Conference Feedback

Thanks for the feedback re the Conference Feedback.
To confirm arrangements:
Monday 15 October, Conference Room of the Carramar Motel at 45 Ruahine Street (opposite the hospital).
8.30am start and morning tea and lunch at the venue. Finish at 3.00pm.

Survey Monkey Trial

Hi Guys, I was introduced to this at ULearn so thought I'd have a play...see if it works. The trial version only allows a couple of questions by the look. But it could be an interesting addition to moodle. Anyway, answer away...


Click Here to take survey

Boring stuff

We need to have some ideas on how/when we do some evaluation/sharing of our experiences. Should it involve time out, food, drink, nice surroundings? What time of day/week/term is best?

Friday

Very brief thoughts...
W/s 6 - integrating core skills ICT into Maths, Science, Soc Studies and English. Highlight=Kate enthusiastic about using a graphics calculator.
W/s 7 - MOODLE Portfolio feature. R E A L L Y useful stuff. Craig took all the notes.
B

To Be or Not To Be...Open Source that is

A very interesting talk/discussion with a Ministry man none-the-less. Douglas Harre posing the question "Do we need software agreements in the Open Source age?"



While the discussion began with a myriad of confusing numbers (number of schools, percentage breakdowns of primary/secondary/EC with/without computers etc.), it soon became more coherent when the financial investment the Ministry outs into teh software to run our TELA laptops.
Perhaps the most exciting suggestion Douglas made was could we introduce open source software to our TELA machines?

What do you all think?

Attack of the Pod(cast) people

Mr McIntosh has produced yet another stunning workshop. this time getting up and running with podacsting...then making them special.



It was a well balanced workshop starting with why podcast at all? What makes podcasting different from Radio? right through to the final editing touches to the cast. All the little bits matter: the intro music; the balance of sound; the ambient background noises, it's all discussed in detail.

To really drive it all home he got us all in groups to go out and whip up a "vox podcast" Getting out among the people and hearing their voice, ala Creature Comforts (check out the site)

30 minutes to do the lot - PHEW! here's our attempt

Enjoy!

Pete

Ewan, Creative Writing and Gaming

Ewen showed us the power of using gaming software to access students' creativity. to engage our class by stepping into the virtual world of games, music and literature. He encouraged us to be participants in the lesson, to model the creativity we want our students to exhibit.

Myst was Ewen's choice of games. This fantastic world is graphic-rich allowing students to explore metaphorical language. Describing the landscape...inky cold water....looming scarred rocks like a gaping wound...these were examples from year 7 students.

The entire process was web-based to help keep everything collated. Wiki's were very useful so students could add to to a collaborative document(Google Docs could also be used)

He also used point-and-click flash games to encourage students to explore visually rich games and then create stories based on their experiences. Here's an example of a student reading his Myst story.


http://www.timrylands.com/ an inspirational educator
http://www.visuwords.com this one is spectacular
http://www.nettlestonepri.iow.sch.uk/punctuation.htm great idea for grammer


What an inspirational presenter.

Pete

The 6th Spice Girl

After sentence three I felt like I was hearing Motivational Spice do a solo gig at Ulearn. Harsh? perhaps. Accurate? Definitely.

Mind you...there was a few interesting links. But I have to wonder whether she would survive in my year 9 class?
hmmm.....

From the bored one out of WestLife

is Next best?

A "big picture" theoretical talk from Cheryl Doig on Next Practice. This is the idea that we should be encouraging our staff (and ourselves obviously) to think about the next step in learning - the new way to inspire students. I was a bit skeptical when Cheryl started: it sounded like biz-speak to me. However, there was a useful message hidden in there i.e. best practice needs to be dynamic. have a look at the jump:

www.secondaryfutures.co.nz
www.inovation-unit.co.uk
www.tompeters.com
www.thinkbeyond.co.nz

Pete

Breakout 1

Whangapaparaoa College - Developing Learning Environments for the 21 st Century.
Run Integrated Studies of Science/Maths and English/Soc Studies for y 9 & 10.
No specific IT/Computing classes
4 x 75 minute classes.
Heavy use of Planning Organisers and 3 Storey Intellect.
Use The Big 6 for Inquiry Learning.
Check out Froguts.com
B

Valid Problems

Just had a great workshop with Dave Ballard rom Tauranga. While the content was specifically Maths/Science/Geography the idea behind it was validity. Validity of the problem being investigated. I have a real struggle making problem solving real-world enough in my classes. In the world of psychology this is called "Ecological Validity" - does the problem mimic a real world setting?

Well Dave's presentation was just that. Using a resource from the Port of Tauranga here Dave talked us through a navigation problem using pencil & ruler, calculator, computer, tables, a whole gamut of resources (great for different kinds of learners). It had the feel of a truly "inclusive" lesson (or more probably a unit of work).

Pete

Hello all

In the keynote with Derek. Texting to Tina worked really - meet her then checked my phone - an't technology wonderful! Yesterdays workshop with Ewan was great - lots of thinking and rationalising to come. Lowlight was the leaking roof in the Irish Bar - at least it didn't get into the glasses. Thanks for setting up the site Pete. Better stop now to listen to the Honorable Steve. Bernie

update...I found Craig

I found Craig...

Hey Hey

Hi all.
Hopefully you made it here and all is well. I was a bit worried about the flight up - big scary clouds - but it was fine and Tina and I arrived on time.

Here is me being very conspicuous at the blogger cafe...right time for espresso

P