Interface Expo - May 2015

Spent Thursday at the Christchurch InterfaceExpo. These expo days are often about selling a product - BUT there were some great learning tools on display and demonstration.

1 ) Mind Lab - were one of the main sponsors. Their philosophy includes the statement 'Technology takes the classroom out into the world.' 

Frances Valentine - Founder MindLab - NZ Tech Board - was one of the opening speakers. The aim of Mind Lab is to create innovative kids of the future. Last year 12,000 students went through each of their 3 'workshops'. This year they are hoping for 30,000. 

One key message was that we have a fantastic primary school system. A system that 'does' learning well - student focussed, contextualised, project based - then they hit secondary!! Secondary teachers are having to cope with the 'tsunami' effect of these primary students flowing into the secondary system! 

She noted that even traditional careers are being  influenced by new changes - eg 'big data' - medical outsourcing ?

Mind Lab - is partnered  with Unitec to deliver a  PostGraduate Programme - philanthropic support to keep costs down - $750 for post grad programme. Looks good to me!

Excitingly - won $1000 staff PD voucher! Checkl out The MindLab - here

2) The GAFE team - clearly reminded us that online /blended / elearning focusses on the 5Cs- 

Communicate

Collaborate

Create

Consume

Coordinate

And that teachers need to ensure that they are making best use of GAFE by making sure that students have - 

1.  customised chrome experience 
2.  automatic web pages 
3.  enforce bookmarks URLs 
4.  chrome web store - apps and extensions 

At RHS we use Google Sites for teacher portfolios and appraisal - this presentation was a good reminder to me that Sites can be key for- 

- developing digital communities of practice 

- increase student agency 

Clearly we need to use Sites for more than just teacher inquiry in fact any opportunity for  divergent thinking via individual creating - could be Site based

Learn Create Share 

As school leaders we also need to remember that the 'pedagogical experts may not be the technological experts' - pedagogy 2.0 and 3.0 - new pedagogies need to be taught 

Google Classroom and Blogger 

Blogger as a portfolio - teacher, student, class 

Importance of linking to RTCs 

Student blogging - authentic digital footprint, student led conferences

3) ETV - while I have delved in to ETV and 'archived' a few really useful clips, I have not used them in the classroom yet!! 

I liked ETV's 'tagline' of  'real time, real life, learning resources'

- live TV - only live TV service in NZ 

- in the cloud - no software, no boxes

- biggest supplier of video content in NZ 
The fact they when contacted, they will search for ANY resource to assist you with ANY topic you want to work on.

BUT - what we do need to get onto using is their ZAPTION app

- research simply pointing students to a piece of video does not work 

- students bombarded by 'noise' - they need to interact with content 

- Bill Gates education award winner - 

- wrap learning around the video content - easy to use and many ways to engage students

4) N4L - making our schools safe online....

- the education system is becoming digitised - exams, moderation

- we need to know that it will work and work safely

- apparently our schools are under attack from overseas locations - thousands of times a day...who knew???
So I have bitten the bullet and signed up to the Pond, which seems to me to be another aggregator - I already use Delicious and Twitter and Google alerts ......

5) By 3.00pm my brain was starting to hurt - but not enough to stop me buying (well Josh actually buying) a  SWIVL - robot controlled camera - track as you move, insert content during the lesson, 360degree, tracking, can be paused, stored in the swivl cloud, can include slides and still record lesson in action. I have it on very good authority that it is excellent for tracking evidence in the PE clasroom - but for me the most useful use, would be for teachers to view their own practice. 
You can see more about how it works here http://www.swivl.com/




OK - enough new things to be think about ....and try out....and find the time to ......

What it means to be connected - the relationship of connections

Subtitled - my learning life online, and how being connected has affected my work in education - version #2 as somehow I managed to delete my first post.....

I remember clearly when I became a 'connected educator' - it came from being a 'connected learner'. In 2006 I had a year's paid study leave. I completed my Post Grad Diploma in Literature and Language Learning - I was a full time 'distance student'. After a 20 year break from university, the first month was a real struggle - jargon, educational jargon and theory, technology jargon and theory, more jargon.... However, what did grab me was the online forums that made up 20% of each paper's course work. I was addicted - I had to see what was being posted, I had to read what my fellow studens were saying and read the links that they were sharing. I was in no way a 'lurker' - needless to say I got full marks for those partsof the course.

In 2007-8 this morphed into the topic for my thesis - Keeping up with the digital natives - integrating Web 2.0 into classroom practice - http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/2280. As teacher - researcher, my Yr 12 class had the choice of 'logging on paper' or 'blogging' around the literature that we studied during the year. Their and my archived blogs can be found here - http://blog-mrs-c.blogspot.co.nz/. From then on blogging became a part of what I did for professional learning. My Asst Head of Dept and I developed a blog for the Department  http://ideas4englishclassrooms.blogspot.co.nz/. I kept a blog for the library where we ran book reviews and competitions - http://mrscsbookblog.blogspot.co.nz/   I modelled our blogs on the work of Natalie Cowie (thank you), who  was at Katikati College - http://ncowie.wordpress.com/ but who has now migrated to Cromwell College. 

Leaving the classroom for a two year stint at Team Solutions, I lost touch with both the routines of the classroom and my blogs. All were linked to my school email address and I realised this foolishly, too late that I no longer had access to them - other than to read them!

Now firmly esconced back in a school, blogging has once again become the place where I curate my personal professional learning. I blog as I go (thank you for that tip Claire A.) This year my blog links to my teaching inquiry which forms part of our school's appraisal process - linked to my Google site. I prefer to use my phone, rather than my tablet to blog, I'm not sure why. I have become more adept at scanning images and photos into my posts as I write - though I do tend to go back and edit out the 'typos'. I tweet and facebook my posts. Not only have I recorded my own professional learning, but I have had the opportunity to post on some key events that our students and staff have been involved in - such as the experiential sustainability project - Te Wai hora Ellesmere; and the 50th Anniversary celebrations of CETA.

Those not as connected worry that the focus may appear to have shifted from what is seen as the 'nub' of teaching - relationships. However as a connected educator I have built learning relationships and have learning conversations with educators I would never have otherwise connected with. As two recent conferences - #edchatNZ14 and NZATE's Myth and Magic many of us were able to connect kanohi ki te kanohi. 

I know now how to keep my blogs 'alive'. I now read more, hear more and see more educational news and ideas than ever before......just need more hours in the day!

Ngā mihi

Alison

PS you can read more blogs on this topic and others @ http://blogsync.edutronic.net/