The Volcanics Journey

Inter-connectivity - not just a problem in NZ

2010-01-27T18:24:00.002+13:00

The MLE group have spent many hours and dollars on ensuring that SMS's and LMS's can talk to each other and allow content to be easily transferred between the various LMS's. On top of this has been added the desire for student and parent access to LMS and SMS data from home which has spawned the development of the parent portal. This is all new territory for NZ schools, teachers, students and parents, and many of us feel quite overwhelmed by the pressure to embark on a complete overhaul of our school systems to accommodate and implement these new technologies. Well, we are not alone. Have a read of this blog post by Christopher Dawson as he battles to implement inter-connectivity and parent portals in his school district

Predictions about 2010

2010-01-11T20:10:00.005+13:00

Just catching up on some blogs and felt that this posting by David Warlick on predictions about 2010 was particularly compelling. While we never really know what is around the corner, it's always exciting to think about the possibilities. Also interesting is Derek Wenmoth's posting on the recent Becta report and the impact of digital technologies on learning. What Derek draws to our attention to is that the advent of ICT is not just a new communication tool but is part of the 21st century cultural revolution. We as teachers need to recognise this fact and understand that the integration of ICT into our teaching lives, for both educational and administrative purposes, is no longer an option and no longer dependent upon buy-in - either buy-in or get out, it's that simple.

Welcome to two new schools

2010-01-11T14:20:00.002+13:00

As this blog is about the Volcanics eLearning Community, it seems a good idea to welcome two new members to our community in 2010. They are Melville High School (principal: Clive Hamill) and Rangitahi College (principal: Dawn Mitai-Pehi). I look forward to working with the two new schools and hope they benefit from, and enjoy being part of our community.

2010 - What to expect

2010-01-11T13:24:00.003+13:00

Well, 2009 was an incredibly quiet year from a blogging perspective, but a very active year in terms of eLearning. The focus has definitely moved from technology to learning and how to design courses which work well in on line environments - easier said than done. What has not changed is the need to have good technology, and access to it, to ensure that good learning happens through ICT. Therefore the rural broadband investment initiative is an exciting opportunity for schools, which, supported by stage 3 of the schools network upgrade (snup), should see access to ICT and the internet improving. What still needs to happen is for schools to see ICT as a strategic asset and not just a cost centre or hole for money. This is not only because of how it can impact on all aspects of education, but also because of the large investment in the asset and the need to sustain the asset. ICT needs to be considered in the same light as property, and funding accordingly set aside. This means schools integrating ICT into all elements of the strategic plan, which will allow them to set targets against which they can report and measure progress.

With regard to Volcanics, what will we be focussing on in 2010?

Continual drive to fully integrate ICT into schools' strategic plans, which flows through to an annual action plan and on to individual teaching plans and goals.
How ICT can be used to support differentiated teaching and inquiry learning, which will hopefully personlise learning for individual students. Teachers will need support to draw up unit plans and identify useful eLearning tools. They will also need practical ideas and examples on how to implement new approaches and how to measure their effectiveness.
Learning design - developing on-line learning which will meet the needs and expectations of 21st century students. This is especially important for our eTeachers. We will be looking at planning, methodology, practice and tools. This links up with 2 above.
The development of a true community of practice for eTeachers.
Educating and informing students and parents about eLearning and the opportunities that exist for students through the Volcanics eLearning Community and the Virtual Learning Network. This means having information on school websites and regular articles in newsletters.
Continual focus on the development of a learning community within Volcanics which brings together teachers along lines of interest and along curriculum lines. Areas of interest will include inquiry learning, differentiated teaching, behaviour management and classroom management, literacy across the curriculum, learning design and on-line learning environments, cyber-citizenship and formative assessment.
Keeping on top of of the RBI roll-out to ensure that Volcanics schools are represented and given the best opportunity to take up fibre as soon as possible.
Continual membership and development of the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) so that it has a strong national voice which will represent the interests of the Volcanics Community.

So, roll-on 2010 - Heaps to do, but an exciting time for learning

Now That's what I'm talking about

2009-05-14T17:36:00.006+12:00

I have recently linked to "Langwitches - The Magic of Learning Through Technology". Great site. The most recent post It's about reflecting and analysing our teaching practice, really hits the nail on the head when it comes to integrating ICT into our teaching practice. The fact that we use technology is not the issue. The fact that we are able to create engaging and rich learning opportunities which lead to meaningful learning using technology is the issue. Regardless of the tool, or the method, without reflection and analysis of our practice we may as well be using sticks and stones as teaching tools as opposed to ICT. A very clear idea of the learning outcomes is so important as this will impact on unit/lesson construction. The post shows the use of technology in 3 different ways but one way is clearly more engaging, personal and rich compared to the other two. The (now) old phrase "poor teaching + technology = expensive poor teaching" will always hold true. The New Zealand curriculum includes teaching as inquiry as a key component of effective pedagogy. It also includes eLearning as a key component of effective pedagogy. Teaching as inquiry is independent of the tool, while eLearning without reflective practice is a dead duck.

The Volcanics Community, as an eLearning community, I think, is only just realising this fact. It therefore begs the question why we should not just call ourselves a Learning Community, as teaching is not about technology, but about teaching and Learning.

A Learning Theory for 21st Century Students

2009-04-03T09:43:00.004+13:00

The latest Innovate magazine has an article on a learning theory for the 21st century. Interesting reading and very relevant to my own journey of wanting to know what will work in an online environment to ensure quality teaching and learning happens. The difficult part is bridging the gap between theory and practice (praxis), and this is what I, and a group of colleagues, are wanting to do. Hopefully the outcome will be a set of guidelines which teachers can use to help them provide quality on-line learning experiences for their students.

ePedagogy or simply a 21st century pedagogy

2009-04-01T22:17:00.009+13:00

Well, haven't blogged for ages, but things have been so hectic - no excuse I suppose.
ePedagogy or simply 21st century pedagogy. Well it's a no brainer as far as I am concerned - it's 21st century pedagogy, because it's not about the technology, it's about learning. We coined the idea of an "e" in front of anything to do with computing and learning, as if it was something separate to "normal" learning. For us digital immigrants, I suppose it was, but for digital natives, using technology to learn is normal. Not using technology, or using technology in a way that is "so yesterday", is what students see as not normal. Don't get me wrong, students do not expect to have technology as part of every learning experience, but they do expect it to form part of how they go about learning. My question is how do teachers use technology to construct learning experiences that are engaging, challenging, collaborative, flexible and anytime, anywhere? How do teachers link formal and informal learning experiences to provide truly context driven learning? How do we connect with and co-construct our learning while at the same time meeting the rigours of national assessment? How do we educate our parents that learning is not about getting credits, but that getting credits is a result of learning?

So many questions.

So now what do we Do

2008-12-16T21:00:00.004+13:00

Just read the most recent blog post by David Warlick regarding the use of web2.0 tools and other emerging learning tools, all of which are technology based. He talks about a "significant knowing-doing gap", i.e. the gap between knowing about the tool, and actually using it in education. His post goes on to list the main contributors to this "knowing-doing gap". These include time, money, age of hardware, ignorance of technology, etc. The same old same old. This of course made me think about the challenges we face here in "God's Own". The reality is, these are issues for education institutions all over the world, not just NZ. The challenge is, if NZ schools want to be a leading light in education, world wide, then we seriously need to consider what we are doing about these challenges. Too many teachers are using the excuses I read in David's blog. How many of these are valid, and how many are just a cop out. What are we doing to address and remove the barriers for teachers and what are we doing to address the issue of teachers who refuse to change, and use ignorance as an excuse. Name another profession where ignorance is an excuse?

Finding the solutions will not be easy, but the reality is, WE HAVE TO FIND A SOLUTION, for the sake of our children and education in New Zealand.

eTeacher Training

2008-12-04T20:08:00.005+13:00

We have recently had our eTeacher training , which was held from 3 December to 5 December at Tauhara College in Taupo, NZ. The first day was for eTeachers from the Volcanics cluster where we focussed on developing our online spaces, uploading content, etc. This was a time to spend simply thinking about our teaching, and having time to work on our lesson content. The afternoon session began with a presentation by Trevor Storr (ePrincipal - AorakiNet) on what content or activities in an online environment would really engage our students. Trevor did his presentation via VC from Waimate High School. The presentation was thought provoking and really got us all thinking about what a good online course looks like, and what we needed to do to ensure that our students were engage in the learning.

On the Thursday and Friday, we were lucky to have Chris Allott McPhee from the VLN with us to run the video conferencing training and we were also joined by our colleagues from TaraNet and CoroNet. The CoroNet contingent included one of my fellow ePrincipals, Jan Collier. Sue Winters, an ePrincipal mentor, was among the participants as she will be trying her hand at eTeaching in 2009, team teaching L3 Calculus with Jane Liu from Tokoroa High School.

Well, I have to admit, that this was the best eTeacher training I have been on. The presentor was great, but this was comlplemented by input from the teachers. The enthusiasm and willingness to share experiences and knowledge was brilliant. There was a real focus on student learning, with working out how to use the VC gear secondary. I remember my first VC training. We were all so concerned about the technology and getting this part right, that there was not a lot of time to focus on the teaching and learning aspects. I think we benefitted from the fact that there were experienced eTeachers within the group who could share their experiences. There were also teachers who had never received any formal training on VC, but who had been teaching via VC during the year. This was an opportunity for them to learn and to reflect on how they would do things differently in 2009.

We were also able to VC with eTeachers in the Taranaki and in Hawks Bay. Rachel Roberts (ePrincipal - TaraNet) demonstrated, via VC, the use of Adobe Connect and how it could be used as an alternative tool to VC for synchronous interaction. We also saw how the technology could go wrong as Lynda Walsh-Pascoe's group in the Hawks Bay could see us, but could not hear us. After a bit of help from Asnet, we managed to get the sound sorted and the three way VC continued. Just being able to "hook up" with other eTeachers, doing their training was awsome and strengthened that feeling of community that was developing within our group.

Next year I think the eTeacher training will be in the Taranaki. I am looking forward to that, and meeting up with more like minded teachers.

Web 2.0 is everywhere

2008-12-04T20:02:00.002+13:00

I know up to now I have been pretty quiet on web 2.0. This is not because I did not think it was worth commenting on, but because I am actually still trying to get my head around it. It is vast, it is changing and it is out there - in more ways than one.

Check out this slide on web 2.0, and tell me what you think.

Classroom 2.0 Update 2apr08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 learning2.0)

An eLearning vision

2008-12-01T06:06:00.006+13:00

This is my attempt at linking pedagogy and ICT in an endeavour to provide an eLearning Vision for the Volcanics cluster.

eLearning Vision for the Volcanics Cluster

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ict elearning)

What became clear to me as I put this powerpoint together was the non-sequential nature of learning, and the non-sequential nature of ICT integration and development. I have asked the question whether the ICT comes first, or the PD comes first. Michael Fullan suggests that they need to happen together, which makes sense - learning by doing. However this does not follow the business model of getting bang for buck or a return on ICT investment, where we first analyse the need, then purchase the asset based on the benefits (returns) of purchase. This begs the question - "How do we measure the return on investment in education, and therefore how do we measure the return on our investment in ICT?". The whole reason for the powerpoint is my perceived need for a cohesive approach to ICT integration across the cluster. Imagine my shock and horror, when I opened a random file on my computer this morning to find the Goals set for the old VolcanicsNet in March 2005. There are a huge number of similarities between what I am advocating now, and what was put forward in 2005. So my question is WHAT THE HELL HAVE WE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS?

Collaboratively create a unit of work using Wikis

2008-11-29T11:03:00.004+13:00

During this term, I have been working with Tony Jones, the head of Science at Tokoroa High School, at creating a wiki so that him and the science teachers in his department can co-create a unit of work. Neither Tony nor his colleagues had worked with wikis previously. They had flirted with using a Learning Management System, and Tony has created a whole L2 physics course using eXe, but they have found using a wiki the easiest way to put something on line and actually do it together. You can have a look at their work by going to http://nature-of-science.wikispaces.com/.

Designing Learning Spaces

2008-11-29T10:37:00.002+13:00

One of the things that I am trying to do with the schools that I work with is to include the use of ICT for learning as part of the schools overall learning vision with the idea that it is the learning needs of our students and the teaching needs of our teachers that drives the purchase and implementation of hardware and software. This then leads to focussed PD based on need, which in turn leads to the old idea of reflective teaching where the teacher assesses the impact of their teaching and teaching approach on their students' learning. This is included in the NZC under "Teaching as Inquiry".

While I have advocated this approach, I have paid little attention to the design of learning spaces. Instead, I have continued to follow the old model of computer labs and computers in the back of classrooms. Derek Wenmoth's recent blog post "Designing Learning Spaces", has just turned my world on its head, because it means more change and more learning. It also means that I need to make sure that I am up to speed with all the recent developments around technology, LMS/SMS integration, pedagogy and now property management so that I can provide the best advice to the schools and staff I work with. My list of books and articles to read grows on a daily basis.

Michael Fullan - The Change Maker

2008-11-28T16:01:00.004+13:00

One of my colleagues at Raupehu College, Jane Voon, pointed this article out to me. It is called in the "Change Maker" and is published in the most recent edition of the Education Gazette. This follows up a powerpoint and podcast sent to me by two other colleagues regarding the work of Guy Claxton. My focus for the last two years has been on ICT, and the technology, with the understanding that the technology is really secondary to the pedagogy. However, my knowledge of the pedagogy has been scant at best, and so this year has been a real challenge for me as I climb the steep learning curve of truly understanding the pedagogy behind eLearning. This has widened my exposure to not just educators who have an ICT focus, but educators who truly have the learning and the teaching of young people at the centre of all they do. A very humbling experience to say the least.

Michael Fullan points out the importance of teacher capability and motivation, and the need for strong educational leadership. Not administorial leadership, but educational leadership. This has to come from principals and teachers in our schools. I realise that in my role as an ePrincipal, I am well positioned to provide educational leadership, not just technological leadership, which brings me back to the point of pedagogy, and the long hill still in front of me as I come to grips with the theories and the methods that will really make a difference to a child's learning.

Now that's what I call blogging

2008-11-24T17:22:00.006+13:00

I have often been asked the question "how does technology benefit the learners? Where is the evidence?" Well here it is. This year, four students from Reporoa College did a computing course, through video conferencing with a teacher at Mercury Bay Area School, Max Ross. The first part of the course was dedicated to creating a web page in PHP, with a link to a data base which was created and queried using mysql. The second part of the course was all about building a robot using Lego, and programming it to carry out a set of given tasks. This culminated in all the students congregating at Te Aroha College to engage in the "Robot Wars" to see whose Robot would be able to tip over the other robots and hence claim the "Title".

In order to track their work and to document the project development, the students were asked to set up a blog. Which they duly did. When I read a few of the blogs, what I saw is what we have been talking about as educators. Here I saw responsible and independent learning, collaboration, creativity and problem solving. Check out these two blogs (whose permission I have obtained from the owners to share).

12VC-nxt.blogspot.com
robot-abattoir.blogspot.com

These students would not normally have access to blogs because it comes under personal networking and is filtered by our network filtering system. So we had to unblock the filters for them. Makes you think - responsible use of blogs is so beneficial, but how many students would simply spend their time on bebo (Blog Everywhere Blog Often) and do nothing? Something we need to look at closely.

AND-BOTH

2008-11-24T17:09:00.005+13:00

I know I make reference to the work of Jan Gilbert ("Catching the Knowledge Wave") and Dan Pink ("A Whole New Mind"), and I think so often that teachers look at me and go "who"??? Well not so much with Jan Gilbert, but definitely with Dan Pink. Now here is a NZ blog, about educational leadership that makes reference to Dan Pink and puts his thinking into an education perspective. Thanks to Cheryl Doig and her blog "Think Beyond". for putting the education slant on a book which could be mistaken for a book only for business, but which in reality has so much for education too.

Social Networking - Is it that bad???

2008-11-24T10:50:00.007+13:00

This is something I recently found on Chris Dawson's blog regarding social networking. I think he's spot on regarding education, and it shows where business is headed in the near future. The future is definitely coming very fast. I recently read that Japan is working on building a "space elevator", which they hope to have up and running by 2018. This is something from a science fiction novel, which we now have the technology to build; anyhow, back to education. The challenge is how do we get our students to use their social networking for the purposes of learning. How do we know that our students have something they want to learn about? What about students who don't know what they don't know, and come from backgrounds that do not value learning? It really is a paradigm shift from the way we view teaching and learning now, to what teaching and learning could look like in the future.

.... Read the blog post below, and see what you think!!!!

Chris Dawson -

Go ahead…Hang out on

MySpace. Wait, what?

The MacArthur Foundation just released a study suggesting that, not surprisingly, given the integration of social media into business and modern culture, the time kids spend with so-called new media, is generally neither wasted nor particularly harmful. In fact, as one of the lead researchers points out in the New York Times,

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

During a chat with a student she commented that often young people don’t respond to emails anymore; send them a message through Facebook and they respond immediately. What does this mean for business? It means that Intel is on the right track with its business-oriented social media development efforts.

In terms of the study, the Times again pointed out an important piece of the research that is worth the attention of classroom teachers:

“New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting,” the study said. “Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults.”

The executive summary of the Foundation’s whitepaper sums up the perspective nicely:

Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now ﬁxtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today’s youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression.

Many of these technologies that are “fixtures of youth culture” are permeating business as well. Been on Twitter lately? Sure, there’s plenty of garbage, but there are also important communities sharing ideas, business contacts, and developing their own brands (of course, there’s another one of those new media buzz words, but it certainly fits). How about that election we just had? Barack Obama has almost 135,000 followers on Twitter.

Again, a message from the study to administrators and teachers looking to integrate technology into the classroom:

In the process, young people acquire various forms of technical and media literacy by exploring new interests, tinkering, and “messing around” with new forms of media. They may start with a Google search or “lurk” in chat rooms
to learn more about their burgeoning interest. Through trial and error, youth add new media skills to their repertoire, such as how to create a video or customize games or their MySpace page. Teens then share their creations and receive feedback from others online. By its immediacy and breadth of information, the digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning.

Exemplary Online Educators: Creating a Community of Inquiry

2008-11-05T15:33:00.004+13:00

This is an article which was published in the Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE. While it was published in 2005, I think it still has relevance for today. This article was found by going to a link provided by a fellow eTeacher, Lynda Walsh-Pascoe.

In the introduction it says;

Within most disciplines there are those who are recognized as being exceptionally competent practitioners. These people are sometimes called exceptional or exemplary. In the educational realm, students remember these individuals as the teachers who most positively influenced their learning. The commonality of these exemplary practitioners is that they do their work in a remarkable way and their teaching strategies and interpersonal interactions are regarded by their students as highly successful.

It is easy for online educators to just transfer huge amounts of text, or files, online and call it online learning. This article highlights the importance of good practitioners who know how to inspire and lead through online learning. Click on the post heading, which links to the article

The New Zealand Curriculum and Assessment

2008-11-05T15:17:00.004+13:00

This is the second really good post that I have read this week (Following on from Chris Dawson). This one is by my fellow ePrincipal Darren Sudlow, from Cantatech. His blog makes reference to the workshop he attended at ULearn 08 given by Rosemary Hipkins of the NZCER on the New Zealand Curriculum and Assessment. He has uploaded Rose's powerpoint from the conference, so it is well worth the visit. Click on this post title to link to Darren's blog

Enough Already with Luddite Schools

2008-11-04T15:11:00.004+13:00

Hey, call me a poacher, but I have recently read two good blog postings. This one is by Christopher Dawson, see previous posts. His post lays out the vision we should have for our students regarding their adoption of technology for learning. It also therefore poses a challenge for our teachers to enable this sort of adoption to occur - not an easy task, which will take some time, but we have to start somewhere.

go to http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1931&tag=nl.e623 or click the title of this post to be linked to the words of Chris Dawson.

classroom 2.0

2008-11-01T10:18:00.009+13:00

I subscribe to the ZDNET education updates which is a blog maintained by a fellow educator (in the US) called Christopher Dawson. His most recent post was regarding social networking and other web 2.0 tools (go to http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1928&tag=nl.e623 or click on the title to view Chris' post). The tool he was referring to was Ning, but this was NOT what got my attention. What did get my attention was the example he gave of schools using web 2.0 tools. He was blogging about how a group (cluster) of state schools in New York city are using social networking sites and cell phones to support their students' learning. His post has an excert from that article but you can go to this link, Village Voice to view the complete article. What was interesting about the article was how the schools were collecting data on how the use of the technology was improving outcomes for their students. The US may be transfixed with testing and collecting data on student performance, while we in NZ believe that education is so much more than that just test scores. However, in this case it is showing us teachers in NZ that technology can make a difference, and that the difference (value added) can be measured. The article also makes reference to a website called classroom 2.0. This is a space dedicated to those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative or transformative technologies. Isn't this what we are about in our eLearning clusters, whether they are ICT PD, EHSAS or simply VC.

Our NZ curriculum provides us with the opportunity to transform education in New Zealand. We have the technology, we have the tools, we now need to transform.

This week I have been mostly doing.........

2008-10-31T21:38:00.003+13:00

This week I have spent time at Tauhara College in Taupo (two days) and Forest View High School in Tokoroa (two days).

I had the opportunity to give a presentation on the Volcanics Cluster and Virtual Learning Network to the Board of Trustees of Tauhara College. They are a newly appointed board, so it was thought it would be a good idea to give them a bit of background on Volcanics and introduce them to the VLN and how Volcanics operates in, and through the VLN. I also had the opportunity to assist some teachers at the College with putting resources up on to their LMS (UltraNet). There was also some good discussion around the educational value of an intranet (LMS) and the pedagogical benefits of tools like hot potatoes, especially when using a discovery learning model of teaching. Again it was shown that it is not the technology that is important, but how it supports the pedagogy. I think we concluded that Hot Potatoes would be fine for certain learning activities, such as building a learning scaffold, moving from the simple to the complex by introducing more and more complex questions, on the basis of achieving success at the easier levels, but would definitely not be an appropriate tool in a true discovery learning situation, other than to test understanding of what had already been discovered or learnt. I also managed to fit in two video conference classes.

Having not been to FVHS for some time, there was a lot of catching up to do. The ICT department is involved with the new Digital Technology Guidelines (DTG) with Heather Williamson and Bruce Dowdle attending a two day conference in Auckland in November. Three other schools from our cluster will also be represented at the conference, namely Reporoa College, Ruapehu College and Putaruru College. All of these schools are trial schools for the new DTG's. Heather will also be in Wellington during November working with NZQA on the TIM domain and how unit standards within this domain can be assessed on the basis of achieved, merit and excellence. This will be interesting as I am wondering what this means for unit standards in other subjects.

Managed to get some PD done, on basic emailing and file organisation with one teacher, who originally came to have PD on using powerpoint. We ended up talking about renaming files, creating and renaming folders and attaching documents to emails. What did I learn? That I need to, again, carry out a needs analysis survey in our cluster schools.

There was discussion around how wikis, blogs and google docs can be affective learning tools, and in what learning situations they would be appropriate. This obviously took us into the realm of when these tools would NOT be the correct learning tool to use, which is part of the whole ideaof making sure you use the correct tool for the job. There was also concern expressed as to whether these tools are simply just the latest fad which will eventually be replaced by the next latest fad. The answer to this comment is "NO". Wikis, blogs, etc are not a fad. Over 100 million users cannot be that wrong, but yes, they will be replaced by something else, and most likely within the next year or so given the rate of change in the technology environment. However, collaboration, contact and connectedness using the internet is here to stay, as is personalising your virtual space and hopefully personalising learning. However, what this virtual environment will look like in five years time is anyone's guess. There was also more work done around the use of online learning environments and the tentative beginnings of setting up a meeting between teachers involved with GATE programmes within our cluster. The opportunity for our gifted and talented students to collaborate, co-operate and perhaps compete across schools in the cluster, using the technology we have, has definitely got potential. Thanks to Kris for putting this idea forward. There are other GATE groups collaborating in other clusters who we can also contact which could widen the net and the experience for our GATE students.
Work was also done on looking at how EHSAS is going at the school and the definite need to clarify and focus direction for the cluster in 2009 onwards. The word used by Ian (DP) was coherence, which in one word explains what our strategies need to achieve. ICT is still on the agenda though, as is VC. The big question is how do we ensure that VC is a positive and successful experience for our students, and how do we ensure that ICT becomes systemic and is used in a pedagogically effective way?

Have a good week-end.

Nga Kiwai Kete - The eLearning Toolbox

2008-10-31T09:39:00.006+13:00

Mau tena kiwai o te kete,
maku tenei

You at that handle and I
at this handle of the basket

The website "Nga Kiwai Kete" is an eLearning website set up specifically for Maori and Pasifika students and teachers, but has resources which will benefit us all. It is a great website, with links to Introducing eLearning, planning eLearning, designing eLearning and teaching and supporting eLearning.

The website can be accessed by clicking on the title to this post, or by copying and pasting this url address: http://www.nkk.org.nz/home.php.

Time For Reflection and Review

2008-10-31T09:19:00.003+13:00

This is a website for reflection and review for ICT PD clusters, but the reality is that the nature of the ICT PD contract has changed, so that there are now many similarities between an ICT PD cluster of schools, and an EHSAS cluster of schools. We are both looking at teacher collaboration and we are both looking at pedagogies which improve student engagement and achievement.

The link is below, or can be accessed by simply clicking on the title of this post.

http://centre4.core-ed.net/spaces/space.php?space_key=15273

From Learning Management Systems (LMS) to Managed Learning Environments (MLE)

2008-10-28T09:38:00.004+13:00

I thought I would share some of the correspondence that has been flying around regarding LMS's and interoperability. The fact is that, the solution is much bigger than just interoperability. Paul Seiler at the MoE is working on the LMS/SMS interoperability issue, but also on what such a beast would look like if it was able to talk to all systems, and whether a national or regional solution is possible. Here are some comments from a few of my colleagues as we begin to realise the scale of the task and what it means.

Phil Buchanan comments: "I really think that the big picture, a complete MLE single sign-on portal - much bigger than 'which LMS' or 'hosting solution' (or even SMS-LMS interop) should we use - is crucial for NZ education. Note Paul's message/advertisement in the next Gazette"

The interop and parental portal, which he has fostered, is a really strategic direction - to foster inclusion of the community in schools (delivered to their home) and also learning conversations at home - and the next step that he will fund/facilitate is very important for us all to understand.

Trevor Storr Comments: "I think the real challenge is not getting the technology to work, but is enabling leaders, schools and teachers to embrace collaboration. In a world context, NZ is tiny - some small cities have a larger population than the whole of NZ and operate one MLE for the whole city. Our challenge is to ensure that NZ schools benefit from the economies of scale that a large MLE can bring while still acknowledging the local flavours and foibles that 'Tomorrows Schools' encourages. An example of why this is important can be seen in the context of content authoring for an MLE using eg eXe. Do we expect all teachers to become experts in content authoring so that resources and classes can be put online, or do we think that a better solution is to enable national collaboration in content authoring so that the 'teacher experts' can share their wisdom and skill with others to reuse and refactor?"

The debate needs input from senior leaders at schools because this technology will influence the future learning environment for our students.

Professional Communities of Practice

2008-10-22T16:00:00.007+13:00

During our EHSAS workshop on 17 October, Brian Annan talked about the importance of a community of practice. He defined a cluster as a form of learning network......a connected group of reformers working together, non-hierarchically to solve common problems. He then asked the question "why are we involved in learning networks?". His response to this question is that we are moving from self managing schools to connected schools. We are self managing administratively, but we need to be connected pedagogically. Why? Basically, because learning together is better than learning alone to solve complex problems. New Zealand Schools (which obviously includes our schools) have a complex underachievement problem to solve; or to put it another way, improving student achievement is a complex problem.

This brings us to the idea of our cluster schools, and the teachers in these schools, being a community of practice (COP). One of the leading authorities on communities of practice is Etienne Wenger (see his website at http://www.ewenger.com). He notes that communities of practice are well established in business, but that schools are only now latching on to them. I would recommend that you visit his website. I had the opportunity in term 2 to attend a workshop on COPS given by Etienne Wenger, and it was well worth it. I am only now coming to appreciate the need to establish such a cop within our cluster. The ePrincipals, nationally, have established a cop which influences our thinking, our theories and how we operate individually, and as a group.

Jean Annan in her research noted the following characteristics associated with the organisation of a community of practice:

It is Loosely structured and largely self managing
Structures are typically flat, collaborative and professional
Leadership is assigned by the members
Tasks are distributed among members
Membership is voluntary
Relationships exist at a formal and informal level.

Which elements above are evident in the Volcanics Cluster? Obviously, a greater review of Etienne Wenger's work would be advised, before answering this question.

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach on Kim Hill show

2008-10-21T12:10:00.001+13:00

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was one of the keynote speakers at ULearn08. This interview with Kim Hill outlines her philosophy for 21st century learning

http://blog.core-ed.net/ulearn/2008/10/sheryl-nussbaum-beach-on-kim-hill-show.html

The Schools We Need Presentation at Ignite Philly 2

2008-10-21T11:43:00.003+13:00

I Wanted to share this vid. It’s a good one. If you wonder why he speaks so quickly, its because each presenter only had 5 minutes.

The Next big thing on the Net

2008-10-21T09:56:00.001+13:00

If you are a teacher, you need to read this NZ Herald article regarding the internet, and where the next big development will be happening.

Go to this link

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10537986&ref=rss

EHSAS conference - Rotorua 17 October

2008-10-20T18:19:00.005+13:00

I and other members of the Volcanics Cluster attended the round 3 EHSAS workshop in Rotorua last week. Our cluster schools were well presented at the meeting which was wonderful to see.
There were three presenters, Murray Gadd, Dr Judy Parr and Dr Brian Annan.

Murray spoke to us about "Working Together Effectively: A collaborative Approach to Achieving Higher Standards". This was interesting and relevant, but I assumed that at the time, a lot of this had been done during the proposal process. In Hind site, I think we need to revisit some of these issues.

Judy Parr spoke to us about goal setting. After listening to her and actually paying attention to her powerpoint, I realised that this would definitely be something we will need to revisit at our EHSAS cluster meeting on 1 December. It also became clear that perhaps we were too ambitious with our project outcomes, spreading ourselves too thin, and thereby not getting any depth. It seems that we will have to re-assess our project objectives and perhaps cull a few of them.

Finally, Brian Annan spoke to us about challenges within our cluster. We only looked at the challenges. At no stage did we discuss solutions. This was based on the thinking that, unless we truly know what the problem is, we will not be able to find an effective solution for it. The process was interesting, and challenging. The outcome for us at the end was that one of the priority problems facing the cluster is that the only real value cluster schools see in being part of the EHSAS project is access to extra funding. While I was disappointed by this, I realise that I also have to be a realist - schools want to do more than they are funded for. If they can access extra funding by being part of a cluster, then why not. Having given it more thought, and remembering what Richard Crawford commented on during our discussions, is that the problem is perhaps not as cynical as just doing the project for the money. If one considers the option of getting money and spending it where you can, in areas that will help your school, or the option of getting your staff to buy into truly changing their pedagogy, committing to change, working at the change, and then being acountable for it at the end of the day. Which option would you take? I'm no masochist, so the first option would be my choice. Therefore, I believe that the real problem facing our cluster is lack of true teacher buy in to the ideals of Extending High Standards across Schools. We know our teachers are under pressure, and some days we all work in survival mode. However, the idealist in me wants to believe that education is bigger than just money, that schools can work together collaboratively for the betterment of all their students, and that the improvement in student achievement at the end of the day, through a truly professional community of practice has got to be valuable. So our Challenge is how do we create a professional community of practice that exhibits true collaboration across cluster schools.

ULearn presentation number 2

2008-10-20T18:11:00.004+13:00

Not wanting to get left behind by my other fellow ePrincipals, I also did a second combined workshop on what factors are necessary to ensure that an education cluster of schools is sustainable into the future. Each of the ePrincipals involved, namely Carolyn Bennett, Janet Ackhurst and Jan Collier, ably lead by one of the principal mentors, Sue Winters, put together a slide show which outlined what had happened in their cluster and what this meant for them as regards how they saw sustainability in their cluster. Below is my contribution to that presentation.

Volcanics Sustainability

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

ULearn Presentation

2008-10-20T17:55:00.003+13:00

While I did not make it to ULearn, my fellow ePrincipals still did the presentation on the VLN, which was the one I was able to Skype into. Rachel kindly updated and added to the original powerpoint, which you can view below.

The Virtual Learning Network in New Zealand

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: elearning ict)

Fame at Last

2008-10-20T17:00:00.003+13:00

Unfortunately I was unable to attend ULearn due to a back injury (slipped disk), but I did manage to make it into one of the presentations using Skype, and also got interviewed using Skype by the young students running various things over the ULearn conference. You can see the interview at
http://blip.tv/play/AdKLPQA

Sustainability of eLearning clusters

2008-09-22T10:19:00.005+12:00

On Friday, Jan Collier (CoroNet), Janet Ackhurst (Baylink), Carolyn Bennett (FarNet) and Sue Winters (eP Mentor) met to discuss our presentation on sustainability of eLearning clusters, and what factors were critical in ensuring clusters survived beyond projects and project funding.

These were a few of the things we came up with:

Context - where has the cluster come from. (Whakapapa of the cluster)
Relationships - between principals at the various schools. Need to see the cluster as being beneficial for their school. The Cluster has value for each school. Principals Collaborate and co-operate.
Relationships - between ePrincipal and Principals; between ePrincipal and staff at each school.
Collaboration and co-operation between staff across the cluster
Cluster vision - lead by the principals. This gives the cluster status within each school.
Commitment by each school to the cluster vision.
Someone to drive the cluster and the cluster vision - ePrincipal/cluster leader.
Cluster leader seen as an extension of each schools SMT.
Funding - from MoE and from each school. Need to have a sustainable funding model. This has ramifications for the size of clusters. Optimal size seen as 10 to 12 schools in a cluster.
Leadership - the cluster needs strong leadership from principals - principals take ownership of the cluster and what happens in it.

I will be adding to this as I refer to my notes for the day.

Video conferencing - critical success factors

2008-09-22T09:36:00.005+12:00

Having given some thought to what factors will support our students when doing courses via VC, I have listed the following factors which I think impacts on the quality of learning:

Quality teachers delivering the course.
VC training for eteachers
Time allowance for teachers to deliver the VC course. Guideline is 4 hours per week which includes the VC contact time.
VC accepted as part of the mainstream school and not an add-on. i.e. VC courses are accepted as viable options to face to face classes.
Good support for students at their school. The students have a learning centre to go to when not doing VC, so that they can get on with their course work; they have support from the eSupervisor and from their deans who monitor their academic progress.
Students vetted for the ability to succeed in a distance learning environment. Students need to be fully aware of what doing a course via VC will entail. It is NOT an easy option.
Good communication between the student and their eTeachers.
Good communication between the eTeacher and the students' eSupervisor and deans.
Student reports done every term by eTeachers
Well organised eTimetable
Regular meetings between ePrincipal, eTeachers and eSupervisors.
Student and eTeacher feedback (done through survey).
Parents understanding of the learning environment.
Principal and board support for video conferencing. They need to see value in VC for the students at their school. Without this, most of the issues above will not happen

Educators talking about Learning

2008-09-15T22:30:00.002+12:00

The videos embedded below come from a site called EDtalks.
Check it out. There are heaps of really outstanding educationalists sharing their views. The two I have chosen are centred around inquiry learning, as this is an area of interest for teachers in our cluster, and a personal interest of mine. If I were to say how I would like to teach it would be as follows:
Inquiry based with a focus on collaborative learning and assessment (COLA - thanks to Dr. Paul Lowe), using formative assessment to guide my practice all underpinned through the use of ICT technologies.

Sharon Freisen on New Roles for Teachers in the 21st Century

2008-09-15T22:26:00.000+12:00

Sharon Freisen on Inquiry Learning

2008-09-15T22:24:00.001+12:00

Last week I was mostly...........

2008-09-15T21:51:00.004+12:00

Well, after a couple of days in Ohakune, where I did not get to see too much of the wonderful Mount Ruapehu, I made my way to Putaruru College to spend a couple of days with the good folk there. I managed to get in a wee bit of PD on the VC gear, went to a VC meeting with the Maths teachers from around our cluster and attended the ICT committee meeting. There were only three teachers at the Maths meeting, which was disappointing, but in spite of the small numbers, a very fruitful meeting I think. The ICT meetings are always full on with ideas flying everywhere. The school is currently involved in equipping its classrooms with data projectors and interactive whiteboards. There was a lot of discussion surrounding installation of DPU's and screens and also around having computers in classrooms. It was felt that in order for teachers to take advantage of the flexibility and variety offered by technology and the internet, DPU's and computers in the classroom were becoming mandatory. The aim is to also have at least four computers per classroom. The big question is whether teachers have the equipment, and then learn to use it, creating a period of no return on investment, or whether we tease teachers with the possibilities, give them the PD, and then provide the equipment in the knowledge they know how to use it in a pedagogically competent manner. While we could have the chicken and the egg arguement here, most of us learn by doing, so it seems logical to get a zero return on investment for a short while as opposed to having frustrated teachers who see no point in PD when they never get the chance to use it.

New Zealand Curriculum

2008-09-10T16:16:00.005+12:00

I subscribe to a blog which is maintained by a fellow ePrincipal, Darren Sudlow. His most recent entry includes a slide show delivered by Rachel Bolstad from NZCER on the new curriculum and 21st century learning. I highly recommend that you check this out at http://elearnz.edublogs.org, especially given the focus many of our schools are giving at the moment to the new curriculum.

Ruapehu College - A school with a view

2008-09-08T16:32:00.005+12:00

Today I have been at Ruapehu College. Unfortunately, the view is not like the one above as the wind is howling and the clouds are low. I still have another day here so will see what tomorrow brings. Things we have been looking at today include:

Needs analysis - Looking like Physics and Chemistry for L2/L3 and maybe Japanese.
2009 VC subject offerings - L3 Accounting
LMS issues - Training - Look to make this a focus for term 4 and 2009
Presentation to the board - Preliminary set for 23 Sept. at 7:30 pm via VC
ICT vision and plan for 2009 - ongoing
Presentation to students/deans - Set for 8:45 on Sept. 11 via VC.

Also worked with teachers on downloading youtube videos for teaching purposes.

Appraisal - who benefits??

2008-09-08T16:17:00.006+12:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have been carrying out VC teacher appraisals. I have only done three so far, but I am finding it a well worthwhile process. As I observe my colleagues at work I am continually reflecting on how I would have done it, or perhaps how I would do it differently. I never saw the process as part of my PD, but it definitely seems to be working out that way. Killtwo birds with one stone. Hopefully, my colleagues will get as much out of my observations as I asm doing by observing them.

Artichoke

2008-09-08T16:10:00.005+12:00

A "place" where I can wrestle with ideas, argue, challenge, think, and rethink. A "space" where I expose my raw and flawed thinking about information communication technology, teaching, and learning for critique.

I subscribe to this blog, and currently read an interesting post called :

If only Jane Gilbert had a blog .... and NZCER had a wiki ....

Some compelling stuff here, again focussing on what do we REALLY need to do to support our students and help them learn. So necessary if we are not to be drawn in by the commercialism which surrounds ICT. I am not saying that ICT is a fad driven by big business, but to say that we must not be blinded by technology and that we must keep learning at the centre of our endeavours.

Myclasses

2008-09-04T00:28:00.006+12:00

Based on some of the work that the other ePrincipals have been doing with LMS's and looking at work done by Mount Albert Grammer with the Myclasses LMS, I think I can see the potential this tool has for teaching, but I believe that certain conditions need to be met:

Teachers need computers in their classrooms to allow for spontaneous and easy access to the technology.
There needs to be school wide commitment to the establishment of effective pedagogy surrounding the use of LMS's and associated technologies.
Students need to be shown how to work with the LMS, and the expectations surrounding its use.
The LMS should not be used simply as a document repositry. It should be seen as a point of contact and collaboration and not simply a point of content. The use of complementary software such as hot potatoes, wikis, google docs, etc should form part of the strategy when working with, and developing lessons on an LMS.
Teachers need to be clear about how the technology compliments and supports their practice.
Teachers need to realise that making greater use of an LMS gives away control, but provides the opportunity to work alongside students instead of in front of them.
We must accept that the way we work with students in this environment will change the way we teach. We also need to coach our students to be able to work within this environment, not necessarily the technical aspects, but the learning aspects.

Does the fact that this technology gives rise to any time, any where learning mean that it also gives rise to any time, any where teaching? How does this impact on how schools operate?

My f*#!%ing goosebump story

2008-09-03T14:03:00.003+12:00

I have just received an email from a colleague of mine, Darren Sudlow, regarding a blog entry by Tomas Lasic, a teacher in a tough Australian school. This really outlines what education is all about, and the role ICT can play in education, no matter what the circumstances. Check out his blog here.

A Day at Reporoa College

2008-09-02T17:11:00.005+12:00

I spent today at Reporoa College working with teachers on eLearning. PD was mainly centred around using Hot Potatoes, Myclasses and showing people how to use the VC gear. I was busy all 5 periods which was awsome. The teachers I worked with saw the potential in the VC, online learning environments and the associated tools. The nice thing was that they saw the tools as simply ways to improve their teaching, or ways to differentiate their teaching. Learning was still central to what they were about, and it was acknowledged that no matter how good a tool you have, it is only as good as the practitioner applying it.

Can Kid's teach themselves?

2008-09-02T17:01:00.005+12:00

Well, it's 5pm and I have just come from a VC meeting with the other ePrincipals. Quite a few items on the agenda including collaboration regarding course offerings for 2009. It's clear that our students' needs are not being met, so we need to see how we can improve that.

Watched a good video clip today from TED. See Below.

Sugata Mitra: Can kids teach themselves?
Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his "Hole in the Wall" project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. Given this, he asks, what else can children teach themselves and each other? Watch this talk >>

2008-09-01T21:10:00.003+12:00

Well, it's been a busy day so far for finding new stuff. Two new survey tools have been released by the NZCER, one looking at student engagement in years 7 to 10, and the other being a teacher workplace survey.
Go to http://www.nzcer.org.nz/ to check out these new survey tools. I reckon all the schools in the cluster should have students in years 7 to 10 carrying out these surveys, and their teachers carrying out the workplace survey.

Picot Now - Comments on EHSAS

2008-09-01T16:18:00.004+12:00

Keith McKenzie (Principal Tongariro School), directed me towards this website come Blog by an educationalist called Kelvin Smythe. Not being in NZ that long, I am unaware of the work of this person, but having read what he has to say about EHSAS and the use of ICT in education, I can definitely say that he challenges the popular trends in the name of education. Therefore he is a MUST read, even if it is simply to balance the unending barrage of need to's and have to's, surrounding ICT use and improving student achievement. One word of caution - he does go on a bit, so be prepared to give each article at least 20 minutes to read and digest

Check out his site, www.networkonnet.co.nz and this article called "Picot Now".
There is another good article called computers:battle lines which looks at computers in education

Inquiry Learning

2008-09-01T15:47:00.006+12:00

I was at Tongariro School in Turangi today and was chatting with Denise New, the DP of the middle school. They have recently been following the work of Pat Nolan, but looking to find out how to apply the theory in the classroom. This search lead them to the work of Trevor Bond, whose work centres around an inquiry learning model called SAUCE. This model has been developed by Trevor using parts of all the other inquiry learning models, taking out and combining the parts he really thinks applies to inquiry learning. Have a look at the Quest website and also at the SAUCE model.

2008-09-01T15:40:00.003+12:00

I was looking through the breakouts for ULearn08 and came across a presentation by Andrew Church on VARK which is a learning styles assessment tool. So naturally I googled VARK abd came across the website "Vark -- A guide to learning Styles". This look very interesting and has application for both primary and secondary teachers.

This week - What i did

2008-08-28T13:12:00.007+12:00

This week I have been at Forest View High School and Tauhara College.
I had a good day at FVHS, really just catching up with staff and following up on the workshops I ran during my last visit. Generally positive feedback on workshops, especially regarding online tools like Hot potatoes, Content Generator and Exe.

Follow up:

Chris Y – Hot Potatoes – examples of applications in Maths
Whane – Hot Potatoes and myclasses
Attila – useful economics websites
Denise – Using powerpoint and data projectors
Brief meeting with Richard to discuss reason for visit and meeting on 28 August.
Met with Chris (L2 Acc. student doing course via VC) and did some work with him on work he was behind in. Organised text book for him.

The follow up will occur when I am next at FVHS.

My visit to Tauhara centered around provision of one on one PD. Areas covered included:

Use of UltraNet - uploading files and photos
Use of data projectors - how to. Worked with Languages department and Physed
Use of youtube and slideshare as a teaching resource
Attended the ICT committee meeting.

Also attended the Volcanics Principals Management Group meeting on Thursday afternoon

The Volcanics Journey

Inter-connectivity - not just a problem in NZ

Predictions about 2010

Welcome to two new schools

2010 - What to expect

Now That's what I'm talking about

A Learning Theory for 21st Century Students

ePedagogy or simply a 21st century pedagogy

So now what do we Do

eTeacher Training

Web 2.0 is everywhere

An eLearning vision

Collaboratively create a unit of work using Wikis

Designing Learning Spaces

Michael Fullan - The Change Maker

Now that's what I call blogging

AND-BOTH

Social Networking - Is it that bad???

Go ahead…Hang out on

MySpace. Wait, what?

Exemplary Online Educators: Creating a Community of Inquiry

The New Zealand Curriculum and Assessment

Enough Already with Luddite Schools

classroom 2.0

This week I have been mostly doing.........

Nga Kiwai Kete - The eLearning Toolbox

Mau tena kiwai o te kete,maku tenei

You at that handle and Iat this handle of the basket

Time For Reflection and Review

From Learning Management Systems (LMS) to Managed Learning Environments (MLE)

Professional Communities of Practice

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach on Kim Hill show

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was one of the keynote speakers at ULearn08. This interview with Kim Hill outlines her philosophy for 21st century learning

The Schools We Need Presentation at Ignite Philly 2

The Next big thing on the Net

EHSAS conference - Rotorua 17 October

ULearn presentation number 2

ULearn Presentation

Fame at Last

Sustainability of eLearning clusters

Video conferencing - critical success factors

Educators talking about Learning

Sharon Freisen on New Roles for Teachers in the 21st Century

Sharon Freisen on Inquiry Learning

Last week I was mostly...........

New Zealand Curriculum

Ruapehu College - A school with a view

Appraisal - who benefits??

Artichoke

Artichoke

A "place" where I can wrestle with ideas, argue, challenge, think, and rethink. A "space" where I expose my raw and flawed thinking about information communication technology, teaching, and learning for critique.

If only Jane Gilbert had a blog .... and NZCER had a wiki ....

Myclasses

My f*#!%ing goosebump story

A Day at Reporoa College

Can Kid's teach themselves?

Picot Now - Comments on EHSAS

Inquiry Learning

This week - What i did

Mau tena kiwai o te kete,
maku tenei

You at that handle and I
at this handle of the basket