"Dream big and be brave..."

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

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

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

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.

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'*

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

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..."

"Inquire with a travelling mindset"...an analogy used by Claire Sinnema while exploring teaching as inquiry with 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"

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"

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"

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.