
Keynote speaker Miguel Guhlin made the comment today that attending these types of conferences was often not so much about the workshops and geekware as the connections and conversations (see Pearl and I conversing on Miguels' blog) For me this characterised the day. OK, I admit, I learnt a couple of new geeky things (thanks Miguel and Nicki) but the conversations and sharing of ideas with a group of people who seem to me to be increasingly passionate has left an impression. A slide from Miguel's keynote challenges us to "harness the new collaboration or perish" ...my experiences reinforce that these opportunities to collaborate are even more valuable now that I know they can also be continued virtually through these Web2.0 technologies.

I was challenged in my thinking more than once today...I don't have answers or alot of this clearly thought through in my mind yet...but I know that's OK! Brendon and Katya from Milford School were both there too and I am looking forward to hearing their response. So if you're reading this now and I connected with with you today...thank you.


Following TUANZ I raced back up to Epsom campus where the eLearning Team hosted an info evening for schools who are considering applying for 2008-10 ICTPD funding. Again more great conversations and some re-connecting.
Liz Waterfall from Glendowie College and Paul Manson from St Josephs, Takapuna shared with the group the impact of this programme on their teachers. I encouraged Liz to start blogging after listening to her story of the ClearLinks cluster, some wonderful analogies, valuable advice and encouragement. Finally Paul's passion and belief in learning seemed to sum up the collective spirit of everyone I connected with today when he described the differentiated approach to learning at St Joseph's...
"When we learn about autumn we don't just want to learn about it in science...we want to read autumn, listen to autumn, dance autumn and paint autumn!"