper

Learning@School 2008

2008-02-23T20:05:00.000+13:00

Participating in the Learning@SchoolConference, as always, is an inspiring start to the year for the ICT PD Cluster network. Our cluster had a busy start on Wednesday presenting in the first 3 breakouts. Jennie, Margaret and I shared our programme of professional learning and some of the strategies and recommendations for promoting teacher learning. Helen Rennie-Younger from Northcote Primary presented to a captivated audience of Year 0/1 teachers and Leanne and Stephen from Sunnybrae Normal explored how they have developed a vision for the use of ICTs to connect with their wider school community. Annie from Northcote Intyermediate also presented on Thursday, strategies for personalising learning through the development of their school LMS over the last 2 years. A great effort,well done everyone

As we enter our third year of the programme the increased focus on opportunities to process new understandings and challenge our existing perspectives and beliefs are essential. As a learning community these have included teachers presenting in their schools, at our cluster shares and at a national level. The planning and preparation involved also provide valuable opportunities for reflection and exploration of the impact of our teaching on student learning. I would encourage teachers to consider presenting. While it may be a little daunting at first, with the support of your Principals, lead teachers and facilitators it is a worthwhile strategy for promoting teacher learning and a great way to connect with other teachers attending the conference. We have set up a page on our cluster wiki with links, resources and copies of the individual presentations available for download.
I also attended a presentation of ‘Marvin’ the 3D animation programme that is now available for schools. I have posted on ICTinEnglish as I have been reflecting on its potential to support literacy learning across the curriculum.

Suzie asked me what was my conference highlight…it still has to be catching up with everyone again…and of course the spectacular efforts of all the presenters…you are stars!

More photos on Flickr

tags technorati : learningatschool

Cluster Update 2008

2008-02-03T17:45:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I am looking forward to catching up with you all over the next couple of weeks. Firstly I would like to welcome Lynne Thomas to the Central North Shore Cluster. Lynne has joined Team Solutions this year and will be co-facilitating with me as I take on my new role in the organisation. We are privileged to have Lynne working with us as she comes with a lot of experience, including Project Director/Facilitator of the Remuera Cluster from 2004-2006.

Over the next couple of weeks Lynne and I will be seeing you either at Teacher Only Days and also as we work with those teachers who are presenting at the Learning@School Conference in Week 3. We will also be working with Principals and Lead Teachers to finalise the ICT PD calendar for 2008. Key dates including Cluster Shares and conferences are available on the wiki now.

To follow are a couple of resources that have come to my attention in the last week that you may find useful.

I subscribed to this free support service for primary education late last year which includes regular email updates and archived resources and suggestions for ICT integration including the picture library. This library is a collection of useful images and albums linked to specific classroom activities which will be supplied with the albums in the near future. Also there is a weekly newsletter 'Sharing Good Practice'. "The latest issue includes articles supporting the new picture library including a collection of ideas for making effective use of photographs and other images in teaching and learning. It will be followed up over the next two weeks by bumper collections of lesson2go all based on the Picture Library."

World Maths Day

2008-02-03T17:30:00.000+13:00

World Maths Day - March 5 2008
Students from around the world are invited to join with others to take part in the free online World Maths Day Challenge to break last years record of 38 904 275 questions. This year the goal is to answer 50 million mental arithmetic questions in one day. The event has been designed for 5-18 year olds.

Find out more and register here

Contribute "Your Stories"

2007-12-10T21:32:00.000+13:00

The Auckland Region of Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand was launched last Thursday at the Auckland Museum by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the author, historian Margaret McClure.
I have highlighted Te Ara previously, however this is truly a valuable resource for teachers as well as students.
Along with the latest regional entry there are now opportunities for you and your students to contribute to Te Ara through "Your Stories" and Te Ara on Flickr.

Learning is not a 'spectator sport'

If you have a personal account or story related to any of the subjects in Te Ara, it can be submitted to consider for inclusion. Also readers are invited to post their favourite regional images to Flickr: Te Ara
Including the new Te Ara blog, these additions provide opportunities for students to participate and add to the story of New Zealand through the encyclopedia and growing community contributions.

Because Te Ara has been specifically designed as a web based encyclopedia it benefits from the digital experience with the inclusion of quality images and multimedia resources that can be accessed quickly by teachers to support and add value to learning.

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage

As well as Te Ara the Ministry have a number of well resourced sites that all schools should be accessing from the ANZAC Guide to NZHistory. A list of the sites and links can be accessed online here and are well worth exploring and including in your LMS.

Sunnybrae Normal School Room 12 Hand Messages

2007-12-02T20:53:00.000+13:00

Challenged by the original "Hand Messages" video, to show their message to the world, Room 12 at Sunnybrae Normal School created their own hand messages video and have shared it on their classroom blog. Click here to visit their blog, watch and comment...

Learning, Teaching, Leading:Best Evidence Synthesis for School-wide Improvement.

2007-11-25T14:20:00.000+13:00

We were privileged to attend a preview of the BES for School-wide Improvement last Friday at the Faculty of Education. Thanks to the work of authors Professor Viviane Robinson, Dr Margie Hohepa & Claire Lloyd, Professor Helen Timperley, Aaron Wilson and Heather Barrar, Dr Graeme Aitken and Dr Claire Sinnema.

As introduced by Viviane Robinson, simply put the challenge is... "How to teach diverse students in the same class?" The variance in achievement scores for New Zealand as reported OECD (2001) Knowledge and skills for life reflects the challenge for New Zealand education in terms of providing high quality and high equity outcomes for diverse learners.

Some key messages from the BES preview included...
The synthesis is not a collation of evidence but rather it explores a range of evidence and explains why some strategies seem to work better than others. It is also focussed on both cultural and social outcomes and explains the evidence about what works for diverse learners, through a range of outcomes. As knowledge building is iterative so too is the synthesis, which will be redone. The IBES is not directly to do with best practice but rather a resource for best practice. As such it is recommended that it is referenced and contextualized within individual schools. Professional judgment is still needed along with professional inquiry - asking questions about the relationship between teaching and student outcomes. As such the quality should not be judged by competing claims but rather the validity of the claim (Viviane Robinson).

Key findings from Dr Graeme Aitken and Dr Claire Sinnema in Social Sciences explored what we need to know about promoting student learning and highlighted what they had learnt about what it means to be evidence informed as teachers. Attitudes towards evidence should include an inquiry stance, an openness to ideas from all sources rather than being bound by context ( because a strategy might be successful in one context doesn't mean it will be in another). They also identified four 'causal mechanisms' that teachers can use to inform their inquiry into the relationships between teaching and learning;

Making connections to students' lives
Aligning experience to important outcomes
Developing and sustaining a learning community
Designing learning expeiences that interest learners

Also the work by Helen Timperley, Aaron Wilson & Heather Barrar on "What We Need to Know About Promoting Teacher Learning" was very relevant in terms of my work and the outcomes for the ICT PD cluster programme of professional learning for teachers. As well as sharing their "teacher inquiry and knowlege -building cycle to promote valued student outcomes" (will be included in the BES ) they also highlighted the following as effective contexts for promoting teacher learning.

Time and frequency
External expertise
Prevailing discourses are challenged
Not necessarily school based
Participation in community of practice
Active School Leadership

Thanks again to the team for sharing so much of their work with us. Not sure when the exact publication date is however the BES publications can be downloaded from here

Publications Download Link for BES (Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis)

Te Ara Auckland Region Goes Live!

2007-11-14T12:23:00.000+13:00

TeAra.govt.nz is New Zealand’s award-winning online encyclopedia. A work in progress, it is packed with stories, sights and sounds. So far there are almost 350 entries with over 12,000 resources - photos, cartoons, film clips, graphs and interactive devices.

Te Ara will ultimately be a complete encyclopedia of New Zealand. Three themes have been finished - ‘The New Zealanders’, ‘Earth, Sea and Sky’, and ‘The Bush’.

Nine of an eventual 22 regional entries for the highly successful ‘Places’ theme have been completed. The latest focuses on Auckland and explores the history, land forms, people and events that have shaped our largest city.

‘Auckland’ goes live on Thursday 6 December. Teachers are invited to attend the following presentation.

Where: Auditorium, Auckland War Memorial Museum
When: 4.00pm – 4.45pm, Thursday 6 December

The presentation will highlight the many classroom uses for Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Steve Watters, an historian at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, will also guide teachers through NZHistory.net.nz, the online resource that instantly brings New Zealand history to life. Rich and vibrant, NZHistory.net.nz is New Zealand’s foremost site for accessing online information about New Zealand history.

Updated daily via ‘Today in History’ this living resource showcases themes in New Zealand history based on three broad categories:
• Culture and society
• Politics and government
• War and society

Steve will talk you through the many features of NZHistory.net.nz highlighting the ‘Classroom’ and ‘Hands on History’ sections which provide practical resource material, classroom ideas, and activities for teachers and historians alike.

Seats are limited.
Please RSVP:

Catherine Hobbs, Communications, catherine.hobbs@mch.govt.nz, 04-496-6176

uLearn Presenters Materials

2007-11-04T07:56:00.000+13:00

I have had some requests about resources from the uLearn conference last month so have posted links here for you. If you attended and have any other recommendations please email through to me and I will post on the cluster wiki page.

Keynotes and presenters material from uLearn 07 can be downloaded here.
To access these you will need to be logged in and have registered to attend the conference. If you did not attend and want to access these resources contact me or ask someone from your school who was at the conference.

Ewan McIntosh Keynote
A video of Ewan's opening Keynote from the conference, including presentation slides, is available for public viewing here.

Helen Baxter - Link to Helen's Mind Map from her Keynote

Derek Wenmoth challenged us to participate in what he called the "conference backchat"... discussions and responses to the conference themes. Here are some posts in response to the conference that have challenged my thinking.

From Tangled up in Purple -
"Thinking about the spaces we exist in"

From Educating the Dragon - Comment and opinion in response to Ewan's Keynote
Ewan’s message rocks
Ewan’s message rocks- Are you sure about that?

From Ewan McIntosh's Blog - A link to uLearn Posts

...and some fun stuff.
Cup stacking world record (referenced in Ewan's Keynote)

Tripod on Gaming

Cluster Share - Northcote Intermediate

2007-10-26T09:51:00.000+13:00

Thanks to Northcote Intermediate for hosting our final cluster share for 2007 last Tuesday. We have had five Cluster Shares and have found them very effective in supporting the programme of professional learning for teachers throughout the year.

Planning Cluster Shares, hosted at each of the 5 cluster schools year, over the 4 terms has enabled regular face2face contact at a cluster level while additionally supporting individual school activities, the cluster's online community and teacher inquiry.

Opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and also reflect on their own learning have also been a feature of the regular cluster share programme. We are making a few changes for 2008 as we continue to focus on opportunities to learn collaboratively and develop leadership capacity.
Links to:
Cluster Share Resources
Cluster Share Photos

Cluster Spotlight 4

2007-10-17T15:18:00.000+13:00

The programme for our final Cluster Share for 2007 hosted by Northcote Intermediate is now available on the Cluster Wiki. Please check out the times and confirm your attendance with your Lead Teacher by Thursday. Teachers will be sharing more of their Teacher Inquiry feedback and we will explore examples of how individual inquires will be organsied for you to access online at the end of the year.

View the programme here

This week's Cluster Spotlights feature:

Room 3 "...a class of five year olds at Northcote Primary School and their teacher Helen Rennie-Younger." Room3 is using their blog to share their learning with an audience of family and friends both in New Zealand and overseas. Check the archived posts from Term 2 and follow their explorations into the water cycle. Also scroll the side bar of the blog to view some of the exciting learning and school activities from throughout the year.

View the Room3 blog here

Hamish Betts and his Year 2 class at Sunnybrae Normal have posted a video that can be viewed on our PhotoFUN Cluster blog. They have used a website called Teacher Tube to host their video, which can also be a useful resource if you are looking for videos to support your programme.

I have also categorised many of my video links in del.icio.us that you may also find a good start if you are looking for examples to use to clarify, explain or promote discussion in your classroom...and some will just make you smile...here's a classic...

uLearn07 Reflections

2007-10-07T11:43:00.000+13:00

For me the conference was primarily about people. My previous 2 posts reflect this…making connections, professional dialogue and learning from each other (including our students).

Additionally some highlights over the three days included:

Ewans McIntosh’s Keynote: Set the tone for the conference, raising even more questions for me and importantly highlighting the importance of being open-minded.

As educational leaders we must continue to take notice of the impact emerging technologies are having on the way our students live and learn and question how this will inform and change our practice.

“Without that lead in the leading edge, then we risk floundering in a bunch of cool stuff but without a sense of direction and the robustness of our convictions and research to know we're doing the right thing.” (McIntosh, 2007)

Ewan’s Keynote will be available through the uLearn website.

Rosemary Hipkins:
What can the key competencies contribute to assessment for learning?
Rosemary’s presentation challenged us to question how both the key competencies and assessment for learning can “contribute to making traditional models of teaching and learning more effective” and consider the role eLearning strategies may play in this transformation. Rosemary explored what Key Competencies and assessment for learning might have in common and supported this with some very enlightened examples of how ICTs can support assessment (backed up with the research). Some key messages:

Don't rush to assess. There are implications but we don't know enough about the impact yet.
Look for synergies and connections (means rethinking how we involve students in learning) eg: Key Competencies focus on building dispositions for life long learning & Assessment for Learning, where the learner is monitoring their own learning.
Adding values questions to assessment: Why is it important to think about more than one piece of evidence? This is a challenge as many traditional assessments measure knowledge gains and sometimes the ability to apply this, not the appropriate use of knowledge in meaningful tasks.
Assessment is not something we add to the end of learning: Assessment is an inquiry…what does it mean to know? (Delandshere, 2002)

Rosemary’s presentation can be downloaded from the uLearn07 website – recommended.

Apple iWork ‘08 Suite including: Keynote, Pages and Numbers
We were provided with an overview of the suite that now includes Numbers a new spreadsheet application. If you are using MacOS I highly recommend iWork as it integrates with the other packages in iLife. I have been using it for a couple of years now and have found it has sped up my workflow considerably and also through my work with schools have already experienced its potential to add value. There are some great new features including masking and animations and what I saw of Numbers it definitely has potential as a tool for both teachers and students. The MoE will also be funding sessions to support schools updating to iWork ’08.

Sunnybrae Normal - Central North Shore Cluster
More Photos Here

ulearn

Cluster Spotlight 3

2007-10-07T11:35:00.000+13:00

This week's cluster spotlight features examples of how students are connecting with family and friends, sharing their learning online at Milford School.

Gordana Stanojevic's ESOL class is using their blog to connect with many international readers. Gordana often receives requests from parents of students residing overseas and was previously only using email. The blog enables students to participate and make links with an authentic audience. The blog also includes a translator, time zone clock and cluster map identifying where in the world readers are located.
Robyn Keen's Year 5-6 class have also been using podcasts to share their learning with family and community. Students have learned how to prepare and record podcasts as well as construct and respond to an interview with their peers.

F2F is Great!

2007-10-05T09:19:00.000+13:00

Have been enjoying meeting all the people I have been connecting with online and catching up with old friends...F2F is great! More Photos on Flickr.

Right: John and I worked together for 6years in IT, now he's at Toshiba.
Below: The Bloggers Cafe. Click the image to view individual blogs (Thanks Jane)
Also see Rachel's ABC of Bloggers

Finally caught up with Rachel too (Thanks Jamin and Jane)

ulearn

K.U.T.E at uLearn Today!

2007-10-03T21:27:00.000+13:00

A huge thank you to all the students and teachers that made K.U.T.E. such a success today. Our goal was to bring student voice to the uLearn conference and as I wandered around the school presentations today the confidence and pride displayed by students sharing their learning and knowledge with teachers was most evident. Participating schools included Summerland Primary, Pt England, Cornwall Park, Baverstock Oaks, Kristin School and MarinaView. Check out the Summerland website for more pics!

www.flickr.com

Many thanks as well to the ACES committee and the conference organsiers for supporting KUTE at uLearn this year.

uLearn07 PreConfernece Workshop - eXe

2007-10-03T07:14:00.000+13:00

Jocelyn and I were learners yesterday attending a pre-conference workshop exploring eXe, an eLearning XHTML editor. The official description...
" an authoring environment to assist teachers and academics in the design, development and publishing of web-based learning and teaching materials without the need to become proficient in HTML or complicated web-publishing applications."

What I liked about eXe is its a free download, easy to use and intuitive, can be accessed offline and while designed for teachers could also be used by students. I had collected some resources around a theme of perseverance including txt, video, images etc and was able to start planning and creating a learning object that I could use to support my teaching as well as have the students access independently. The finished LO can be shared CD, USB etc in a browser and can also be added to a school network or intranet. I could also see LOs being shared amongst teachers too.
The development team were really helpful and have great online support including live chat through their website. eXe is worth exploring if you are interested in developing your own teaching resources.

ulearn

Cluster Spotlight 2

2007-09-17T14:46:00.000+12:00

In this week's cluster spotlight we look at Sunnybrae Normal School's EnviroSchool Blog.
The blog is a team blog set up by Jenni Keeley's Year 1 class to support their Enviro Schools Journey. They have teamed up with teacher Penny Krone and students from Verran School who are their enviro-mentors.

The blog is being used to record their progress and also as a place for the students to reflect and support each other. The comments feature of the blog is being utilised by students to respond to questions and offer advice and suggestions as they explore and learn through the school's enviro journey. The blog will also assist Sunnynrae as they work towards their Enviroschools Awards - Bronze.

uLearn 07

2007-09-16T14:30:00.000+12:00

We have over 30 teachers from The Central North Shore Cluster attending uLearn 07 in Auckland.
Some of you, who have been reading and contributing to blogs, may be interested in the Bloggers Cafe thanks to an initiative by Jane Nicholls. The concept of the bloggers cafe is to most importantly make some F2F connections with NZ bloggers, learn something new and engage in some real time conversation...there will actually be coffee too!

Also the the spotlight for Breakout 1 is Kids Using Technology in Education (KUTE), an annual event organised by The Auckland Computers in Education Society (ACES). This is a highly interactive breakout where you will have the opportunity to talk directly with students from a number of Auckland schools who will be demonstrating, sharing and answering questions about their learning through a variety of ICT supported experiences.

Breakouts are now available on the uLearn website. Recommend you make your selections as soon as you can this week.

Cluster Spotlight 1

2007-09-14T06:13:00.000+12:00

As part of my weekly Cluster Update email that I send out to you on a Monday morning I will be including a feature spot on a school or classroom in the cluster. I am in the privileged position of spending most days in your schools experiencing, first hand, your learning adventures. While we are able to share these at cluster events and our Cluster Wiki there is so much new learning to celebrate I thought this would be a good place to bring these gems to your attention. I also encourage you to email these teachers if you have any questions.

Learning Support Class Takapuna Primary
You may have attended Jane's session at the Cluster Share last week.
Jane has been developing her classroom blog since attending the Learning@School Conference in February and has some excellent recommendations which she has posted on our cluster wiki, worth viewing if you thinking about using a blog with your class.

Jane's Classroom Blog

Also... want to whip up a quick movie for your blog?...try Animoto. Upload photos, select some music and Animoto does the rest.

Cluster Share - Takapuna Teacher Inquiry

2007-09-06T14:25:00.000+12:00

As a cluster, we thank the teachers from Takapuna Primary today, who shared their learning with us in a variety of contexts. I am sure you will agree that the attention to detail in both the preparation and organisation was much appreciated by the teachers who attended.

I saw many examples of teachers demonstrating an increased understanding of how eLearning strategies are identified and used to support the learning purpose. Also the valuable tips and advice for managing ICT in the classroom, as a result of your teacher inquiry, will be beneficial especially when teachers are exploring new opportunities for ICT integration.

As promised the resource pages can be accessed from the Cluster Share wiki page as well as the short presentation that Margaret shared with us at the beginning, a copy of the original "Did You Know?" video on Shift Happens.

This video has been the source of much debate since it was posted by Karl Fisch. I would also recommend you read this post by Tom Hoffman Did You Know? I WANT TO BELIEVE, which also includes comment from Karl. There is also an updated version of the video based on more recent data that can also be viewed online here.
The intention of Karl Fisch was..."never meant to be "scholarly" or "authoritative." It was meant to highlight some of the changes that were/are happening, and give my staff an idea of the trends that I saw and what that might mean for our students. I still think the presentation does a decent job of that. (Also, keep in mind that the original presentation starts with 8 slides about my school, which I think changes the tone from the version that starts with the China and India stuff)." (Fisch, 2007)
I believe that it is important for us, as New Zealand teachers, to consider and discuss how these trends relate to New Zealand and their relevance, or not, to our students and their learning.

If you have any questions please email the Takapuna teachers or contact me.

Student Voice at uLearn07

2007-08-26T14:25:00.000+12:00

Kids Using Technology in Education (KUTE) is an annual event organised by The Auckland Computers in Education Society (ACES). On a Saturday morning every October, students congregate in a central Auckland school hall to share their learning through ICT with their school community. This year KUTE will be held onsite at Sky City during uLearn07. This is a highly interactive breakout where conference attendees will have the opportunity to talk directly with students from a number of Auckland schools who will be demonstrating, sharing and answering questions about their learning through a variety of ICT supported experiences. These include Game Making, Animation, Photo Editing, Blogs, ComicLife, Podcasting, TV Broadcasting, Inquiry Learning and also how students are effectively utilising an LMS to support their learning. Participating schools include Summerland Primary, Marina View Primary, Kristin School, Pt England School, Cornwall Park Primary and Baverstock Oaks School. Read more about KUTE and other ACES events on their website.

As one of the committee members for ACES I am very excited about bringing KUTE to ULearn07 as the conference theme is “Personalising Learning in A Digital World”. Because student voice puts the student at the centre as active participants in their learning it is considered to be at the heart of personalising learning, so it seemed a good idea to include a breakout with student voice. We will be set up for Breakout 1 and conference attendees will be free to visit each of the schools where students will be demonstrating their learning through a variety of eLearning models. Children will be expecting lots of interesting questions and are very excited about this opportunity to share their learning with you and contribute to such a large education conference.
ulearn

Learning through socially networked media...Part 2

2007-08-20T07:18:00.000+12:00

After reading the LearnOnline blog for a while it was good to meet the author Leigh Blackall and his partner Sunshine last week when Leigh spoke to a group of educators in Auckland. Leigh has been researching and developing models for learning through socially networked media... from free and open source software, de-schooling, and networked learning and explored and challenged these concepts in the context of New Zealand education and the widening use of the Internet, social web and 3D virtual worlds in schools.

Just that morning I had read a thought provoking post by Sheryl on progressive education that included a clip from the 1940s where I seemed to be hearing the same questions and conversations we are having today (recommended reading). A clear message from Leigh was the importance of us as educators taking control of our networks,rather than letting others make these decisions for us and blocking sites verses facilitating and modelling socially responsible strategies for using web based environments... this took me back to Stuart Hale's keynote at the Kapiti-Otaki Cluster conference last month when he said "the server is there to serve us".

I have also become aware lately that some of us didn't realise Wikipedia is " written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world" and consequently is viewed by some as 'not a reliable resource for use with students'. An idea from Leigh which I think might be worth pursuing as an authentic learning context, is to use wikipedia to connect with experts. For example... if students were to author an entry in wikipedia with the teacher facilitating a connection with a local expert or associated organisation that can then work collaboratively with students to develop the validity of the entry...in the words of Konrad Glogowski...

"I do not want to create a community or a social network for my students. Instead, I want to create the conditions necessary for the right kind of environment to emerge. Building an environment for the students is likely to result in failure: environments and communities need to be build with the students, with their full participation, through their work and their interactions with and about texts."

If you are interested in accessing more of Leigh's recommended blogs and resources he has kindly set up a delicious tag here

Sometimes a video speaks louder...

2007-08-13T15:30:00.000+12:00

Working with some facilitators the other day and was asked where I source video clips I sometimes use for presentations and workshops. If I find them online I usually download and save the source in Delicious.

The wonderful Wes Fryer must have EBP (Extra Blog Perception) as he has generously posted and categorised a list of videos he uses on his wiki Moving at the Speed of Creativity...great stuff, I particularly liked "The Internet has Crashed"...thanks Wes.

Also my Delicious video links are online here. I have categorised these under themes eg: tutorials, comments, stories etc.

Another great place to start sourcing online video is from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) which brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). These videos from TED are great discussion starters and have also been collated on YouTube as the TEDtalks Director's picks.

Student Voice

2007-08-11T02:50:00.000+12:00

Thanks to Will Richardson (via an email from Artichoke) for this one...

...Voice Thread - Basically a Web 2.0 tool that allows you to capture numerous voice responses to a single digital image and then post to your blog or website. What I like is that as an author I can post this and invite other (registered users) to also respond to the image and to what has been recorded by adding their own voice. Also it can enable many voices to be heard in response to the same photo...almost like hearing the individual thoughts of a group, aloud, as they simultaneously respond to an image.

Apart from its potential as a collaborative online tool that anyone can access Will considers that Voice Thread could take us past..."creating and publishing" and "enable the conversations and connections that occur around the content, where the most potential for learning lies."

...and in an email from Artichoke..."It is like being able to scribble in the margins of an image...Voice Thread takes everything that I reckon is shallow in podcasting and liberates it...And why do I think podcasting is shallow use of technology? If we continue to focus on the changes in technology rather than the changes in teaching and learning we simply use technology to “recreate education as it is.” What is so profoundly innovative about recording voice and sharing it?"

....fair question...and one that we should easily be able to defend...if not to others at least ourselves and our students whenever we utilise technology to support learning. I know there are some innovative examples of the impact podcasting has had on student learning and I believe if you delve deeper you will find it has not been driven by the technology but rather in response to the learning purpose and through facilitating experiences that both challenge and support students to think, reflect and make new connections both virtually and F2F.

Meme: 8 Random Facts

2007-08-08T21:59:00.000+12:00

I can't escape...tagged by Rachel and Jocelyn

First, the Rules:
* Post these rules before you give your facts
* List 8 random facts about yourself
* At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
* Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

1. I am the eldest of 4 girls.
2. I am a first generation New Zealander on my father's side and a 21st generation on my mothers.
3. I spent 8 weeks working on the kill floor of a deer abattoir one holidays good money when you're a student...but never again!
4. 'Return of the Jedi' is my favourite Star Wars movie, LOTR is my favourite all time movie.
5. I did not change my surname when I got married.
6. I am reading Thomas Friedman's, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, interesting, but I enjoyed HP better.
7. I am far to attached too my Mac.
8. My favourite drink is a martini made with Bombay Sapphire

I tag:
Ivan
Rocky
Leigh
Nix
Andrew
David
Barbara
Gerard

Second Life

2007-08-05T18:23:00.000+12:00

With the rain thundering down and HP & the Deathly Hallows read, I thought it was as good a time as any to spend exploring Second Life.
I didn’t want to spend too much time wandering around and I'm not one for reading manuals so did a quick search on keywords ‘education’ and ‘kiwi’ to see if I could locate some like minded people.

First up I met the organiser of a group of kiwi educators (NMIT Garden of Learning on EDUisland) who invited me to their weekly get together. This was time well spent with Arwena Starburst the group’s organiser and some other Kiwi educators exploring what is possible in Second Life. Amongst other things I did learn how to create an object. Challenging, with the whole 3D thing going on, but with the patience and help of Arwena and Isa I succeeded. Here we all are sitting on the finished product (that’s me in the middle…Irihipeti Kayo)

My biggest challenge was landing in a dignified fashion after flying. Some wonderful people in the ISTEisland(International Society for Technology in Education ) to the rescue there too. I had discovered that to right click on the mouse I needed to use the Apple Key not the Ctrl as usual, and after chatting with Clare and KJ I can now land without falling flat on my face!...thanks for the wings too Clare.

Also spent some time with some other ISTE people starting to explore ‘voice’ which I am told is only new and active in a few places in Second Life…very much like participating in a Skype conference call …setting some protocols up always helps and a headset and microphone will be essential.

So all up I found the whole experience fun however I would recommend seeking out groups such as ISTE island and EduIsland ll, will save time as they are all very helpful and have many organised events especially geared towards education and eLearning.
As result of this first Second Life adventure I can imagine some interesting and exciting possibilities for education. If you are in Second Life, and see me say hello…I am Irihipeti Kayo.

Cluster Share - Milford Teacher Inquiry

2007-08-02T06:38:00.000+12:00

"Often in our classrooms we get so busy planning for and managing the lessons we do with our students that we don’t allow ourselves time to reflect...Taking the time to reflect critically on the things we are doing in our classrooms is perhaps the most effective thing we can do to ensure that what we are doing is having the desired outcomes, and is changing our practice in the ways we want it to" (Wenmoth, 2007).

Our third Cluster Share this year was hosted by Milford School. Teachers shared, through a selection of classroom-based breakouts, the eLearning inquiries they have been exploring this year. These included a variety of ways they have been utilising ICTs to support student learning along with challenges and recommendations. This was a new format for our Cluster Shares and provided opportunities for all teachers to participate through questioning and contributions as we hoped the sessions would develop as a professional conversation rather than a 'sit and git'.

An important step in our teacher inquiry process is to reflect and teachers have found their participation has also provided them with opportunities and time to think critically about about what is happening in their classroom.

A big thank you to the Milford teachers who have also posted their resources on the cluster wiki including their contact details for cluster teachers who need to follow up from the breakouts they attended.
Click here for the wiki page.

Learning through socially networked media.

2007-07-25T17:02:00.001+12:00

I have been following some interesting discussions around rethinking school and education (Artichoke, Sheryl on the Techlearning Blog, Christopher D. Sessums). Also the recent response to the Software Licensing for schools, whether you agree or not, I believe is more about rethinking school than an issue of access to software.

Another NZ blogger who has been tackling some of these issues is Leigh Blackall. Leigh will be speaking in Auckland on Wednesday 15 August at the Epsom Campus. Leigh has been researching and developing models for learning through socially networked media. Ranging in topics from free and open source software, de-schooling, and networked learning he will be exploring and challenging these concepts in the context of New Zealand education and the widening use of the Internet, social web and 3D virtual worlds in schools.

This will be an excellent opportunity for educators to begin exploring the possibilities for learning in ways that are different and potentially more relevant and responsive to today's educational environments and perhaps those in the future.

This event is organised by The Auckland Computers in Education Society (ACES) and is free to members (Register as an individual - $25 or as a school/organisation - $75). To find out more details and to register visit the ACES website.

Putting an end to 'scooping' and 'smushing'.

2007-07-22T11:53:00.000+12:00

Our cluster was engaged and challenged on Saturday with the support of Jamie McKenzie. We tackled the issue of topical research vs authentic research, supported by powerful learning. Jamie presented us with some thoughtful and practical strategies we can utilise as teachers including some valuable examples of how to manage the impact of ICT and the burgeoning amount of information available especially through the web. To contextualise this we started by reading Jamie’s article “Putting an End to Topical Research”.

Strategies that we have been exploring this year as a cluster were confirmed, in particular, identifying and accessing quality online resources to support learning for students vs random Google searches. I know I have posted on this topic before but access to these resources starts with us as teachers. How we select and manage access to them, for our students, is crucial and knowing where to find them the first step. eResources for NZ Schools.

We were also challenged to better understand how we could support students to move past understanding and knowing to what Jamie describes as ‘synthesis’…the ability to link knowledge and ideas to create new understandings. If you missed any of the online resources we accessed with Jamie yesterday, I have posted links on the cluster wiki.

On a more geeky note…I had recently been recommended a new online tool, Google Notebook by Suzie at the Otaki-Kapiti Cluster Conference. As we explored the use of electronic text and search engines on Saturday I was able to put Google Notebook to some use. When downloaded it can be accessed from your browser. As you are reading and highlighting, key ideas and information can simple be added to your Google Notebook where they are saved along with the source. Notes are saved automatically and can be accessed at any time in a separate tab or window…who said I needed MS Word on my Mac ;-)
Click screen shots below for a closer look.

Finally a salute to Jennie and the staff at Sunnybrae Normal for hosting us on the day. No mean feat to set up for 80 teachers on the web and wireless too. Special thanks to Stephen and Cathy for all their hard work ensuring all technical bases were covered.

“…students need to be able to read between the lines, infer meaning, draw conclusions from disparate clues and avoid the traps of presumptive intelligence, bias and predisposition.”(Jamie McKenzie, 2004)

WikiMindMap

2007-07-15T16:57:00.000+12:00

Thanks to Nixit for posting this online tool...has possibilities.

"WikiMindMap is a tool to browse easily and efficiently in Wiki content, inspired by the mindmap technique. Wiki pages in large public wiki's, such as wikipedia, have become rich and complex documents. Thus, it is not always straight forward to find the information you are really looking for. This tool aims to support users to get a good structured and easy understandable overview of the topic you are looking for."

Will quickly suggest and display related topics and keywords for discussion/questioning or as a starting point for further research/exploration.

More visual search engines here

...screen shot results of a search on New Zealand.

Girls, Games and Graphics - Free Event

2007-07-10T17:39:00.000+12:00

The New Zealand Game Developers Association is running a free two day event in Auckland from Friday 13-Saturday 14th July to help inform and encourage young women about careers in interactive media in a non threatening environment.

The last event run a couple of years ago was very successful, drawing in 150 attendees. This year there is a great speaker lineup which includes a number of strong male and female role models. Although the event is skewed slightly towards females, it is completely open for males and all age groups to attend (the last event had a 50/50 mix).

The event is free of charge and registration is essential. To view the programme and register your interest see the online registration and programme.

Otaki-Kapiti ICTPD Cluster Conference

2007-07-08T10:26:00.000+12:00

Travelled to the Kapiti Coast, along with other facilitators from around NZ, to participate in the first conference of the OK ICT PD Cluster. Having worked only in Auckland clusters I enjoyed the opportunity to share and learn with another group of teachers on a similar odyssey. Thanks to Jan Coleman, cluster facilitator from Victoria, for hosting us all.

To those who attended my workshops resources and links are posted here.
Online Resources Comic Life

Also some gems I came away with include:
Magix Music Maker Free Download for windows...thanks Dave
Jodix Free WMA to MP3 Converter...thanks Ivan
bubbl.us Free online brainstorming tool...thanks Jenny
Google Notebook browse, clip, and organize information from across the web in a single online location that's accessible from any computer...thanks Suzie

And enjoyed talking with Matt Holloway and Glen Southwood from Hutt International Boy's School who have formed a company De-Pens, distributing personalised USB flash drives which include everything from wristbands and MP3 players to laser pointers, at very reasonable prices. Download the flyer for their products or email for orders.

Finally I have to include a plug for Wellington Airport...free, fast broadband...say no more!

Comic Life Beta v2.0 Windows

2007-07-07T12:46:00.000+12:00

Download here

The top 100 web applications

2007-07-02T11:47:00.000+12:00

If you have not explored the world of Web 2.0 or maybe just need a bit of clarification and translation (zoomr, fotki, chacha..?) have a look at an overview of some of the best and what they do, as voted by Webware.com users.

Meanwhile somewhere else in cyberspace...
the webs most hated words.
"BLOG", "netiquette", "cookie" and "wiki" have been voted among the most irritating words spawned by the Internet, according to the results of a poll published in June (news.com.au)

Bad Guitar Players and Bigger Amplifiers

2007-06-17T15:25:00.000+12:00

During our last cluster share at Sunnybrae Normal, Stephen demonstrated his use of the Visual Portrait of Story (VPS). I wanted to expand a little on the source of the VPS and its relevance.

I attended a digital storytelling workshop with Jason Ohler in 2005 and something he said about technology has stuck with me ever since. "Technology can be like giving a bad guitar player a bigger amplifier" (Source: Then What?). Just because we can 'flash up' a presentation with animated graphics and sound, this does not automatically improve the learning, quality of the content or message we are attempting to communicate. Jason also discusses this concept in his article, Art becomes the Fourth R (recommended reading), stressing the importance of the teacher's role. Jason writes...

"... although multimedia can act as an assistive technology, it cannot take the place of vision, talent, or skill, whether developed or inherited. We will always need to tell a story with our art and to tell it with honesty, depth, and detail if it is to survive as more than a transient, disconnected thought. For this reason, teachers will become more important as technology increases in power. More than ever, students will need teachers for their wisdom and knowledge to help navigate a purposeful path through the glitz and distraction".

So within the context of digital story telling, Jason introduced us to the VPS. In short, this was added in to the traditional story planning process, after coming up with the idea but before storyboarding or outlining the script. Since then I have used the VPS with students for digital story telling presented through a variety of software from iMovie and PhotoStory to ComicLife and animation. Key to the VPS is that it supports the necessity of a good story to include the main character experiencing some kind of transformation. If you look at the VPS and match a well know story to it you will see what I mean. After using a similar strategy with students, I give them a hard copy to draw on and 'plan the pitch' for their story, the VPS has become a crucial step in pre-production, however its impact can be evident throughout the production process.

Below is an example of a well know story applied to the VPS.

If you are interested in reading more I have posted a copy of the VPS and links on the wiki. I would like to thank Jason Ohler for providing me with one of my 'Aha'! moments.
Also as I was locating the links to Jason's articles for this post I noticed he is a Keynote speaker for TUANZ 2008 ...see you there.

TUANZ

No need to wade through Google searches!

2007-06-06T16:54:00.000+12:00

Access to quality digital resources for NZ schools are available without having to spend valuable time wading through Google.

I have had a few requests lately for support accessing digiSTORE, which includes the Learning Objects, that can also be accessed through NZMaths. If you have not discovered digiSTORE I would recommend you invest some time to register your school and start to explore the valuable resources that are available to support learning.

There are over 1200 Learning Objects and Resources Assets available to NZ schools through digiSTORE which can be utilised in a variety of motivating and exciting ways to add value to student learning.

For further support and information on registering click through to my eResources page. This page also has information about how to access other quality digital resources.

Below is a brief slideshow that introduces digiSTORE and explains the difference between Learning Objects and Resources Assets.

NetSafety

2007-06-05T17:24:00.000+12:00

With the increase in the use of online tools and environments for sharing and exploring new learning with students online, safety is a priority. We discussed this briefly at our last cluster share at Sunnybrae Normal and I have emailed support information available to NZ schools trough to Principals and Lead Teachers.

Also the Time4Online Conference includes a presentation Keeping Safe Online, with valuable information from NetSafe and the Internet Safety Group.

NetSafe Links on my del.icio.us

time4online

Student Voice

2007-06-01T17:00:00.000+12:00

One of the workshops currently available on the Time4 Online Conference features student's talking about their learning and use of a variety of technologies. The confidence with which these students talk is pronounced and I believe the inclusion of student voice in the conference is important.

I am posting this specifically as Rachel Boyd and her class of 6/7 year olds feature here. I have enjoyed reading Rachel's blog and have recommended her students' blog to teachers in our cluster who are beginning to explore the potential of these web 2.0 tools to add value to student learning.

Go directly to Rachel's presentation online here.

time4online

Time4 Online Conference

2007-05-29T02:45:00.000+12:00

The Time4 Online conference starts today on Centre 4. This link will take you directly to the Conference Programme. From here you can access all the Keynotes and workshops.

The conference starts with a Keynote from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, "Keeping Up with the Net Generation". You have the option of listening to the keynote in conjunction with a slideshow or viewing the slideshow only, which has been posted online. The conference organisers also recommend that if your connection is slow, mute the sound while the keynote loads, then replay from the beginning.

As with all material posted online Keynotes and workshop presentations will be available anytime after their scheduled release date so you are able to listen and revisit at a time that suits you.
Also if you register for the conference using your Centre4 Username and Password you will receive conference updates directly to you email.

time4online