"Are they learning or playing?" *

Shout out to everyone who participated and contributed to #educamprotovegas and #educampwelly today. 

Travelled from Auckland this morning with +Justine Driver  and +Karen Ferguson - bonus car korero extending the learning (and we did not travel the furthest!) 

Inspiring stories from passionate educators at Rotorua Girls' High (+Steve Katene ) punctuated by connected conversations and tempting tweets flooding a trending stream via #educampwelly.    

Great to connect with +Shona Poppe who also fixed the date for #educampBOP on the wiki calendar! 

Huge thanks to our hosts +Annemarie Hyde +Marnel van der Spuy +Alex Le Long + the awesome +Philippa Nicoll Antipas and the #WellyED team... ka mau te wehi!

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

Bits and bots #educamprotovegas are they learning or playing? @DianaWilkes @digitallearnin pic.twitter.com/Y5v4twQMTr

— Caroline Bush (@CaroBush) February 27, 2016

* +Caroline Bush  EducampNZ wiki

"I've Been Globalised"

@Mr_Lincheck edcampGlobal Badge

As a long time EducampNZ fan I was keen to participate and contribute to edcampGlobal this year. A 24 hour learning experience edcampGlobal took the traditional edcamp unconference experience to another level of ubiquitous learning and networking.
The programme over 24 hours included a host of sessions to select from via Google Hangouts on Air, Twitter chats and Periscope.

I posted an invite to our educampNZ community and was joined by awesome kiwi educators and educampNZ organisers +Philippa Nicoll Antipas +Juliet Revell +Barbara Reid +Annemarie Hyde +Anne Kenneally

Below are Google Slides we used to guide our conversation and share strategies and resources for organising an unconference event, plus a recording of the Hangout on Air.  Can't thank the team enough for stepping up at 11am NZT on a Sunday!

I also took a couple of minutes to share some of my thinking about the value of social networking and user generated professional learning. Starting at 5:52 in the Hangout, notes are below.  

If we were to use pop culture and the celebratory tweet to measure the value of social media for professional learning I suspect the majority of my online professional learning communities would be gathering dust by now. However social networks that enable educators to connect, collaborate and engage in conversations that matter to their learning are recognised by many educators as critical to improving professional practice.

The belief that great learning is social is a concept that continues to resonate for me (via Dr Claire Sinnema... "Because context matters... inquiry is important")

This is in reference to Teaching as in Inquiry in the NZC… "a framework that teachers can use to help them learn from their practice and in response to the needs of their learners."

The teacher uses evidence from research and from their own past practice and that of colleagues to plan teaching and learning opportunities aimed at achieving prioritised outcomes. 

While Teaching as in Inquiry is informed by research the value of a teacher's past practice and that of colleagues 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. 

The framework provides us with a common understanding and language for inquiry into our practice, the context is what brings life to the inquiry and to the learning." Dr Claire Sinnema

I believe this is where the true value of connecting and building a professional learning network via social networking, informal and participant driven professional learning can add value. Individuals are able to connect with a far wider community of educational professionals, in their context, while using the lens of their Teaching as Inquiry focus to inform decision making for learning and changing practice.

In our own backyard!

@NZWaikato Taranaki #choccyfish 

educampAKL was hosted at Tamaki College this year. It's a bonus when events are close to home however when participants choose to travel from distances to contribute and learn it definitely adds value to user generated unconference events.

If you didn't make it on the day there is a treasure trove of Tweets, Smackdown and blogposts shared on the wiki ... and worth exploring.

Thanks again to the team at Tamaki College who went all out with the venue, awesome wireless (most participants turn up with at leat two devices) and the Geek Cafe who kept us fuelled on the day. +Carol Heka +Soana Pamaka +Russel Dunn +Eric Grundy

If you missed #educampAKL, August is primed to be a huge month. With five events across Aotearoa, if you can't make it on the day... #ThisIsAugust

#edcampglobal #ecg2015 RT: This is August #EducampPALMY #EducampBOP #EducampTheTron #EducampInvers #EducampNelson http://t.co/Smu8WGBX1J

— Fiona Grant (@FionaGrant) August 2, 2015

Tips for First Timers - prior to #educampAKL

First time at #educampAKL or encouraging colleagues to take the plunge? Everything you'll need to prep for unconference is on the #educampAKL wiki. Plus here are a few tips to explore before the event.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose - Dr. Seuss

Prior to #educampAKL

Connect

Register your interest and view who else might be attending. 
Registering is not a prerequisite however it is an opportunity to connect with other participants and their interests. 
#educampAKL uses the Open Space Meeting format, no real agenda is set and it is up to participants to determine the focus for sessions on the day.
Consider what conversations you could initiate and contribute to?
Follow #educampAKL on Twitter

Join the educampNZ wiki and Google+ Community

Go with the flow – This event is intended to help you and all the other participants find the time and space to talk with and learn from each other*

Participate

Ideas and examples for participating at educampAKL.

Smackdown - contribute strategies, questions and themes you are keen to explore on the day. Smackdown alerts everyone to the learning opportunities in the room and enables you to connect with like-minds and ideas quickly and follow what you are passionate about learning.

Take responsibility for your own learning – if there are topics you are really interested in that don’t appear on the agenda at first, you need to put them there*

Explore 

• #educampNZ participants blog their learning, experiences and tips. 
• 
  
• @ReidTeachNZ "EducampAKl was a complete revelation for  me..." (+Reid Walker)

• @1MvdS "I have always wanted to attend an Educamp in Auckland, but it just never happened.  This year however, I took the plunge, registered and was brave enough to add slides to the Smackdown..." 
• (+Marnel van der Spuy )

Follow your passion – Go to the sessions that interest you*

 *Kaliya Hamlin unconference.net 

Counting down to #EduCampAKL tomorrow

The following post originally appeared on #edChatNZ Blog

What motivates kiwi educators to spend 4-5 hours together, sometimes more when they travel, and on a Saturday?

Maybe the opportunity to share with like minded learners, mixed in with a bit of geeky stuff and a whole lot of networking and fun…essentials of an EduCampNZ event!

EduCamp in Auckland originated in 2008 as an unconference. Educators already connecting and sharing through blogs and Twitter, decided some kanohi ki te kanohi would definitely add value to their existing learning and sharing online.

The unconference model was a no-brainer as it seemed to reflect the serendipitous-ness of social networking. In comparison to traditional conferences, unconference is participant driven (whoever comes is the right people), sessions are scheduled on the day and the event itself is free.

In hindsight the strength of the online networking was also pivotal to initially spreading the word and continues to be a force in and around all EduCampNZ events.

While most EduCampNZ events include a focus on digital learning the programme is developed on the day by whoever is there. Sessions range from demos and hands on to lively conversations as well as an active backchannel sharing on Twitter and collaborative docs. Many events will also include participants contributing from a distance … you don’t have to be there, to be there.

As attendance is free, EduCampAKL events have been hosted through the generosity of local schools providing breakout spaces and wifi. All participants are encouraged to bring a digital device and be prepared to go with the flow! (unconference.net)

This year EducampAKL will be on Saturday 26th  July, thanks to the team at Western Heights School in Henderson and  principal +Ash Maindonald . Everyone is welcome and encouraged to connect now through the wiki and online.

In the past year over a dozen events have been organised locally and supported nationally around New Zealand. No two events are the same as they are inspired and realised through a desire of participants to share and learn in an open environment. 

If you are keen to attend or organise an event check out the EduCampNZ wiki and participation ideas. All content is available under Creative Commons

Plus some tips here for organising an unconference (via +Fiona Grant &  +Anne Kenneally) 

+Caroline Bush

Go West!

EduCamp Auckland is heading west again in 2014. This year's unconference event will be on Saturday 26th  July at  Western Heights School, Henderson thanks to principal +Ash Maindonald and his team for hosting.

Follow #EduCampAKL on Twitter and check the wiki for updates and tips for how you can participate and contribute. Collaborative docs will be live early Term 2 to register your interest.

EduCampAKL is a free, unconference event where participants are encouraged to "go with the flow, follow their passion and take responsibility for their own learning"(unconference.net). 

Explore ideas for participating and learn more about EduCampNZ events from past participants (video and blogposts) on the EduCampNZ wiki.

A bit about Smackdowns... 

I wanted to share a bit about the purpose of the Smackdown at an unconference as it is not simply a share-fest. At its heart the Smackdown is an opportunity for participants to introduce themselves while alerting everyone to what contributions, questions and learnings they are interested in pursuing.

At EduCampAKL events, the Smackdown is strategically placed at the beginning of the day to alert participants to the learning opportunities in the room, connect with like-minds and ideas quickly and follow what they are passionate about learning.

Contributions to Smackdown can be anything from a useful tip or tool to participants sharing 'big questions' that are currently challenging practice.

Contributions to Smackdown are short (less than two minutes) and delivered quickly to avoid extended conversations around topics that do not meet the needs of all participants. Links to further information are recorded on the Smackdown doc for participants to follow up. 

During the Smackdown participants are encouraged to be alert to the people and themes that they are interested in exploring further and in greater depth during the unconference and beyond e.g. ThinkSlam, Birds of a Feather...see the wiki for  more.

Check the wiki for events in your area. If you are keen to organise your own event the wiki is open and you are invited to use and repurpose any of the content and ideas that have been shared.

http://educampnz.wikispaces.com

uLearn13 unconference

"Harnessing your ecosystems" was the theme for unconference at uLearn13 this year. Teaming up with +anne ken to host, we were excited to be able to share an un-conference experience within a conference. Open space meeting format applied and we aimed to provide participants with opportunities to experience some of the learning and fun that are highlights of the EduCampNZ events.

We have shared these in the presentation below. The slides include hyperlinks to more ideas, strategies and tips. Thanks to all participants who contributed, especially to the Smackdown another awesome example of the power of developing a professional learning network (PLN).

No two events are the same however you are invited to use, adapt and share your learning on the EduCampNZ wiki. 



Click the GoogleDrive logo to open the presentations.

EduCampAKL 2013

EduCampAKL 2013, a set on Flickr.

Images from EduCampAKL yesterday. Thanks to an awesome PLN for sharing lots of learning. Check out the wiki for more good things.

Via Flickr:
EduCampAKL 2013, Auckland, Saturday 3rd August, 9am - 2pm
Centennial Building, Diocesan School for Girls, Clyde Street Epsom

acesnet.wikispaces.com/EduCampAKL+2013

Where will you be on August 3rd?

...I'll be at EduCamp Auckland!

The 2013 event will be our sixth Auckland unconference, now one of over 10 unconference events to be held around New Zealand this year! 

If you are looking to build your professional learning networks, meet innovative, like minded learners and share in some inspiring conversations, this is the place for you.

Check out the EduCampAKL wiki for all event details including ideas and recommendations for participating. 

Follow on Twitter  #EduCampAKL

EduCampNZ Google+ Community

There are only two types of people in this world...

A few years ago a guest speaker at work tried to persuade us that there were four types of people in the world …powerful, peaceful, precise and party.  No surprises what type I was ;-). A decade ago I guess I did approach decision making with some precision… I had a plan! Not sure whether it is as simple today. Change is fast and there are a lot more unknowns. So maybe there is another type of person…a person with 'pull'.

The power of pull is a concept that resonates with me and has helped me make some sense of navigating this rapidly changing world. From the book The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion ( Hagel, Seely Brown and Davison, 2010) pull is described as:

"… the ability to draw out people and resources as needed to address opportunities and challenges. Pull gives us un-precedented access to what we need, when we need it, even if you are not quite sure what "it" is. Pull allows us to harness and unleash the forces of attraction, influence and serendipity."

How are you "harnessing your ecosystems?" How are you scaling up your connectivity and attracting the people and resources you need to find your potential?

One place you might want to start is EduCampNZ. Harnessing the power of connections and conversations, EduCampNZ is an e-learning un-conference where you can harness the power of pull… but that's up to you.

Visit the EduCampNZ wiki to find out how you can participate and harness the power of pull.

By the way, to paraphrase Robert Benchley, there are only two types of people in this world, those who think there are two types and those who know better.

"Fantastic turnout for #EduCampAKL" via @lenva

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

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

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

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

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)

Crowd-sourcing...

...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!

Learning, Links and Laughs @ EduCampNZ

"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.

"Whoever comes is the right people"

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.