In a couple of weeks time it will be one whole year since we (WMR Ultranet Coaches) organised and held the NOW Online Conference. It was a great event and we had some wonderful presenters talking about three main themes – CREATE, COLLABORATE and COMMUNICATE.
NOW 2008
These themes are still strong ones that are being explored in schools and educational forums. Earlier this evening I was looking through recent tweets on Twitter and came across one from klbeasley and it made me think back to these three themes.
The three Cs
So what has happened over the last 12 months? How have we moved on and helped our students become creators of new knowledge, communicate their ideas and understandings, and collaborate with others at school and beyond school?
Even though I am no longer an Ultranet Coach, I have seen and heard of some gains within my region, although still feel that there are many competing priorities for schools that often it is difficult to make the big gains.
Now that I am working within one school I have been able to watch some of these themes being explored by our teachers. Like other schools, we too have had many priorities, one of which is starting everything from scratch. Being a greenfields school there was a lot to establish – curriculum, policies, vision, uniform, and so on. However, I am pleased that with time and the right understanding of how ICT can be used to leverage learning, we are moving forward.
Our 5/6s have just recently made links with an International School in Bangkok, whilst our Year 7 have just recently live blogged with Anne Mirtschin’s Year 7s at Hawkesdale P-12. We are hopeful these links will be developed over the next term.
We are still learning and still experimenting with these themes and technologies but it is happening
Earlier this year I wrote a couple of posts about developing a PLN (Professional Learning Network), and just last week I presented at the VITTA Conference about ‘The Power of the online PLN’. It was very much a reflection of how I had developed my own network over the year as a direct result of me needing to learn more about new technologies and online tools for learning, for my role as an Ultranet Coach.
The talk I gave highlighted four key tools that got me connected -
Now I am moving into a new role, that of Assistant Principal for a new college (currently undergoing a name change) with a focus on ICT and Student Learning for the 21st Century. With this in mind I am planning on developing learning programs that exploit networking tools and new technologies.
Our students are widely connected in their own lives and would benefit from having similar networks cultivated for their learning to become richer and more meaningful.
Only last week a colleague, Stony River, sent me a link to a great video called “The Networked Student”. I think it is great video that will help me promote this style of learning to my staff, students and parents.
Whilst looking through some resources on the ePotential, I came across a video that was made about my classroom (as well as others). It was shot in 2006 and this was the last year I taught at Essendon Nth Primary School. Renee Hoareau, Executive Officer from VITTA was on the production team.
This year has been a wonderful experience for me. I have worked as an Ultranet Coach for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development within the Western Metropolitan Region. Within this role I have worked with 28 schools and leadership teams, as well as a range a teachers who have participated in the ICT Peer Coaching Training that I have facilitated.
The work has been varied over the year but on a clear goal to support schools in using the Ultranet, an online learning environment that will be released over the next two years.
Some of the work has involved -
building awareness around the Ultranet initiative
introducing schools to the ePotential Survey and Resource
helping leadership teams unpack the data from the survey
guiding eLearning Planning
developing tailor made professional learning for schools
organising school visits for leadership teams to see best practice
planning and facilitating a region based ICT Peer Coaching Program
running hands on workshops on Web 2.0
running hands on workshops with Macs
leading curriculum planning with ICT in schools
embedding ICT across the school and curriculum
planning and running an online conference
presenting at conferences
I feel I have made a difference to these schools – some in slight ways and others as huge turn-around in the attitudes and mindsets of how ICT can be embedded in learning.
I have loved my job and enjoyed meeting so many teachers and leaders in the region. This is the last week that I am in this role and will be moving on to a new role as an Assistant Principal in a brand new school.
Today I have experienced a talk by Liz Murphy from LMGM about using the Internet for communication, collaboration and real life learning, as part of the ACEC2008.
Using video conferencing tools like Elluminate and Centra you can begin to incorporate many real life experiences. Simply by having a laptop, webcam, headset and a wireless card you can bring the real life situation to the classroom.
Normally the way I have used video conferencing is by setting up a virtual space or classroom where there is either one speaker or a few speakers to present or share their content and ideas. An example of this is our own NOW Online Conference scheduled for early October.
However, Liz explained how a teacher or an outside expert can present information that is within the context of the topic and create an online learning environment that is rich and real. In other words being on the ground where the action happens and then streaming back into the classroom. Liz has many examples on her website.
Global events can be captured by having presenters from any area of the world, collaborating on shared topics. The picture below is from Liz’s website demonstrating the locations of the presenters for her collaborative project for the International Year of the Dolphin
Working in this capacity allows for immediacy between experts and participants. Questions are asked and answered and ultimately learning is not just from the experts but also through the conversation and collaboration. The video conference media can be edited and archived for future reference.
Our very first online conference is fast approaching. The WMR Ultranet Team has been sponsored by the Knowledge Bank, DEECD to host an online conference.
The purpose of our conference is to support our teachers and leaders in the Western Metropolitan Region, as well as others from around the state and globe. Our three key themes are Create, Collaborate and Communicate. Our program is designed around these themes with a look at tools such as wikis and blogs, digital stories, mobile technologies, and strategies around thinking, cyber-safety, budgeting and resourcing for effective eLearning.
We have some wonderful presenters lined up with Kym Nadebaum as our keynote presenter. Kym’s session “The Song Remains the Same” is sure to raise as many ICT questions as it answers. Other presenters include Anne Mirtschin, Stephen Palmer, Tony Richards, Peter Davis, Trudy Brentnall, Louise Bowe, Rob Pyers, Colin Schot and Martin Mielimaka and the Ultranet Team.
Our online presentations run between October 7th and 9th. To support these sessions we have also planned hands on workshops between October 21st and 30th. So I guess, it is a hybrid – virtual and f2f.
A full program can be seen on our Ning and on our wiki. You can also join our Ning and create your own profile.
Since 2000 I have been dabbling in the use of digital portfolios with my primary school aged students. Back in 2000, the teachers at my school experimented with dubbing school events, such as excursions and special days, onto video tapes. Wow, was that an effort! Video recorders, banked on top of each other in order to save time. Argh!
We then started to redefine the purpose of the digital portfolios and develop some thinking about how to implement them. We wanted them to be a vehicle to not only showcase student digital work, but a place for students to reflect on their new understandings and challenges.
These were some of the important considerations. We wanted them to be -
With each of these headings we brainstormed some of the possibilities for adding to the digital portfolio. What I found really interesting, and so did the students, was that the same topic/activity could be grouped under different headings. For example, a claymation about ‘Acid Rain’ could be added to the Creative Me, Organised Me or Investigative Me. Therefore, the students needed to justify why they were adding it to a particular section. Now that was powerful! Students would say things like -
‘Well, I had look up the information and find out things.” Investigative Me
“I had to make sure I was organised and on time.” Organised Me
The digital portfolios were are big part of the ongoing learning for the students, and built into the weekly planning by teachers. The students took great pride in their portfolios and were burned to CD for them to take home.
I wonder now how the Web 2.0 will impact on the purpose and implementation of the digital or e-portfolio?
Saw this great video on a post by Frances Manning. Like Frances, I can see the possibilities in using such a video in the classroom. It can be used to explore -
counting 1 – 100
one to one correspondence
stages of the human lifespan
identification of the differences and similarities of humans
And, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the students then had an opportunity to create their own movie or slide show to demonstrate their understanding of similar concepts. Perhaps an animation? A Voice Thread? Live action? A comic using Comic Life? The possible applications are endless and the possible learning outcomes huge.
This week a 2nd Bloggers’ Feast was organised. Unfortunately the turn out wasn’t as big as the last, but the company was great and the conversations fun and interesting. Jo McLeay organised the night and invited Andrew Churches whilst he was here in Melbourne visiting schools with his colleagues.
It was a great opportunity to catch up again with Jo, who inspires me with the work she is doing with her students. I learnt on the night, that Jo has been blogging with her students now for three years. Wow, that is fantastic and a what a great positive role model for those just starting out in the field. I know that I will be tapping into her experiences and expertise more this year.
Andrew was a pleasure to meet f2f for the first time. I have been chatting with Andrew on Twitter and via our blogs this year. I can’t remember exactly how long, but do know that his work on tweaking Blooms Taxonomy of Thinking into the Digital Blooms was what caught my attention in a big way. It supported the work I was doing in my region with helping schools integrate technology and providing some good example of high-level thinking and learning with technology (and not just for the sake of it). So wow, got to meet the guy who wrote it. Awesome. And a great fun guy too.
IWBs were brought up on several occasions. Both these educators have a lot to offer in their beliefs and practical knowledge in the use of the boards for ages P – 12. A great rubric was discussed that was created for the use of Interactive Whiteboards by Juliette Major (Education Services, Catholic Education Office of Canberra and Goulburn). This is certainly a way for teachers to self-reflect on their use and generate discussions in our (WMR Ultranet Team) IWB forum coming up this month.
Professional Learning for teachers can take many different shapes and forms. There can be workshops, presentations, action research and peer coaching. Most recently Online Learning Networks have emerged through the Read/Write Web allowing teachers to learn anytime, anywhere.
In their research Joyce and Showers (pdf) tell us that Coaching (Peer Coaching) is the most effective way to ensure skills and knowledge are transferred to the classroom. We all know how easy it is to lose IT if you don’t use IT!
As a classroom teacher myself for many years, I fully appreciate the need to have the real person right there by your side or just around the corner to call on for support. However, I also see the great advantages of the read/write web and that there are many opportunities to call on support in an online world.
So I am very excited about the possibilities of Peer Coaching and developing Professional Online Learning Networks – especially in the area of embedding ICT across the school and the curriculum.
I am running training in the Western Metropolitan Region this semester and look forward to meeting many teachers from both primary and secondary levels.
Training dates :- August 26th and 27th, September 12th, October 20th, November 10th, December 4th
