...on the subject of online conferences...

2nd Annual K-12 Online Conference–”Playing With Boundaries”

Announcing the second annual “K12 Online” conference for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a preconference keynote during the week of October 8. This year’s conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.”

Call for proposals is here.

K12online07

Online Conference for Clusters

ICT PD Online is hosting an online conference on Centre 4 from 28th May - 8th June. This is an opportunity to explore examples of collaborative online learning and Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning....like blogging. Also you will be able to access audio and video links and support material, and participate in collaborative areas. The conference will begin with a keynote presentation from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, one of the keynote speakers from the 2007 TUANZ conference.

This is the first time we have had access to an online conference as part of the ICT PD cluster network and I am looking forward to exploring how this might work for us as a cluster. Participation is also easy as you can join the space by logging in with your Centre 4 user name and password.

To support CNS Cluster teachers I am aiming to post recommendations and links to key conference activities over the next couple of weeks. To start with I would suggest you visit the Pre-Conference Preview This page provides an overview of Web 2.0 Technologies impact on education including articles and examples of teacher use. This background material supports the conference themes and preparation for the keynotes and further collaborative activities.

Look forward to seeing you there.

time4online

Numeracy Symposium

Posting this, as promised, for the teachers who attended my breakouts at the Numeracy Symposium today. Well done to my colleagues in the Numeracy Team at TEAM Solutions for organising this event featuring Peter Hughes, Principal Lecturer in Mathematics Education in the Faculty of Education. As an eLearning facilitator the benefits of working with a curriculum team provide valuable opportunities to support effective teaching.
My breakouts introduced teachers to digiSTORE and the Learning Objects. I have posted all support material including links and my presentation notes. I have also included links to key eResources available to NZ schools. I would recommend that teachers consider investing time in familiarising themselves with these resources as they provide an effective strategy for accessing relevant, quality resources to add value to your learning programmes... in comparison to spending your valuable time wading through a google search. Please email if you need any support with digiSTORE.

Numeracy Symposium support material here.

Cluster Share - PhotoFUN

Following up from the successful Northcote Primary Cluster Share in March, Sunnybrae Normal School hosted our second share, PhotoFUN. Again this was an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate how they are integrating eLearning to add value in a variety of curriculum areas. Thanks to the Sunnybrae staff who provided us with some effective and creative use of digital photography throughout the school. The programme also included a valuable session lead by Cathy O'Hanlon, DP at Sunnybrae on the art of taking quality photos. Cathy acknowledged what she had learnt from Stuart Hale while attending iSchool last year and has shared some excellent tips and work she has done with digital photography since.

As the facilitator I am in the privileged position of spending most days in our cluster schools experiencing first hand some of the wonderful learning.
Consequently we have set up a collaborative project for the cluster at PhotoFUN - Why learning is fun at our school. we hope this project will also provide more opportunities for all teachers to experience the learning in our cluster schools.

To find out more about the PhotoFUN project and links to resources demonstrated at the cluster share, including Cathy's presentation, visit the Central North Shore wiki

Lots more photos to see on the wiki too...including some taken by teachers during the Photo Challenge...good effort team!

ComicLife for Windows

For all of you have been suffering a little Mac-envy out there, the wonderful people at Plasq have announced "Comic Life for Windows beta has started!"

Mac users have been loving ComicLife for a couple of years now and I have been asked many times if there is a version for Windows. Plasq are inviting testers, especially teachers and students to download the beta and give them some feedback.

My del.icio.us links for comics

Online Encyclopedias

While Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, is still my favourite, I have been exploring the Encyclopedia Britannica Junior (available through EPIC) with teachers in the cluster. Both are excellent resources for both teachers and students.
*Include these in your classroom or intranet links
*Identify key resources that can add value to your lessons and learning activities
*Plus opportunities to model through the data projector and familiarise students with the online environment and how it can be accessed effectively to support their learning.

Search results will collate all articles as well as multimedia items (video, images, diagrams) and other recommended web sites. Te Ara especially has some spectacular multimedia resources and while there is a search option the categories are very easy to navigate through.



I have highlighted some key features including access details for Encyclopedia Britannica Junior here . If you are registered for DigiStore the same User name and password will access the EPIC databases.

CNS Cluster - you are all registered. If you have misplaced your login details check with your lead teacher or email me.

Click here for support registering for either DigiStore or EPIC

Have you been paying attention?

Had been nosing around on the T4 - Jordon School District website (some great ideas examples of how technology can add value to learning) plus a video by Darren Draper that is well worth viewing.

It was great to read today on Rachel Boyd's blog that Darren has joined the public blogisphere with his blog Drape's Takes.

Have you been paying attention?

Quality Teaching Using Digital Resources

Thanks to Jacky Hay from Learning Media for a very useful matrix linking how students learn and what teachers do with effective integration of digital resources by teachers. This provides an understanding of how digital resources can support what learners need to do in order to develop and extend their literacy learning. I would recommend this as a useful reference if you are exploring strategies for using digital resources to engage students and promote literacy learning.
Download a copy of this matrix from our wiki.


Learning Media also produce a range of electronic storybooks to schools containing texts with photographs, illustrations, audio and activities that are designed to appeal to a range of students. The aims of these CD-ROM is to motivate and support underachieving readers and includes a comprehensive set of notes for teachers. These CD-ROMs are sent out to all schools. Please contact me if you need any help to source or use these resources.

National Library of New Zealand

Spent some time last week with Lisa Allcott, from The National Library, who gave us a tour of their revamped web site. There are many very relevant and worthwhile resources to be accessed, especially in the Digital Collection. A couple that I found fascinating were Discover and Matapihi. Collections include digital photos, sound and object archives that would add value to learning experiences in a variety of contexts. Plus some have options to view objects in a full 360° rotation.
There are also links to books by NZ authors that are able to be read online through the International Children’s Digital Library. See links to these collections plus an overview of some key online resources available to NZ schools on our cluster wiki.

tags technorati : New Zealand

Participate to Learn

Continuing my theme of connecting, have just spent the last week in Wellington with 13 fellow facilitators who work regionally in schools delivering the school support services outputs for the MoE. While we only see each other f2f 2-3 times a year we have been using a wiki and skype this year to support each other's work and learning, connecting regularly once a fortnight for a conference call. This collaboration has been a combination of Jocelyn Mackay’s (UC) INSTEP and the ease of communicating through web tools.



It is an exciting time to be learning and I encourage participation. While I participate in formal professional learning the opportunities to also participate through reading and responding to others through their blogs is adding a whole new dimension to my learning and realisation of the potential of these tools to personalise my learning. I want to thank David Kinane from Meadowbank Primary who pointed me in the direction of Wesley Fryer’s blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Wesley argues for the importance of good teaching that utilises technology to add value to student learning… “teachers need to be PEDAGOGICAL EXPERTS much more than they need to be content experts today”

We know that technology alone does not improve learning and has the potential to be “...like giving a bad guitar player a bigger amplifier” however I have been over the “it’s just a tool” view of technology for a while now. It does nothing to recognise the value of technology in the hands of an expert teacher.

tags technorati : education