Reality Check

Reality Check Inventions

2010-09-16T03:11:00.001-07:00

The Students have designed some inventions and spoken about the on ustream.
I was impressed by the creativity that went into ideas such as the “ultimate hair brush”,
”The Magniball wall” and the “Super Alpaca feeding station”. The ability to adapt, change and think in different ways shows that young students are able to move from designing to inventing. Well done.

It takes bit of strength to get up in front of the camera. There is a pause for about 30 seconds while one student gets up the courage to show what they invented.

Learning to collaborate? – Games can help

2010-08-31T03:08:00.001-07:00

Did anything come out of our collaboration using the Xbox game viva piñata yes it did!

A recent Visit From Ewan McIntosh Reminded me of some key factors

A shared interest or goal makes for a good opportunity to share: blogs and information. It creates that purpose for communication
Problems often require communication to solve: a puzzle is a good place to start a collaboration
When you are describing something new and dynamic you can’t rely on others you have a unique experience to describe
The imaginary world of games reflects the real world, presenting lots of opportunity to think and bring ideas together

Next Term a Syndicate at school has decided to put an Xbox in each class and use them for Creative Writing. I am excited by the prospect of this an hope that I can be involved in some way. Will blog about this as it takes place.

There is still a lot of reluctance to recognise the
potential
of Games in Learning
Viva la revolution

Learning to collaborate? – Games can help from Media team on Vimeo.

Connected Schools – Six mths in

2010-08-26T03:05:00.001-07:00

We have been working as a professional learning community for six months and we can see impact in the video below.

With the project comes regional goals and as leaders what I see as crucial now is:

Communication with other schools (newsletter coming)
Collaboration with others like the University and Polytechnic
Clear internal roles such as (organiser secondary voice)
Sharing of successes and failures (learning)
Strategic planning for sustainability and engagement
The creation of Reuseable and AAA (anytime ,anywhere, anyhow) material

Great to watch a lot being picked up from our community development day and being used by the students,
EBooks , Voicethread, numeracy interactives. This will make for engaged learners and improved learning outcomes.

Connected Schools Six Months in from Media team on Vimeo.

Hamilton Schools working together to create a professional learning community for themselves and other educators.

Digital Citizenship – a big ask

2010-08-25T15:27:00.001-07:00

We have students with connectivity and a number of choices to make.
We can protect them to a certain extent and of course we do by filtering and
education B U T in the end we can only do so much ….

I have spoken to students about this and asked them to collaborate on a document where they are asked

What we think as students about digital citizenship.....
What the school should do about students who download age restricted material is ...
How the School should try to protect students from things on the internet is ...
Should the school lock down computers so that we can't install anything ? Why ? Why Not?
What we should be able to do with our computers is...
What we shouldn’t be able to do with our computers is...
Questions we have around digital citizenship are.

Will post back what this group thinks soon

6 Word Stories

2010-08-23T01:56:00.001-07:00

6 Word Stories

Describe / Reflect / Wonder about these pictures in 6 words. Remember to write your name


Attribution: www.flickr.com/photos/14239765@N00/535851460	Attribution: www.flickr.com/photos/21222992@N00/1682989	Attribution: www.flickr.com/photos/7764981@N05/2646109147

Leave some feedback for someone else in a different colour

Inventions Scamper

2010-08-10T04:37:00.001-07:00

Inventions Scamper

When we invent something we might have to look at something a different way and change things. This one way to help us think about things in a different way.

S = Substitute
C = Combine
A = Adapt
M = Magnify
P = Put to Other Uses
E = Eliminate (or Minify)
R = Rearrange (or Reverse)

dog bowl

Substiute - change metal for waterproof foldable plastic

Combine - a bowl that has a cushion pillow as part of it

Adapt - build the bowl into the deck of the house so sunk into floor

Magnify - make it so the bowl collects water from the roof or get fed from a tank

Put - it over a dogs mouth as a muzzle

Eliminate - foldable makes it flat and small

Rearrange - use a muzzle or a lead

Work as a team to make a Scamper

2010-07-22T13:51:00.001-07:00

digital citizen ideas from Derek Wenmoth

2010-07-22T13:39:00.001-07:00

Reality Check -Inventions

2010-07-21T19:35:00.001-07:00

After a long time of being busy helping setting up a new professional learning community I finally had a chance to work with students again. So what Am I trying to concentrate on.

lots of opportunity for students to contribute, think, do and to create flow
using visual material and offering some choice for students to select material
reflection on what we have created and opportunities for students to outline where their learning is at
looking at habits of mind as prompts for just in time learning opportunities “what habit of mind do you think could have helped you get past this point?” “taking responsible risks”
letting student thinking and communication exist in its own right ie not all thinking needs to be reported on or commented on it can just “be”.
integrating literacy work into just in time teaching moments with questions like “If this is going to be read by others what might we need to in terms of editing?”
Having student share reading and retelling of others oral and written ideas

The investigation prompts and some outcomes are below

We are going to look at a couple of movies to find out.

Here are a few more links to inventions, and kid inventions; have a look.

This is what 4km thought what they did was to use typewith.me to describe everything they thought about where inventions come from and then we put them into this Wordle This is what we thought.

Where do Inventions come from? from Media team on Vimeo.

What we think about inventions and where they come from.

How students advertise.

2010-06-02T19:50:00.001-07:00

Education Quotes

2010-05-17T03:02:00.001-07:00

Please help me collect some of the great educational quotes. You can even make your own ones up. If you are good ;-)

Motivation

2010-05-16T02:43:00.001-07:00

Daniel Pink talks about motivational aspects in his book Drive

Motivation requires three aspects

Real sense of purpose
Sense of Autonomy
Sense of potential Mastery in what they are attempting

It concerns me that sometimes we seem to focus on things we think they should know rather than what motivates them.
Dan’s talk on the subject has a lot to offer educators looking for improved student outcomes.

At the school where I work I heard some students who were working on a market day project the other day say to a teacher "I have never worked so hard before". The way the student said it was with immense pride. The project has obviously struck a chord and motivated students to learn and achieve.

Connected Kids Solve Problems

2010-04-27T01:27:00.001-07:00

I was at my computer when the noise that Skype makes when a message has arrived did its thing ie announced a message was there. It was from a student who I had worked with using Google Sketch up the year before his computer had a virus.
What impressed me was the language punctuation and genre that went into I have included the conversation below. The student is in year 5 and quite smart. What he managed to do was outsource his issue to me and get my advice to solve his virus issue. We need students who are able to work in this way because they are independent problem solvers. Note the last line of the conversation I even got thanks when the problem was solved.

These are the key competencies in action. Isn’t the action the best evidence of learning.

Google search Tips

2010-04-12T02:20:00.001-07:00

I was Looking for a quick reminder about the power of Google search and my friend Barbara Reid sent a link to a Google site where I found this. I’m keeping it handy as i find it takes a few revisits before something like this sinks in. What this has reminded me of is the power of search literacy in helping people be productive in their use of the web. I am one global citizen who backs Google’s removing itself from China on the basis of the information censorship being exerted on Chinese citizens. Click on the Play button and maximise the screen if you want to.

Google Search Tricks on Prezi

Printing in Gmail

2010-02-01T01:03:00.000-08:00

For those of us new to gmail there are a few things to learn. While I try not to print emails and be paperless many of us often need to. Here is a video pointing out howto without getting all the stuff on the side.

Letting kids learn

2009-12-30T11:08:00.001-08:00

“The longer you wait for the future, the shorter it will be”

ThinkExist.com Quotations. “Loesje quotes”. ThinkExist.com Quotations Online 1 Nov. 2009. 28 Dec. 2009 <http://einstein/quotes/loesje/>

I had the opportunity to work with some students who were taking part in end of year examinations. Those who finished early (and in this case most did) were given the opportunity to do something quietly. I watched as they involved themselves in a number independent activities. I took some photos on my mobile which are here in the slideshow. I reminded me of books we used to have like 100 things to make and do. I feel that this sort of activity, scaffolded and enhanced, has the ability to increase the potential of our student’s

literacy/numeracy/operacy .

Have a look at the slideshow (just eight pictures) and I will explain what I mean.

The only instruction given was that the activity had to be silent while others were working on their exams. We have looked at and developed a framework for learning at Southwell where I teach. I highlighted the values and key competencies personal learning time similar to this might support. This is about “learning to learn” and putting the learner at the center of the learning. Accepting where our students are at and providing them with the tools for self improvement but how ….

Quality Assurance
Such a strategy as this independent learning time is now possible to develop and support through the use of ICT tools. I believe the key characteristics of this might be. This is the big disclaimer

Classroom Climate - Supportive classroom communities where learning modeled shared celebrated etc.
Reflection/expression/evidence/collaboration portals ie social networks, eportfolios (for lack of better word), gallery spaces, video repositories etc
Clear goal setting and articulation for learning perhaps SMART Students are asked to check off whether the goal is specific, measurable, action-oriented, reasonable and timely. This could be as simple as What is the purpose of this learning? What will represent success for me? What have I/we done so far? What do I/we plan to do next? with this information in a web environment peers and others can be used to motivate guide learners through this.
Formative community assessment – embedded teacher,peer and whole class feedback/feedforward
Time availability for learning to take place – this could be small pockets of time after say maths in an primary/elementary environment as we know that the brain need less intensive work in order for the neural pathways to become entrenched see syn-aps. It could also be represented in a more flexible programme where teachers facilitate learning with significant online support and individual access to personal learning.
Exemplars, evidence – Examples of tall poppies – growing poppies and aspiring poppies give students a clear direction.
1 to 1 Access - to the connectivity, networks, creation tools and appropriate physical spaces and resources.

The place of personal learning can find its feet and show its evidence. I will finish with a building created in google sketch up by a year 7 students and a link to an online novel written by my son Jack (16) both examples of personal learning and endeavour.

A simple slideshow embed

2009-12-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

I have put a few tables with photos into my blog. I was thinking a slideshow might be better take up less space, run itself and be more attractive. I found a page you could copy the address for a Picasa slideshow into as with many things a little further investigation and I learnt how to do this directly from within Picasa YAY. Here is a video showing how easy this is to do and a sample slide show below.

Here is a sample slide show. Some of the pics have been altered to make up the banner for my blog which feature my mum Dorothy or Dot as she was known. My brothers and sister also appear in some of the pictures. Need to add a few more in memory of Mum. Mum I miss you!

Zac's Bridge thinking

2009-11-03T02:27:00.001-08:00

Having been on a visit and taken some photos the students have a real idea about the bridges and their design features and construction.

Mobile post sent by davein2it using Utterli. Replies. mp3

Still banging on about it

2009-11-02T01:37:00.001-08:00

My last post presented a little snippet from a Cellphone policy from Montgomery School District. Essentially it said no phone/mobile device should enter or be used here. The policy was written perhaps four years ago and could have been seen as a safe move given what the perceived possible contribution to learning compared to possible issues unacceptable use might raise. The balance is tipping at lightning speed (and forever) with devices such as the ipod touch, iphone, android devices, netbooks etc. Their possible contribution is real contribution.

I have said and have to repeat that management issues aside we are forgoing an opportunity to learn to be better; to move into a new paradigm rather than just admire it from afar as the kids get on with it. The steps we need are bolder and quicker. Schools are slowly coming round to the idea of 1to1 provision and here it is in an ipod touch for $300 New Zealand Dollars. The video below looks at the experience of a school in the U.K.

A Safe Step may be to allow these touch devices which though not a phone are all but and use our schools wireless networks for connectivity. The next generation will undoubtedly have cameras and mics making them a reasonably solid platform for learning especially once a few apps come down from the appstore. What I think we need to realise fast is that we if we converge some of the functionality we have been get elsewhere into one of these devices they are not as expensive as they first seem.

This to me is one device format that we will see in almost everyone’s future and generally it will contain a phone as well.

These devices will undoubtedly enable learning, save lives and change lives.

Are we big enough to let them change our schools?

When will we let this take place?

Here are some of the things an iPhone can do today. This is a small selection There are 100,000 apps in the store many costing $0.99 making opportunities nearly endless.

Camera		$100
Torch		$20
Notebook		$5
GPS		$200
stopwatch		$20
media player		$60
Games console		$400
Mapbook		$10
Spirit level		$20
TV		$100

Others may not agree but a mobile device that has iPhone capability is a point that will soon be achievable for more of the population than having their own pc ever was. To me the important thing is that it will be personal and so will the learning.

Mark Prensky is debating should we give a four year old an iPhone?

Some other links

Elsewhere we can find out about 5 (Free) iPhone Apps Every Parent Should Have.

Exams phone a friend

Enough said

2009-10-26T13:05:00.001-07:00

Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery County, Md. "Possession of portable pager on public school property. In this section the following words have the meanings indicated: 'Portable pager' means any device carried, worn, or transported by an individual to receive or communicate messages. 'Public school property' means the grounds of any public school. "Except as provided ..., an individual may not possess a portable pager on public school property. This section does not apply to: handicapped students using portable pagers for medical reasons; law enforcement officers; visitors on public school property for an authorized program, meeting, or function; faculty or staff members employed by a county board; members of any volunteer fire department, ambulance company, or rescue squad, who are designated to possess a portable pager on public school property by the chief of the volunteer fire department, ambulance company, or rescue squad, and the school principal; and students whose portable pagers are contained in vehicles that are on public school property and are not found to be connected with criminal activity.

Shades of grey ??? The policy as outlined by the students ???

Googlewave don’t believe the hype?

2009-10-20T02:05:00.001-07:00

Google have many of us waiting to find out what wave is and what it might mean for us. Having had a bit of a read around the place and not having an invite myself I became interested. Rather than add yet another review the connections I looked at showed something new and powerful The you tube example is a realtime dialogue with translation. Below this in the iframe is Daniel Tenners take on what Google wave is and isn't for the full page is found here. Personally I think this is going to be big for collaboration and that connectivity is going to be the big delivery point for personal learning in online connected real time environment like google docs etherpad and google wave.

Ride the wave if you have trouble reading the frame below Daniels website is only a click away

Browsers and spiders that can't read iframe code will see this text instead .

Looking for acceptable use with head in sand

2009-10-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

I was at the Ulearn conference recently where several learners were talking about having a voice, being heard and saying what you think. In these times of change; debate and honesty are needed because the present reality is not the preferred future (the outcome of these debates will determine our direction into the unknown.)
In one workshop, on edupunk a discussion was raised suggesting that because of the danger of pornography and misuse students should not be allowed to have mobile devices in the learning environment. I found myself getting agitated while listening to someone outlining the issue who seemed incredibly reticent to allow mobile devices within the school system due to this risk. Mobile devices are ubiquitous and they are becoming “T H E M A J O R P E R S O N A L” connectivity mechanism.
There is much talk about schooling becoming irrelevant and while I think this is far from the case I would like to argue here that these risks may gain traction in an education system that doesn’t accept its role has changed and that an approach to internet safety must embrace change from within; utilising an ecological approach.

Engage or lose relevance

On a weekday 6 hours is the average time spent in school 18 are spent in the outside world. Sure there is the little matter of sleep and eating but the figure above speaks for itself. When we consider that access to learning technologies is probably greater outside of the school we have a curriculum of self direction. The options for good and bad, sustainable and unsustainable, moral and immoral, positive and negative, creative and consumerist are boundless outside of school. Students are learning more than ever outside of our gates. Our separation of the technological means used in the two environments is an untenable position in the long term and I propose - in the here and now. In waiting to be prepared we may lose our opportunity be part of the ecological development.

The Youth/Teens ie our Students have A participatory culture.

This participatory culture is “a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support
for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what
is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices.A participatory culture is also
one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection
with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have
created). Forms of participatory culture include:
Affiliations — memberships, formal and informal, in online communities centered
around various forms of media, such as Friendster, Facebook, message boards,
metagaming, game clans, or MySpace).
Expressions — producing new creative forms, such as digital sampling, skinning and
modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction writing, zines, mash-ups).
Collaborative Problem-solving — working together in teams, formal and informal,
to complete tasks and develop new knowledge (such as through Wikipedia, alternative
reality gaming, spoiling).
Circulations — Shaping the flow of media (such as podcasting, blogging).” taken from the confronting the challenges
report from the Mc Aurthur Foundation

Confronting the Challenges
of Participatory Culture:
Media Education for the
21st Century

The same report suggests the following and reading it helps me think what our preferred future might be:

“Rather than dealing with each technology in isolation, we would do better to take an ecological
approach, thinking about the interrelationship among all of these different communication
technologies, the cultural communities that grow up around them, and the activities they support.”

My Beliefs are that given the cultural communities that exist for young people are so connected they have the potential to bypass and ignore a formal education system.

Our steps towards a preferable future

Engage with students in the creation of an AUP that focuses on a vision for digital citizenry
Understand and explore what kids are doing in the 21st century
Help learners to learn from each other and from wider connections
Develop utility and understanding of the contribution points for connected mobile devices
Allow students to develop and explore suitable ethics and use
Provide faster cheaper safer (ie filtered but not stifled ) connectivity for mobile devices in our school
Learn ourselves
Accept new curriculum
Take risks (“the best way to predict the future is to make it”)

What this does not mean

This does not mean that learners can have whatever content they like on their phones etc but rather that we understand we will maximise both learning and shared values through adopting acceptable use based on http://www.utechtips.com/aup-driven-by-vision-not-protection/

What Kids Are Doing - check 1 -

2009-10-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Kids are sophisticated media producers....

if we let them

if we let them share with each other

if we give them an audience

How do we lift their level even higher?

Reality Check - Digital Story

2009-10-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had a look at digital stories and how to make them with students at Southwell School. No matter what, it is important to hand over the learning to the students. Well ... here are some results. No success criteria in this first attempt was laid out but we talked about copyright, tone, static images etc. The students were self motivated by the chance to work in the digital environment and to apply learning to this media genre and format.

There is some strong story telling and visual language with the voice coming through in the Siberia story strongly. We would love some feedback and a quick comment would be appreciated by the students.

Google docs Ulearn

2009-10-10T03:18:00.001-07:00

Some Ideas for Google apps integration and use of Google docs. These simple tools are so connected and so online that they are changing the way we work play and collaborate (or me any way ;—) ). You are able to edit and add to the slides below. There is a lot more to add to the story so please have a go and I will be able to reflect on how this can grow from a simple start. Connectivity is King, Queen, Matai and Keli’i

It's now and it's social if we let it

2009-10-07T02:58:00.001-07:00

Missed the start of DK from mediasnackers workshop and came into with history of social interaction on the internet and then the Mobile/social learning onslaught.
Why are phones unwanted in schools? I am thinking especially camera in our school environment.
What about Kindy? See the 1 year old below

DK had an interesting digital story created by people writing on a4 and holding up their message and taking a picture
of it with the writer in the frame. .

My similar ideas for content

What are the issues in our school?
What helps you learn?
I learn best when
The book character was
How does bullying effect people
How does encouragement help you
Also single frame digital story telling could come from these cameras
sustainability messages
Safety messages
Poems
Emotional responses
Love more in comments below What do you think?

Milton Keynes youth service created the message below

This is simple but effective somehow knowing that the word was someone's makes it more powerful.

The second most popular reason youth use the web is Learning.
From the web makes me feel … This site collects and reflects on the results gathered from one ok DK's web interaction points.

I really liked this reflection on twitter

“Twitter not about contacting people about finding out about stuff”

DK was talking alot about the way things just are. You can use hash tags as a stream of information in twitter so why wouldn't you? it just is.
Very pragmatic I thought lets look at reality and what we can use around us. Simple tools and social networks.

As a 44 year old the infographic below made me feel so good I had won a competition that doesn't exist.
What do the baby boomers do in social media?

Link to Media Snackers is found above. DK is very open and inviting
jumps straight to honorary kiwi status in my book.

IT takes some planning

2009-10-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

Colin Warner & Lynn Davie

Glen Waverly college, Victoria Dept Ed

Asked to consider where our schools are on this

Elements that may effect development

Vision, Professional Learning, Ownership, Res & Org, Action Plan, Review

No vision = confusion
No PL = anxiety
No ownership = gradual change
No Res and org = frustration
No Action plan = inconsistency
No Review = unknown impact

What Stephen Heppell said learners thought made them feel good about the process

eccentricity
making something
having an audience
collaboration

I liked Colin talking about making sure teachers see a big variety of
practise examples. Also this is a nice simple view of what we need to be doing as a process.

Would have liked to have seen more student’s voice in this workshop
and perhaps a look into the learning that was the result of the process.

Software for Learning

2009-10-06T16:39:00.001-07:00

Fiona Grant based in School support services Auckland

Rochelle Jensen Waikato University

Urls http://softwareforlearning.tki.org.nz/

http://softwareforlearning.wikispaces.com

Rochelle described the software for learning site as a

“One stop shop for teachers looking to select software for learning.”

Hot NEWS from workshop

A new search engine is in development and usernames will be individualised and transferable so they can transfer from one school to another. CWA are to make it possible for learning management systems to authenticate so users will not have to enter passwords. This will make these alot more popular in my eyes.

My ideas from the workshop

Give one team member a role to locate suitable objects for a unit
Revisit that object as a whole class and in groups
Use the object for different perspectives each time
Introduce the estories form the wiki to your whole staff or syndicate groups
Well suited to social action and applying knowledge

The wikispace refers to the pedagogy behind this. This brings this closer to schools and looks ate their use in the classroom.
These stories are a good place to start for integration of learning objects into meaningful deep learning experiences.

The unit can already be started before the learning object is used. What happens when students think and apply past experiences to new situations. For example students who has looked at how dyed water is drawn into a plant. This is applied to the river context.

This can be watched at http://softwareforlearning.wikispaces.com/estory7
There was some great language of learning

Thoughts on what makes digital digital objects effective presented were
I’ll be back to

Thanks Rochelle and Fiona for providing examples of best practice in use of digistore.

Reading the right thing

2009-09-25T03:35:00.001-07:00

This maybe what happens when people read this blog post. If not it probably because
we have chosen to or are seeking to learn about text vs visual language
through an emotional connection.
If from our perspective this is meaningful to us our brain will store it. I see visual information as more inately engaging.
Did the use of the red bold text get our attention? Is this a method of making the reading have more perceived benefit?

I plan to use visual text and prior reflection to help select what material, media, genre that students I work with will be exposed to.
Enthusiasm and engagement will need to be established before they start reading
Even better if they are part of the selection process it may help to ensure they predict benefit.

Networking for 1 to 1

2009-09-23T17:50:00.001-07:00

With future posts I will look at pedagogy but this post will consider networking and it’s implications. The reason being that often people don’t understand the implications of adding more devices onto their networks, where the bottlenecks are etc. I hope that this post will make some of it easier to understand and help those making decisions for 2010. Otherwise we may hear this type of talk…

“We have got a whole lot of netbooks and all of sudden the network seems awfully slow.”
”We used to have good internet and now students are waiting a long time for simple things to happen.”

There are large implications to increasing client density on our school networks (these are not just about our internet connection but internal also).
What do we need to understand, do to create and maintain a network suitable for 1:1 student use?

5 Big ideas

The Network is now the most important part of Schools learning technologies infrastructure
Network contains 4 main components – Internet connection – Backbone – Network Layering (segmentation) – Wireless Access
These components have to match with client (device) density if the users experience is to be a good/successful/meaningful one
Wireless access is the only suitable way to deliver ubiquitous/natural learning technologies
"the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system" Metcalfe's law ie the more people connected the more learning the more opportunities.

A closer look at these

The Network is the most important part of the Schools learning infrastructure

It used to be that schools spent their money preparing servers to host mail, files and programmes. Now much of this functionality is moving to places outside the school. Schools are pooling forces to consolidate these like Nayland College who share a server with Nelson Girls. Network connectivity is the key to this. For a school to host the increasing number of devices that are being plugged in; or to enjoy wireless networking attention to this is important. In our school over 250 more devices are connected this year than last. Next Year and additional 230 are predicted. It could be a bit like trying to fit a cities traffic down a normal road if we don’t take a few crucial steps.

The Four Main Components

Internet
As shown above High speed internet to maintain service levels if we connect more devices to our network. Jetstream is not able to put information from our schools onto the internet nearly as fast as it can bring it down so when more of us want to use web 2.0 tools we will struggle to do so.

Backbone
The connections between buildings and switches (think old telephone exchanges) is our backbone. Fibre optic cables and fast switching are needed if we want to avoid bottle necks and teacher frustration.

Network Layering
When a computer or other device on a network wants to talk to another one it can happen in number of ways. In most school networks traditionally the device would ask all of the others if they were the right one ie send its message everywhere in a hit and hope type exercise. This was not such a problem when there were a small number of devices involved but now there are hundreds it can make things noisy and slow. To speed things up we can segment a network (make it layer 3) and send the traffic directly to where it needs to go. The important message here is to use layer three capable switches in our networks.

Wireless Access
The most difficult to get right but the most important in many ways because this is the where connections to the network for 1:1 devices will start. Schools need enterprise level wireless to manage 1 to 1 devices. A good system will be characterised by a central wireless management unit. What this does is ensure that access points are not competing with each other and that clients are handed on seamlessly from one to another.

The match to Client density
More devices = more bandwidth required for the same experience. Work using local software if the network can’t support multiple online users.

The value of 1:1 has come from the value of the network ie the value of connectivity.
We need to get our network environment right for the value of connectivity to show through. My next post will be a reflection on the realities of pedagogical (teacher readiness) for 1:1

For a look at the ideal world of a 1:1 implementation read this on Wesley Fryer’s Blog and then read the comments which allude to a hardware environment being funded but teacher readiness not. To get teachers ready is a more complex process than getting the students and their devices connected. In my mind we jump across and action research our way to individual teaching success. See easy isn’t it?

Students View

2009-09-21T17:36:00.001-07:00

What some students thought when asked if schools should go 1 to 1. They were also asked what they were proud of in their use of a Netbook. Interesting to me were that they all had different personal ideas on this and that their reasoning for why was based on sound ideas rather than the gadget factor.

Quizlet learn it and have fun

2009-09-14T01:33:00.001-07:00

My son Jack is studying for NCEA Spanish. Being a geek and believing that a computer and the internet will solve all ills I looked to the web for a way through. I was amazed at how empty searches were when looking resources that would really help. I was taking part in an online meeting with 0ZNZ educators and by chance one of them specialises in modern Languages He had alot of ideas about learning using technology. His name is Joe Dale and his wiki is found at http://joedale.typepad.com/. Michael Fawcett a local blogger who I have alot of respect for was talking about what his daughter used as study tools and both confirmed the use of mp3s and flashcards as the major tools for exam preparation. I have started to work with these ideas and Jack has recommended Spanishdict.com. I have also come across Quizlet which is an online flashcard place. Between now and the end of the year Jack will put some of the NCEA vocab into Quizlet. I have embedded a match up below see how you get on.

Purchasing/maintenance Questions for 1:1 programmes

2009-09-11T20:23:00.001-07:00

Having been through a year of 1 to 1 laptop use in our school I am preparing for a workshop at ulearn09 looking at what schools need to prepare for 1 to 1 learning. Many people will be seeing this as a simple transition to a greater density of devices on their networks. The best way for us to decide and think about this is probably to consider the implications of future events. The following are discussion starters for some important questions in this process.

We have got 50 devices and over half of them are having a problem with not starting up properly what should we do?

We can get a high power laptop for the same price as a netbook that should be better?

What are the hidden costs of this programme? are there any?

Should the parents/students be able to bring any laptop of their choice?

The device choice is not too important most devices today are of a good quality let’s just get on with it?

A parent is able to secure a good deal on a netbook for us should we take it?

And the answers are…
Well ok No answers but there is no doubt these are important questions. We have had to increase our network support in-house to accommodate this. We purchased a very robust looking computer the classmatepc. We have 130 of these being used by year 7 students who take them home and we have had dealt with one issue that effected over 50% of these. So the two Big Answers To Purchasing and maintenance…

a warranty for three years
proven track recording the student space
nothing that can be pulled off
has protective bag
no point of stress eg tablet with only one central hinge
battery guides so pins cant get bent
a sturdy mechanism for where the power cable from adapter will go

And

understand the supply chain
ask for an open book submission which shows cost from manufacturer
look at what added value they can provide
will they attend information evenings
how will they prepare the units for you
manufacturer has an online knowledge base with forums, usergroups etc

Possible scenarios that might make sense

If you do not have on site tech support provide a service where the device can be dropped off at the schools reception desk and picked up by supplier from there.

If you need tech support to be managed by parents the information evenings and

Here is an example of an RFP (request for proposals) that may help you if you want to use one.

Rfp Netbook Template

Reality Check 4

2009-08-31T15:33:00.001-07:00

Reality Check 3

2009-08-19T01:55:00.001-07:00

Working with Year Eight students on Digital storytelling aspects the following is the sketch of what and how we will work.

Most important part I think In the Session

work out what we know
have clear learning intentions
interact with each other
try to allow cognitive rehearsal for thinking
create new personal knowledge

From an earlier collaboration with another teacher

the following are the learning intentions

What is a digital story ? Look at three of these on these sites.

http://lc.celebrateoklahoma.us/

http://seein2it.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Activity

Give 1 get 1. Move around the room give someone an idea about

What a digital story is ? and

Story like
Emotional
One person speaking
Transition of pictures
Similar to a movie
Pictures of what it is about
About a personal view of someone
Past tense
Music or Song
Pictures are still
Pictures and voice describing

What it Isn’t

A movie
Made up
Moving pictures
Voices out of pictures
Just all facts

Look at a factual survival story

Browsers and spiders that can't read iframe code will see this text instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571#The_crash_and_rescue

Fact to fake narration

The students came up with these ideas

Good hook
Tense : generally Past/flashback. Present .Future
1st person 3 rd Person
Ending in a question (keep people wondering)
Balancing fact and experience/emotions
Diary form
Suspense
Point of view

Read the article highlight important facts perhaps collect facts as a group. the article is too big and needs to be reduced if one session is used for whole activity.

Write this as a narration

Reflect at end what was good learning what wasn’t any comment you would like to make.

Googledocs a quick learn

2009-08-12T02:21:00.001-07:00

We are starting to use google docs for our students

Why for those who are not sure?

Once we get over the wow look at this, look at that; we need to focus on how to improve learning.

Nick Rate has a good idea for writing the pic below links to his full post with examples.

Colours could also be used to identify (multiple concurrent authors is powerful learning just ask Vygotsky)

ownership
parts of speech
editing process
thought process
de bonos thinking hats
perspectives
main ideas
disagreement
discussion points

This Google presentation has some other good ideas

I am working with some teachers on this tomorrow and it needs to be about teaching and learning

the good thing with google docs is I know it can be just that.

Easi-speak Guide

2009-08-10T22:01:00.001-07:00

There are some good introductions to the USB easi-speak microphone on

Lorraine’s and Dorothy’s blogs.

The following was recorded easy on the easi-speak

I think these are going to do great things for literacy where teachers cotton on to it

I have just copied some pics from the manual which is stored as a pdf on the

microphone itself. most of it is self evident but I have highlighted the bits I wasn’t sure of.

See you later I’m off to record some stuff add ideas for the mic’s use in comments if you like. Those of you at Southwell can borrow them from the ICT hub and I am happy to come and help out if you are interested.

Te Mihi

2009-08-03T23:48:00.001-07:00

Trying to finish my mihi and record it. Will work on it over the next while and try to add to it next year.

Mobile post sent by davein2it using Utterli. Replies. mp3

Te Mihi

2009-08-03T23:41:00.001-07:00

Been working on my Mihi I have recorded it on utterli as well.

It felt good to find out where I come from and to be able to acknowledge

the Maori language and its part in our identity.

Taku Mihi	Meaning
Ko David ahau	I am David
Ko Ngati Tahu te iwi	My tribe is Ngati Tahu from the South Island
Ko Rakeahua te awa	Rakeahua is my River
Ko Rakeahua te Maunga	Rakeahua is my Mountain
Ko Alyn taku papa	My father is Alyn
Ko Dorothy taku mama	My Mother is Dorothy
	They are both Dead now but their spirit is still with me

A good resource for this is here http://www.tki.org.nz/r/language/lls/wehi/units/unit14/index_e.php

Examples from Pt England school are here http://softwareforlearning.wikispaces.com/eStory2

Thank you Linda

2009-07-29T17:06:00.001-07:00

Linda Woolhouse from Hamilton East School gave a well received numeracy workshop at our Cluster Development Day a couple of weeks back. The online resources are here with a description of what you will find.

Linda Says

These are a few sites I have stumbled across. Many can be played with a partner helping, supporting or just watching.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/bitesize

Many, many areas to choose from. It’s a great website, fun, easy to play and able to be used independently. The games are quick so able to share a computer. At differing levels to add a greater challenge. Stage 1 is about up to our strategy stage 4, stage 2 is strategy stage 5 and beyond.

www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2numeracy.html

A site more for Teachers with some activities for warm ups on the Interactive Whiteboard of data projector use. Look out for the interactive 100’s board and a calculator. Many activities are designed for above stage 4.

www.softschools.com/math/games/

A website that looks at practice equations across all domains for all levels. Refers to the activities, as ‘games’ but are equations to solve. Some games are timed for the students to compete against the clock.

www.visualfractions.com/

Nice format and simple practice activities.

www.kidsnumbers.com/

A whole range of games that model answers as well. Broken up into domains and going into Algebra, Fractions and Percentages. From Stage 1 upward.

www.tburg.k12.ny.us/mcdonald/mathfun.htm

Loads of games, huge variety using the 4 operations and testing the student’s basic facts knowledge. Leveled for interest and challenge.

www.counton.org/games/map-fractions/racing/

This has games, resources, news, and activities for all stages and an area for Junior students. It has games for 2 players.

www.uen.org/3-6interactives/

This has multiple games that link you to other game sites. Suitable for the higher stages. It has a high level of interest for older students. Games across all domains. Try the ‘Algebra vs. Cockroaches’, not easy.

www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Mathmagician/cathymath.html

Simple basic facts speed tests. Students have a set amount of time to answer basic facts equations across the 4 operations. You can select level 1 or 2 and which operation you want to work on. Excellent for speed recall and practice.

Iframe YouFrame Weframe

2009-07-29T02:21:00.001-07:00

Part of the connected nature of the web is the ability to embed and display image flash etc. Heath Sawyer aka heheboy showed me what he was doing with iframes in one of the wetpaint wikis he is working with for the Matamata ictpd Cluster. Iframes are a good way to include one webpage in another.

The code looks like this

Basic iFrame HTML Code is in red I just copied it and changed the yourdomain to put the I love learning site in a frame below.

<IFRAME NAME=" my_iframe " SRC=" http://www.yourdomain.com" WIDTH="90%" HEIGHT="300px"> <p> Browsers and spiders that can't read iframe code will see this text instead.</p> </IFRAME>

Here's what each part means:

SRC - The URL of the page that you are including in the iframe.

HEIGHT - The height of the iframe. This can be expressed in pixels or percentages.

WIDTH - The width of the iframe. This can be expressed in pixels or percentages.

NAME - The name of the iframe.

Optional iFrame Properties

If you want more control over the look and behavior of your iframe, you can choose to add the following iframe properties to the code.

SCROLLING - Should the iframe content scroll? Possible values are "yes", "no", or "auto".

FRAMEBORDER - Would you like a border around the iframe? Possible values are "yes" or"no".

ALIGN - How should the iframe be positioned in relation to surrounding content? Possible values are "left", "right","top", "middle" or "bottom". - Note: This setting is depreciated in favor of styles

MARGINWIDTH - The horizontal internal margin for the iframe. Must be expressed as pixels.

MARGINHEIGHT - The vertical internal margin for the iframe. Must be expressed as pixels.

HSPACE - The horizontal spacing around the iframe. Must be expressed as pixels.

VSPACE - The vertical spacing around the iframe. Must be expressed as pixels.

LONGDESC - The URL of the page with a long description of the iframe contents. Must be expressed as a URL.

Here is an example of an inline frame with many of the optional iframe properties set:

<IFRAME NAME="my_iframe" SRC="http://www.yourdomain.com " WIDTH="90%" HEIGHT="300px" SCROLLING="NO" MARGINWIDTH="10px" MARGINHEIGHT="10px" FRAMEBORDER="0"> <p>Browsers and spiders that can't read iframe code will see this text instead .</p> </IFRAME>

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt; Browsers and spiders that can't read iframe code will see this text instead.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

The Dog Woke Me, The Blog called Me

2009-07-26T01:11:00.001-07:00

It’s 2.59 and the dog has come around to the front of the house and woken me. There have been a lot of thoughts in my head about blogging its relationship to learning and now am in front of the computer putting them down.

A New Zealand teacher posted some pictures of students running a cross country. The purpose of this was for parents to be able to see their children and the children to see themselves online. What followed was a series of opinions criticising the use images and names and implying the teacher should not be blogging because of lack of understanding of net safety and protocol. What a post on whaleoil's blog shows in my mind the need to prepare for comment or controversy where we least expect it.

Can we just grow up in public?

We engage in blogging to change our personal or community worlds. A post is out in the global domain may be seen as a statement even if we don’t intend it to be. A process is taking place where we are often adjusting our thinking, forming opinions and learning.

What happens if we don’t follow protocol?
We say something that our schools for example don’t believe in?
What happens if we make a mistake?, Have a bad moment?
What happens if someone takes issue with what we have to say?
What are the risks if we are blogging at school as a classroom community?

Firstly I do not believe the greatest risks are from Stalkers or paedophiles as some would have us think. A photo and a student’s first name is a responsible risk. In New Zealand the ministry of education guidelines for inclusion of images is here. With parents permission there is no issue here. The teacher posted some pictures of students running a cross country. The purpose of this was for parents to be able to see their children.The greatest risk I see with blogging are pedants and nitpickers.

To help survive this risk

find out about blogging from an experienced leader, doer and thinker such as Dorothy Burt
try to make sure our words make sense (not always a strong point of mine)
read other class blogs and online material
realise that our audience may not be who we think they are
care mostly about our preferred audience (the one we want to engage)
develop a thick skin i.e. accept that we may fail at first but that is not a bad thing
moderate comments if it is a class blog or students
think about the content of other online presences we may have and how they are linked eg facebook

Also realise the benefits of blogging

We can see blogging changing peoples personal worlds and creating

Blogging should be innately positive because it is based on choice

With so many people choosing to express themselves there seems a good match to

William Glassers model of Survival. Are we blogging for Survival? I have used this model

a few times and acknowledge Joan Dalton and David Anderson who introduced me to it.

So keep up the blogging or start if you wish to.

For Me I am looking to Work out what it means for our school as a community this term.

There are some more thoughts here in a guide to educational blogging from Microsoft.

And a more comprehensive reflection http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com/Important+considerations

Seeing is Believing

2009-07-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes somethings just are!
When we worked as a team investigating the use of games in education one of our
goals was.

To determine the best method of student involvement in the game that will maximise student learning .

We posed this question to teachers and students as well as videoing what happened when we got 100 students together for a big game day. The video is below What do you think?

Game playing changing learning

2009-07-09T01:14:00.001-07:00

We had 100 students in the last week of term working face to face in teams with people they had never met until the day of collaboration.
They were playing a game called Viva piñata as part of a Microsoft innovative Schools Project. Below is a wordle of what they added for plus into a PMI (plus minus interesting) of the effect the project has had on learning. The other “etherpads” are available here. The oral communication, group work and interdependence were what impressed me most with the learning that took place. The project has exceeded our expectations in terms of engagement and the development of key competencies.

I was also hoping that the online publishing and purpose for writing would lead to self editing

and the audience of peers encourage a high standard of written work. I still believe this to be achievable. Many

blog posts showed articulate well thought out ideas and adherence to language and genre conventions.

Some postings had a rushed compliance feeling. Perhaps some writers were content with their visual and oral collaborations and were reticent to put effort into constructing the web presence of blog posting.

Have a look here for the students’ writing or in the iframe below for a sample.

Tinychat is big collaboration

2009-06-23T03:01:00.001-07:00

Came across this from an oz/nz online meeting and think it ticks the right boxes.

My real respect for this comes from the lack of barriers to entry. This is a video conferencing space

that allows people to video chat with up to 8 participants and chat with upto 100 others. I tried to join a couple of rooms that were on Iran and the election. There was no one in them and I guess that shows that purpose is required and that we need a tinychat only when we need a chat. So when do we need one.

When the people are far away and we know them but can’t be with them.
When we are co-constructing a topic, event or experience
When we are wanting feedback form an unbiased and neutral
When creating home school partnership
If we believe there is some extra learning and competencies being created as a result

Tomorrow is a big day

2009-06-17T03:09:00.001-07:00

Extracts from what I want to say about the need for open access fibre networks to connect learners, learning organisations the world over.

I was unable to attend the first planning meeting of the group who have organised this event but have since understood the brief given for this part of the day’s programme to be look at Wow technology .

I was somewhat uncomfortable about this at first because afterall we were to address school principals. People who have had technology pitched to them over along period of time. Often we have shown you the big picture, the future, nirvana, the promised land of technology. And the education landscape is littered with failed promises, the unused and the past its use by date. We all know there are some realities around education that have not always worked in well with life on bleeding edge of technology.

So before we consider wow factor I think it is important to look to look at the future through rose tinted glasses, through binoculars and under the microscope. We will not be able to do this in the timeframe of one day or meeting but what we may be able to consider is relationship of network connectivity to what we are trying to achieve as learning organisations. This will add to our ability to move towards a preferred future rather than the default one.

Connectivity is at the heart of this meeting and we will briefly outline the different types of network connection people are using to be part of the internet.

In terms of wow technology we have chosen a video conference and matched its participants to further discussion the potential of learning over networks.

This we hope will give a working example of the capacity of fibre optic bandwidth unachievable without such a connection.

We will look at what one New Zealand Council believes about the need for open access fibre networks.

What is happening with infrastructure

A student starting school today if attending till year 13 will leave in 2022.

From Ian Jukes

In Broad Sweeping Generalisations

We are increasing the number of devices because of

Weight
Cost
Battery life
Reliability
Connectivity
Functionality
Value of the network to which they connect

The implications are

We need either greater simplicity/reliability of equipment or greater technical support
Increased device density requires better internal networks especially wireless
Learners create more as well as consume
School/community partnerships and
anytime anywhere anyhow learning grows
Much of this relates our new curriculum whose vision is “for young people who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.”
And this relates perfectly to networks and connections.

I hope it goes well tomorrow.

Are We connected ?

2009-06-14T22:45:00.001-07:00

Well is being connected becoming increasingly important and contributing to learning. Here in New Zealand the vision of the new curriculum is

“for young people who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.”

What we get from connectivity is an opportunity to talk with others, participate and be heard in ways that weren’t possible. I was reading the newspaper the other day a story about a woman whose partner is working overseas. They have a Skype conversation every morning and night. They do not feel separated.

When learners connect something happens too.

We have a meeting this Thursday of local school Principals talking about the possibility of connecting up to a local fibre service. I hope this will bring about more understanding of connectivity. I would like to have some reflections from around the world about when they feel/have felt connected and whether this matters. Click on either of the pictures to add your thoughts to when and why we are connected. If you don’t feel like writing just a name and where you are from will be fine.

Assurance and why assessment is a bad word

2009-05-28T02:07:00.001-07:00

Are we still focused on the assessment of reading age and other quantitative measures in New Zealand? Here is an explanation of what the “six year net” does. For those overseas the six year net looks at reading for six year olds and traditionally provided an opportunity for those struggling to enter a reading recovery programme. This is still the case today. From ministry sources

"What is the 6-year old net?
The 6-year old net is a literacy test carried out with each student when they turn six years old. It measures a student's knowledge and understanding of letter identification, how much they know about how books, text and pictures work, basic word recognition and how many words the students can write in 10 minutes dictation."

We do need to assess how students are going in literacy and numeracy to understand where they are at and to attempt to place the learner in a place where they can read to learn rather than learn to read.This also provides some meaningful data and attempts to identify students who may struggle to have the literacy skills to personalise their learning.

These assessments are what we know how to do are they not.

But

I wonder if these will help achieve learning needs?

What are they? the national academy of engineering even see to “advance personalised learning” in the top 14 challenges of the 21st Century

Make solar energy affordable.
Provide energy from fusion.
Develop carbon sequestration methods.
Manage the nitrogen cycle.
Provide access to clean water.
Restore and improve urban infrastructure.
Advance health informatics.
Engineer better medicines.
Reverse-engineer the brain.
Prevent nuclear terror.
Secure cyberspace.
Enhance virtual reality.
Advance personalized learning.
Engineer the tools for scientific discovery.

I wonder if existing assessments will assist our aspirations for personalising learning?

could we have

My life education net ????

It measures the students understanding of how contribute positively to their immediate family, friends and the wider community.

It measures the students keep themselves healthy and assist in the well being of those around them.

It looks at how many practical things the student can do and how their skills are helping to make the planet sustainable.

Have had this post in draft for a while and with little else in the pipeline time to let it rip.

Staying safe on Skype

2009-05-18T02:09:00.001-07:00

I have Skype, my nieces have Skype, my daughter has Skype. Who doesn’t ?

One class I was working with talked about using a multi-participant chat as a backchannel much like twitter.
This is a good idea and one I intent to trial later this week with classes from three different schools

A parent however reminded me of the opportunity for an outsider to intrude on a chat or directly contact
students without their request. I order to deal with this students need to alter their privacy settings.
Perhaps the selections shown with red arrows are the most appropriate. In other countries the students would
be protected at school from this possibility of unwanted contact. I like the idea that we can help them learn to manage this themselves.

Look out for Nerd Girl

2009-05-09T20:14:00.001-07:00

Look out for Nerd Girl aka Kristine Kopelke.

I am going to see if we can get Nerd Girl to come to New Zealand. When I attend workshops presentations I see two main possibilities for them to be highly successful in changing my thinking practice or beliefs.

The first possible type of Professional Learning Success...

This is achieved by facilitating dialogues within a group where people share ideas reflect on big questions or are somehow active and learning by doing. There was great dialogue on the last day of MISC09 where participants rotated around the room with one member staying one going clockwise and one anti-clockwise. The questions presented were along the lines of

What insight have you got from the first two days that resonates with you?
What actions might you take on your return?

Why this professional learning works is likely because it addresses William Glasser survival understanding.

People feel empowered that they belong etc.

This is the type of professional learning that should be provided 80 % of the time. I hope facilitators understand this as a key understanding for working with learners.

The second possible type of Professional Learning success...

Is where the facilitator delivers their view point experiences and ideas in a more (sage on the stage style). For this to work I feel the presenter needs to use a unique lens (perspective) or reflection method to create something meaningful new and insightful for the audience.This second way is far more hit and miss: sometimes the presenter is delivering on a concept we don't understand, already understand or does so in a way that doesn't demonstrate originality or added value. Originality is about slight differences and comes from looking at something in a different way across disciplines and in exploration. This type of delivery will often lead to large differences in satisfaction between one audience member and another.

I thought Kristine was very good because her perspective was fresh yet logical: to look at what students are presently doing on the web as an insight into what we might get them to do and for what purpose.

What students were doing that struck a chord

If we are going to improve learning for students personalise learning and achieve higher potentials we need to pay heed to these ideas as mechanisms to assist students in our school environments.

The full presentation can be found here

Kristine Bluetoothed the presentation to a number of attendees flash enabled phones.

The application below will run on most Flash enabled mobile phones and can also be navigated through online by using the enter, arrow and number keys on the keyboard.

Right click here and select Save target as to download the app for your Flash enabled mobile phone or device.

To view the app here online, click on it with your mouse and then use the enter, arrow and number keys on your keyboard to navigate through the application.

Links for Kristine

Something that begins with play

Contact: Kristine Kopelke -

Tel: 5459 4590
Learning Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast
URL: http://www.earlyphaseicts.com

http://www.flashclassroom.com

Reason 1 Why we are moving to the cloud?

2009-04-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

Who Wants to manage servers?

What's the purpose of managing these?

If they can't be accessed in anywhere anytime are they still of value?

The bubble share shows one medium sized schools infrastructure and we have invested many hours keeping this going.

Educational fibre loops and external providers should reduce this need.

We have moved 1 server from the rack which is the big hole at the bottom.

How do we escape? Step 1 google docs

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

Increasing intelligence

2009-04-26T03:03:00.001-07:00

I have always been interested the idea of developing the gifted and wondered why we aren't all inventing creating and displaying understanding at a high level. I was optimistic that we were becoming smarter and smarter as inhabitants of the blue planet. A visit to the Waikato Museum made me reflect on this. The Da Vinci exhibition here in Hamilton showed this man who lived over 500 years ago and did so much for us, so much thinking and doing in one lifetime. While this man was an exception it would be good to think that we could all be capable of more. In a conversation with Mark Treadwell I remember him saying "the world is running out of smart people." We certainly have some challenges ahead of us and will need to maximise our smart people. Is this just a case of genetics? Royce Helm the headmaster of my school talks of "Intelligence is like a balloon which can be increased". Can we provide the conditions for increasing intelligence and still keep the benchmarkers happy? I think the answer is yes. The assessment process for basic literacy numeracy skills needs to provide information naturally so that we can take care of the basics with out spending huge effort to work out what these are. I share Suzie's dislike for league tables found in the linked post. If we are to increase our intelligence balloons education has to step up to the plate and take responsible risks some of these of the top of my head are

any webspiration user who want to collaborate in this diagram can email me and I will add them as authors.

On a final note in my mind we are definitely going to need help foster creativity to help us. Here is a reflection from a team of teachers at school as to what may effect the fostering of creativity

New Literacies revisited

2009-03-31T01:56:00.001-07:00

Teachers are biggest effect

2009-03-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Having re-read some of John Hattie's research about the teacher having the greatest effect on learning. It seems to be reinforced as I watch the teachers in the xbox colab project working with learners and running their classes. I recorded the video below with Jo Wilson asking questions of Geoff Booth. I see how this is reinforced. The use of xbox 360s is succeeding because of:

clear instructional design
collaborative design
student voice
pursuit of key competencies
patience
research
organisation
feedback
emotional engagement

By the way the video was taken using my mobile phone a nokia n95 I am quite happy with the quality.

Netbooks are go.

2009-03-15T02:32:00.001-07:00

We are always looking for technologies that enable learning and engage learners. We have this year initiated a 1 to 1 netbook programme for year seven students. I have never been happier in my beliefs that connected students will learn better. A bold statement I know but the students learning is evident both in the classroom and out. We have had to extend access to our social networking site elgg with over 100 concurrent connections to the database. This is becoming the hub of literacy development (see Below) as the community kicks in. Here I see Metcalfe's law showing true in education only with a few subtle differences. Metcalfe's law states that "the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system" Well the same can be said for learning value as more people connect the more we can learn from each other. The students are also empowered by knowing the other people they see on their network. I will ask some of them questions about this next week but first need to get a list of network beliefs off my Chest. Please add to this via comments.

Network value and function depends on:

Number of people connected
A feeling of ownership
A feeling of engagement
Network having multiple links student-teacher, Teacher-teacher, student-student, student-parent etc
The ability of the network to support multiple concurrent connections which requires:
- High density Wireless provision
- High Speed internet provision
- Access to appropriate learning and social networks
- Anytime anywhere anyhow

Ownership and personalisation

The personalisation of the device comes from its size, connectivity and obviously belonging to the user. The photos I have taken around the school as I came across students and netbooks. All after class out of school.

Here We can see weekend engagement of students in the social network at Southwell School.

Shozu mobile uploader

2009-03-05T02:02:00.000-08:00

I have been using Shozu with my n95. It think it is pretty good sofar. Following is a movie of how to and a sample I have recorded with Divneet.

Just shows why so many people are marking mobile use a key tech trend.

Learning @ School

2009-03-01T02:07:00.001-08:00

Feedback to Change

2009-03-01T01:39:00.001-08:00

Cheryl Doig workshop at 1@s 2009

What I thought after workshop.

Student feedback is important for improving practice
Co-constructed classrooms will be more co-operative
Norms establishment is critical to class establishment
This high level of student voice requires community support and awareness
Difficult students require management strategies beyond student voice eg community and school voice
If we ask for student voice we must acknowledge it and act react so that students are sure this has been heard
We are entitled not to agree with student voice.

Notes from Workshop

Looking at engagement and examples of it. Cheryl has as many ?s as answers. Students can feel different and isolated at school because they are away from technology.

Students working together create a living breathing work. Combining Skype and Google docs for example. My belief is that literacy and communications skills will thrive in this environment

We discussed "Is full student engagement needed for learning." Four of us thought no we can multi-task. There are assume potions on beliefs we have about oar students experience. These do not always play out look at Sally Boyd's research at NZCER. United Kingdom group has placed student involvement into sitting, crawling, walking and Running. National College of School Leadership http://www.thinkbeyond.co.nz/assets/documents/Doig_SelfMan.pdf

Kelly Hines has asked students to keep feeding back to her. showing the students you will follow up on things is important.

Strategy One

Use student feedback to find out positives and areas for change.

Strategy two

Build driving forces reduce inhibiting forces.

Cheryl's wet-paint wiki on

community engagement.

Why Blog? What Blog? How Blog?

2009-02-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

Classblogs From Hamilton, NZ and Australia

Two classes from Southwell are going to look some class blogs

Learning intentions:
To be able to talk about blogging and posting on the internet with increased understanding of Layout, Use of Language, Formatting of text and connecting.

Make a comment on one of the blogs.
Make a post on either

Layout Design
Use of Language
Formatting

Connecting

Blogs we will visit

http://ffis.blogspot.com/ - Room 19 Fairfield Intermediate
http://melvilleroom8.blogspot.com/ -Mellville intermediate
http://room9nelsoncentral2008.blogspot.com/ - Room 9 Nelson
http://kpetv.blogspot.com/ - Pt England
http://la20.learnerblogs.org/ - Austrailian blog

Having looked at the blogs we will make one comment on a posting of interest.

The ????? we will address.

Formatting of Text
What do we think the most important elements of formatting text are while blogging?
Connecting
How do people connect to and from blogs?
What are our ideas for promoting a blog?
Language
What sort of language features are used in constructing a good post?
Design/layout
Looking at the whole layout of pages in the blogs we visited what would we say are features to use, avoid or develop?

Our posts are found here.

Introducing the tablets

2009-02-09T02:49:00.000-08:00

The video above shows Tim Bullock with a clear path to looking at the tablet with his students. The short reflections from students from another class helps us realise that the students have little real understanding of the potential of their devices and refer to uses they make of similar technology.

Jedd Bartlett in his blog
Points to a Jisc report that indicates there is more to ICT than natural use. “New report reveals the information needs of the researchers and learners of the future: The report by the CIBER research team at University College London claims that, although young people demonstrate an ease and familiarity with computers, they rely on the most basic search tools and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to asses the information that they find on the web…”

While addressing analytical skills I feel this reinforces my belief that outside of the teachable moment we need to still scaffold student learning with some clear learning design and intentions for the technology we are adapting more and more. The term "digital native" has been somewhat used as an abdication of reponsibilty for student learning. My feeling is we cannot merely hand over technology in the hope the students will work this out for themselves.

What can we do to improve this with students.(my initial thoughts)

Ask students to explore capabilities in some depth and work with others on them
Have students explore some technical communications on the web
have students post some technical communications to the web
Look at what others have achieved
Use co-constructed rubrics
Lay down explicit challenges
Be prepared to build base knowledge outside of inquiry
(authentic learning can take place here)
Discussion and role based group work
Always have a learning design

Please help add to or rephrase this list

The new decisions

2009-01-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this post is to look at the reasons I see for the new and increasing importance for schools to have robust, open and protected wireless networks. It is also to compare two products (Ruckus and Bluesocket) looking to provide solutions in this area as a cognitive reflection on our own decision making in this area.

Why wireless development.
With most schools having robust network backbone in place we want to escape wires to create a more natural connection allowing us to be more flexible in where we are able to support the diverging devices that are able to connect wirelessly.
Wireless access is of course not new but as we scale the clients in a network the throughput of our wireless system has to develop to provide acceptable service to each client device. Netbooks and mobile devices are bringing the feasibility of 1 to 1 for more and more schools, and indeed home environments. The use of wireless gateway devices allow us to control wireless traffic and present easy access to the internet for guests and a wide variety of devices eg psp, phones etc.
What we are doing at our school
In our school we are introducing 200 new wireless device to one building within the school and will extend this to include another 125-150 in 2010.

Making a choice
This is not an insurmountable problem as there are some clever options available vendors using the 5Ghz spectrum can have more radio channels overlapping and therefore greater Access point density. Most of the solutions also provide for self managing access points. By this I mean once a controller is established additional access points are able to find it and set themselves up. We have looked at four solutions to this wireless problem. The vendors being Bluesocket, Ruckus, Xirrus and Trapeze.

Ruckus

Advantages Ruckus Equipment.

The controller will not become a bottleneck for traffic as it is responsible for authentication, management rather than a router of traffic.
This requirement makes Bluesocket more expensive long term as client density will outgrow controller throughput.
The wireless access points work well in a noisy environment directing traffic to the clients that need it
The 802.11n APs are priced at a point that means we can move to this standard now rather than redeploy within two years.
We have also experienced the Ruckus Solution working at learning conferences here in New Zealand where many clients were able to connect and hold reasonable wireless service.
The Ruckus APS can work as mesh in other words find each other and extend their range without wires.

Disadvantages

Offers only 2.4 ghz radios which have only 3 channels available and may suffer if placed to close to each other.
Even though they operate in the 802.11n the n clients will not benefit until they are the only ones present as the access point will drop to meet the needs of the weakest client eg operate in 802.11b if a b client is present.
While the ruckus traffic is not directed through a router this means it will all take place on layer 2 of the network meaning that having a high density of clients is likely to degrade network performance for everyone.

We are still considering the verdict and at the moment we see ruckus as a terrific solution to medium density sites where meshing may be of benefit. In a higher density 1 to 1 environment we are starting to think it may struggle.

Will discuss other options in next post.

Cognitive Rehearsal -

2008-11-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

Hey; is this web tool Flowgram the death of powerpoint? I think so.
Well with a half decent internet connection this program is very flexible and powerful.
Of course best practise always needs to be established and finally I have a tip for recording voice.

Use a script!!

I am now sitting at the dining table eating fruit and crumble and able to add to this.

Use a script and provide time for cognitive rehearsal.

I feel we should do this when asking students for opinions, thoughts and solutions. Without the preparation of thinking and pre-planning even a hot jam session will struggle to impress.
Finally am I learning to learn?
Here is a flowgram created for the unconference the Journey Cluster held last week.
It is easy peasy.

Change change change

2008-11-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

This Literacy time line I made for a recent workshop pointed out that a couple of things have changed recently. What does this mean for teaching and learning.
Have added some new literacies below to add to this list

Do we need to rethink every thing?
Maybe not but we certainly need to question it?

New literacies? or literacies on the rise?

oral literacy
media literacy
visual literacy
cultural literacy
informational literacy
environmental literacy
operacy (see edward de bono)

add a quick comment if there is any thing feel would add to the timeline.

Movember

2008-11-14T15:29:00.000-08:00

I guess we are all entitled to one off task post.
I am growing a mo for mens' health.
Here it is day 15.
Donations go to great cause will post pic again later.

Using xbox camera and skype for video snapshot.

Five minutes on economic impact

2008-11-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

This is intended to be a five minute post on one to one computing and price point.
While not the only issue things have to be affordable for parents and schools.
The price of the same Acer Aspire one netbook as gone up 20 percent in the past month.
Ouch !!!
So the contenders are

The classmate pc
The acer Aspire one
The eeepc approx

Not sure if they have all gone up but:
What we would need to see is: offsetting this against other costs such as stationary
but also an improvement in student learning.
This is notoriously hard to measure.

Here is hoping the parent jury value and believe that a good teacher will see
students learning to learn and showing exciting outcomes and understandings
from a 1 to 1 experience.

By the way the classmate is my favorite because of the price/performance

And oops took 10 mins of time for post looks like price of time has also gone up

What matters matters

2008-11-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

The things changing in education should be carefully considered.
If you read/view any post on this blog make it this one.

Why change?
What is the purpose?

Two years ago our school moved a learning plan system that included
student voice and presence at parent interviews.

It made the learner central to this. At the time we had student interview some teachers and students who had been through the process.

It was change!
It had purpose!

It worked!

The above clip shows a teacher who carefully considers why he does things.
With the introduction of the learning plan he considered what would take the learner further.
He considered the purpose for the learner and what might effect them in the process.

I feel we need to this more. Engage learners and give them purpose and it will work too.

Face 2 Face has online down for count?

2008-10-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

Get engaged?

Wanting to reflect on what face to face and what online communication
and learning had to offer. I used the following to stir my thinking pot about it.

The Face To Face Curve

While not dismissing online interactions this representation points to some thing special
happening in face to face environments. It makes some sense to me having just been to the big face to face of Ulearn08. I believe that huge learning that can happen when we txt, blog, read and comment within our personal learning networks. The people we are involved with in these
spaces are more filterable and subject to our moderation. The New Zealand educators in my learning network may get verified by f2f meetings but there can be an interaction richness long before this. It would lead me to think that f2f can provide alot but the essence of effective learning may come about from other nuances likely to exist in that environment.

Average Retention Rates

The average retention diagram (from USA's National Training Laboratory)has some other insights in my mind as to what we might look for to maximise learning.
Given the f2f curve's proposition that communication, capability and richness increase as we approach a f2f threshhold the average retention throws down a different perspective.

Much participatory and active learning achievement can come from engagement in online learning.

Even some physical achievements are virtualised and placed online as performances, document of construction and actual events.

In fact the face to face often is now recorded to become the digital artifact.

Many bloggers have posting as a part of a personal learning network that has perhaps more emotional engagement and nuance (perhaps stretching it) than we would expect.

Facilitating f2f meetings will bring most for these bloggers when the same discussion groups, teaching of others and practice by doing is afforded by the face to face experience.

(note this diagram has been ousted as a hoax)

Students say no to Podcasts

Which brings me to no wonder we have students saying no to the lack of inspiration, encouragement and isolation where online learning is not well constructed and understanding interaction richness.

E-day and beyond

2008-10-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

Took a whole lot of equipment to the e waste day in Hamilton and was suprised with
a line up of cars queuing to drop off e waste. There were people being sent away who had trailers
of stuff. We had been stock piling crt screens which had been replaced with more energy efficient LCDs. We also had some wireless cards that were no longer compatible with our network.

It was good to see proactive people organising this waste.
We are a small country but we collected
over 900 tonnes of equipment.

“All equipment collected through eDay will be recycled by accredited recyclers who have advised us that over 95% of the materials in a computer can be recovered and re-used. Precious materials such as copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver can all be recovered from e-waste and turned into new products instead of being dumped in landfills,” said Mr Zwimpfer in Wellington.

What still scares me is that some one in China will probably burn off the plastic and inhale
the toxic fumes of disposal, wade in heavy metals etc.

To improve our sustainability we can purchase equipment designed for its end of life
and with less impact in its life.

Envirochips - the low power consumption of the intel atom chipset makes it the sustainability pick for all but higher end video editing tasks.

Three desktop units that may be suitable are

Asus EEEpc desktop

Shuttle x27

Very Pc company

And we need to have a way to recycle these with less burning and looting.

Looking at visual literacy yet again

2008-10-04T03:19:00.001-07:00

This is a simple but effective shaping example taken from a class at Selwyn Ridge on a visit a while back. Take photo white out tshirt shape. Write bio poem or similar. Nice so good to see a real image with the writing.

Mobile post sent by davein2it using Utterli. Replies.

Visual literacy

2008-10-02T18:44:00.001-07:00

Mobile post sent by davein2it using Utterli. Replies. mp3

Visual literacy Reality check

2008-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Visual literacy Reality check
I have interviewed Peter Walch an innovative teacher at Southwell School
about the impact of visual literacy on learning. Learners in Pete's class have told powerful stories with Visual Language driving the message. I asked Pete some questions about Visual Literacy and he came up with some interesting answers.

Video from 2007

Key Competencies in my classroom.

2008-09-07T01:40:00.001-07:00

The image below is taken from eduorigami a indepth look at learning from Andrew Churches of Kristin School. I used the image to help me consider what learning might look like for students. We have been asked as a staff to consider what we see as important with the key competencies so here Goes. What would it look like in my classroom? While Andrew's diagram is not only about competencies it has helped me to think where I stand with them. What would we try to work towards as a group.

Thinking

Creating something original and owning ideas
Real problem solving and reflection using
Teaching others how to do things about what we discover
Looking from different perspectives (the discipline of creativity)
Creative thinking across disciplines
Taking risks in problem solving

Communication

Real world communication (online publishing, blogging, commenting on others etc)
Working with and creating visual and oral communications
Media literacy (understanding the purpose and origin of media we see and hear)
Using digital tools to communicate effectively
Working with an Audience
Understanding and working towards realistic standards of work
Adapting and creating knowledge.

Managing Self

Self assessment and peer assessment
Regular Goal setting and review
Managing impulsivity with technology
Persistence and extending ability
Risk taking
Being the best we can be
Feeling ok with who we are
Act appropriately in a range of settings
Having our own strategies

Relating to others

View situations from others perspectives
Working with people distant in time and place
Peer review and support
Varied group work
Manners
Be an active listener

Participating and contributing

Social action informing others
Service
Team commitment and involvement
Operacy as in the ability to do and be part of something

What do you think about cyberbullying?

2008-08-31T02:42:00.000-07:00

I read a bebo comment where someone was called a loser and asked to "go cut themselves". I know that online insults often don't hold back. Well we notice more people involved in having their say. So "students" have a look at this video on youtube. Have your say Comment on any of the following or just make general comment about this clip.

Is cyberbullying real for you?
What would be different if this video was filmed in New Zealand?
How effective do you think this video was?
What methods of filming did they use to get their message across?
How is the talent show connected to cyber bullying?
If you were to make a video about cyber bullying what would it be?

Inventions

2008-08-26T02:31:00.001-07:00

A teacher at my school is working with young students using Dipity
Learners will feel proud to establish and share the information together.
What questions and discussions would bring learning to the fore here?

To stimulate students writing a story/poem about that image - enhancing creative and language skills
To encourage team work and foster collaboration and the sharing of a learning experience
To encourage critical thinking skills (e.g. describing a photograph from many different viewpoints)
To illustrate concepts and to show examples of what you are talking about during a lecture when you can't visit the real thing (e.g. building site practices, e.g. VR model of Roman villa) or see the item (e.g. chemical model)
To illustrate case studies (e.g. where text may prove to be slightly ambiguous an image can define points)
To enhance visual communication skills (e.g. decoding the message from a photograph)

Please comment.

Inventions

Posted using ShareThis

When do we go with the cloud?

2008-08-24T04:16:00.000-07:00

Determined to post. In the cloud ?

As microsoft schools agreement comes to a close do we jump onto the cloud in the
hope that we won't fall through?

The reasons why to jump

the netbooks with microsoft are

slower to boot
more battery hungry
invest development in a fading star
are expensive and focus efforts on what is known

Life on the cloud

looking at things with new perspective
collaborative opportunities to the fore
blending and mashups are more able to personalise experiences
anywhere/anydevice
less complicated
more universal

We have one teacher embedding dippity in one of our online spaces. Their investigation of inventions was well suited to this. So long as we keep our eyes and ears out for purpose the
web won't let us down.

Reality Check 1

2008-06-15T03:50:00.001-07:00

Reality Check 1

I have always backed visual images and sound as great learning tools. There is more information in these than text. I am interested in what information and collaboration will develop with a group using text about Darfur compared with one using a Youtube video clip.

What Students produced from the thinking tool

Think
Puzzle
Explore

Comments on Learning

going with google

2008-04-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

I guess I am a believer in google.
But Why???
So what is so good about a google map, doc etc.
For me the same opportunity is consistent. Collaboration is my preferred learning style in this web environment. Creativity, added knowledge and personalisation make me feel as if I can serve some purpose.When we add and individualise a map we are adding knowledge value. As others add knowledge this increases further.

historical events
story telling where event move from one location to another
all the place where you can eat, exercise, view
all the places to collect, pine cones, water
areas that are changing
holiday spots measure distance
school camp description
becoming familiar with other people and worlds
poems
water quality sample results
oral history map references

Here is a map I have been using to test some of the features in Googlemaps

View Larger Map

here is a link to a google earth in education page

head, shoulders, knees and toes

2008-03-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

This post started as a quick rant on the need to consider health in learning. I have revised this to saying we need to consider how we learn: engaging with reality, rather than utopian ideals, using research alongside beliefs and past experiance.

This star gazette article talks up the importance of exercise in offering brain-related benefits such as reducing stress and improving attention.
There are some schools where exercise is making way with keeping up with requirements in other areas.
To me it reminds us that some of the most important things in education maybe quite subtle health, diet, art, music, emotional engagement ,values, learning a second language etc. I say maybe as I feel this is what we need to come to understand . My concern is that we will repond to the challenges of the future with an increasing number of checklists rather than an agreement of what is important.
Julia Aitken talks about learning to learn. So the question for me is will being healthy and involvement in music help add to engagement levels when engagement is what is wanted at the highest levels. This reminds me of the need also for downtime when new understanding is hard. For example moving from a demanding session of maths to another one in formal language may actually reduce understanding with the brain not allowed time to build pathways for this learning.

Some recent research concludes

The brain performs many functions simultaneously. Learning is enhanced by a rich environment with a variety of stimuli.

Learning engages the entire physiology. Physical development, personal comfort, and emotional state affect the ability to learn.

The search for meaning is innate. The mind's natural curiosity can be engaged by complex and meaningful challenges.

taken from a table of the implications on brain research for how we learn

Recent Research Suggests	Teaching Suggestions
The brain performs many functions simultaneously. Learning is enhanced by a rich environment with a variety of stimuli.	Present content through a variety of teaching strategies, such as physical activities, individual learning times, group interactions, artistic variations, and musical interpretations to help orchestrate student experiences.
Learning engages the entire physiology. Physical development, personal comfort, and emotional state affect the ability to learn.	Be aware that children mature at different rates; chronological age may not reflect the student's readiness to learn. Incorporate facets of health (stress management, nutrition, exercise) into the learning process.
The search for meaning is innate. The mind's natural curiosity can be engaged by complex and meaningful challenges.	Strive to present lessons and activities that arouse the mind's search for meaning.
The brain is designed to perceive and generate patterns.	Present information in context (real life science, thematic instruction) so the learner can identify patterns and connect with previous experiences.
Emotions and cognition cannot be separated. Emotions can be crucial to the storage and recall of information.	Help build a classroom environment that promotes positive attitudes among students and teachers and about their work. Encourage students to be aware of their feelings and how the emotional climate affects their learning.
Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates parts and wholes.	Try to avoid isolating information from its context. This isolation makes learning more difficult. Design activities that require full brain interaction and communication.
Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception.	Place materials (posters, art, bulletin boards, music) outside the learner's immediate focus to influence learning. Be aware that the teacher's enthusiasm, modeling, and coaching present important signals about the value of what is being learned.
Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes.	Use "hooks" or other motivational techniques to encourage personal connections. Encourage "active processing" through reflection and metacognition to help students consciously review their learning.
We have at least two types of memory: spatial, which registers our daily experience, and rote learning, which deals with facts and skills in isolation.	Separating information and skills from prior experience forces the learner to depend on rote memory. Try to avoid an emphasis on rote learning; it ignores the learner's personal side and probably interferes with subsequent development of understanding.
The brain understands best when facts and skills are embedded in natural spatial memory.	Use techniques that create or mimic real world experiences and use varied senses. Examples include demonstrations, projects, metaphor, and integration of content areas that embed ideas in genuine experience.
Learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.	Try to create an atmosphere of "relaxed alertness" that is low in threat and high in challenge.
Each brain is unique. The brain's structure is actually changed by learning.	Use multifaceted teaching strategies to attract individual interests and let students express their auditory, visual, tactile, or emotional preferences.
Caine, R.N., Caine, G. (October 1990). Understanding a Brain Based Approach to Learning and Teaching. Educational Leadership 48, 2, 66-70. (Excerpts). Adapted by permission of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Copyright 1985 by ASCD.

Set them free

2008-03-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

How network dependent are we?

Well we have just about signed off on the development of a wireless gateway at the school where I work. A what?
A wireless gateway is a computer networking device that routes packets from a wireless LAN to another network, typically a wired WAN. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless gateway
or off the top of my head
"A mechanism for providing wireless access to a network and controlling the traffic on it."
We are using a bluesocket solution. This will mean that all kind of devices and visitors can use our network to access the web or other resources while we remain safe in our data and internet connection.
It is funny but it strikes me that both are necessary now. An organisation needs to be able to host others on its network as life without internet becomes informationally untenable. This is coupled with people's realisation that their devices are wireless capable if only the environment in which they find themselves can provide network access.
Devices like this psp or the eeepc above or dare I say it phones. I am just continuing this post having transferred my device from an expensive ibm x60 tablet running vista (a problem with fan noise is driving me to drink) to my daughter's $500 nz eeepc. The screen size is different but the application is the same ie the web and what it connects me to.

The network the network the network.
Friends, sounds, opinions, information, differentiation, images, diversity, provocation, articulation, video, passive activity, aggregation, automation etc etc.
Outside of this there are many other applications of course but I feel the involvement of others is what makes the network the place to be.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:

thinking
using language, symbols, and texts
managing self
relating to others
participating and contributing.

All of these are network related. Now I am not saying that
network infrastructure is all there is BUT I can't see us resolving
key competencies without it. This all makes " the kids pay price for cellphones on Weblogg-ed " a sad read.
Let's ensure our organisations have wireless networks that are secure but they
must be open and able to be utilised widely. What do you think??

Current events?

2008-03-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

I am not a great fan of current events in the classroom.

Why? Because what we generally see as a current events programme is: a teacher decides what of value has happened in the past week maybe 2. (generally looking in newspapers and on TV).
The questions that are generated at an assessment level are trivial pursuit in nature. So why do we teach this?

The deep learning ?
Is it Thinking or Remembering?

So people fit in with the conversations in the street the chit chat etc. or perhaps so that we have a wider understanding of the world around us?
That I feel this is selling ourselves short.
Short on where we need to be for the future we need to be articulate about.
I feel we need to lift our overall level of understanding of politics, social issues, environmental issues tetc
Instead

Teach students reciprocal teaching
Work in wikis or online collaborations reflecting on current issue events
compare 2
Order five current events in order of importance state why?
Debate a case.
Use graphic organisers
Read each others blogs on current events
RSS Feed from news sites and even add specific google news search to follow a topic
Fight the desire to summatively assess recall
Nonlinguistic representation

I looked at some of Stuff from a wiki Marzano and web2.0
worth a browse.

Junior Students What is Important?

2008-02-24T00:35:00.001-08:00

Mark Treadwell Talked about the Juniors ie Students aged 5 to 7

At the Learning at Schools conference last week in Rotorua. He was talking about the need to remove pressure from junior classrooms for everything but language. He mentioned that science for example should have no real objective beyond say being amazed by the world around us. This could be achieved by looking at some things though a microscope (perhaps one a day for a week) The mosquito wing below is a prime example. The main message I see is to reduce and simplify moving to essential knowings and concepts rather than skills and discrete objectives. What we need to be comfortable with is what do student really need to learn at age 6? What Can they Learn?

The following are my thoughts on where Junior Schools might fit into
learning pathways.
langauge
Oral

listening

speaking

Visual

viewing, graphics
presenting

Written

Reading
Writing, txt

Operacy

doing stuff in the playground
exploring
manipulating stacking
fine motor skill development

Learning to live together.

Learning to think

Infrastructure - network

2008-02-17T00:32:00.000-08:00

It look to me that in most cases applications are moving to the network. My colleague and friend Mark Craven was talking about his belief that cloud computing is the way to go.

"cloud computing -- where applications and files are stored on a large, centralized supercomputer or network. The end user accesses his or her files using computers that are more streamlined but less sophisticated than today's typical machines."

I see some exceptions today with the power etc not quite there for video editing, high end gaming etc. But overall I think that Mark is right. Cloud computing is simple, reduces admin over heads etc. At the school where I work email, calendaring, planning, learning, photo galleries, wikis, forums etc already happen on the web. Portfolios reporting and collaboration are happening in this space also.
This is an organisational cloud in my mind.

Assets for cloud computing

big pipes with the network to the internet and back
virtualisation of servers so that demand can be met
from whole resource
back up of data to provide high Qos and response time
clear navigation and service understanding
consistent interface and a central portal organised
scalable so that new applications and client can be added

Infrastructure - people

2008-02-10T00:25:00.000-08:00

Have been working on a presentation for an upcoming conference.

This has been a reflection on 8 years of work in co-ordinating ICT
in a large New Zealand primary school. Probably the hardest infrastructure get
right is people. The more time I spend with technology the further I develop
my skills and comfort. Yet there are people who are yet to go online in any significant
manner or for any significant purpose.

As technologies become more reliant, powerful and ubiquitous those not on board
seem more conspicuous by their absence.

If we consider conceptual frameworks that
may provide a learning pathway for these people what might it be.

Logic -- Thinking
Risk taking -- Discovery
Questioning -- Making Meaning
Recognising patterns
Utilising others (along the line of Vygotsky's ZPD) -- Belonging

This group of concepts (competencies?) is quite similar to the core of this diagram
produced by Mark Treadwell

Reality Check

Reality Check Inventions

Learning to collaborate? – Games can help

potential

Connected Schools – Six mths in

Digital Citizenship – a big ask

6 Word Stories

Attribution:

www.flickr.com/photos/7764981@N05/2646109147

Inventions Scamper

digital citizen ideas from Derek Wenmoth

Reality Check -Inventions

The investigation prompts and some outcomes are below

Here are a few more links to inventions, and kid inventions; have a look.

Kid Inventions file

The Fun Theory file

What is happening to mobile phones? Resource

Heaps of inventions to look at. file

Kid inventors on Ellen Show Resource

This is what 4km thought what they did was to use typewith.me to describe everything they thought about where inventions come from and then we put them into this Wordle This is what we thought.

How students advertise.

Education Quotes

Motivation

Connected Kids Solve Problems

Google search Tips

Printing in Gmail

Letting kids learn

“The longer you wait for the future, the shorter it will be”

literacy/numeracy/operacy .

Have a look at the slideshow (just eight pictures) and I will explain what I mean.

A simple slideshow embed

Zac's Bridge thinking

Still banging on about it

Enough said

Googlewave don’t believe the hype?

Looking for acceptable use with head in sand

Engage or lose relevance

What Kids Are Doing - check 1 -

Reality Check - Digital Story

Google docs Ulearn

It's now and it's social if we let it

This is simple but effective somehow knowing that the word was someone's makes it more powerful.

“Twitter not about contacting people about finding out about stuff”

IT takes some planning

Software for Learning

“One stop shop for teachers looking to select software for learning.”

Hot NEWS from workshop

Reading the right thing

Networking for 1 to 1

Students View

Quizlet learn it and have fun

Purchasing/maintenance Questions for 1:1 programmes

Reality Check 4

Reality Check 3

Googledocs a quick learn

Easi-speak Guide

Te Mihi

Te Mihi

Thank you Linda

Iframe YouFrame Weframe

Basic iFrame HTML Code is in red I just copied it and changed the yourdomain to put the I love learning site in a frame below.

Optional iFrame Properties

The Dog Woke Me, The Blog called Me

Seeing is Believing

Game playing changing learning

Tinychat is big collaboration

Tomorrow is a big day

Are We connected ?

“for young people who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.”

Assurance and why assessment is a bad word

I wonder if these will help achieve learning needs?

I wonder if existing assessments will assist our aspirations for personalising learning?

My life education net ????

Staying safe on Skype

Look out for Nerd Girl

Reason 1 Why we are moving to the cloud?

Increasing intelligence

New Literacies revisited

Teachers are biggest effect

Netbooks are go.