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At times, depending on budget allocations, I could go off to a PD to hear what was happening with Literacy or with new technologies. This information sat with me until I was ready to use it or would be buried within my mind with all the chores that were more pressing at the time.

In 2008 this would no longer be enough for me and wonder if it is enough for others. Admittedly I am not a graduate teacher anymore but still feel that there is a wealth of new knowledge and experiences, especially in the area of ICT out there that I cannot ignore. So would my immediate colleagues be able to support my desire to learn and grow now?

In the last 8 months my life as a teacher and learner has changed somewhat to include a new online Professional Learning Network (PLN). A network that is growing and fluid enough to accommodate my wonderings and discoveries, my shifts in mindset and my whims.

I joined online communities such as –

Classroom 2.0 – http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/helenotway

Twitter – http://twitter.com/helenotway

And social book-marking networks -
Delicious – http://del.icio.us/helenotway
Diigo - http://www.diigo.com/dashboard/helenotway

As a result of joining these online communities and developing them into my own PLNs, I have been on a huge learning curve and also a journey that I have some say, in how and when I learn. I am able to self regulate my professional growth and can share my reflections along the way through the same networks that support me. This blog helps me to process and document my journey.

Recently I met up with, what I choose to call, my new Learning Partners. These were educators who I had met online through Twitter and our respective blogs, through Diigo and more recently Second Life. It was wonderful to meet them in real life, but know they are just a tweet away in my PLN.

This is a photo taken recently at the ICTEV 2008 Conference, on Saturday May 24th. Jo McLeay, Tony Richards and Jess McCulloch are enjoying an ‘unconference’ in the sun. Without my online PLN I would not have known these educators, nor would I have been able to share and learn with them.

Earlier this month Sue Tapp organised our first Bloggers Feast in Melbourne. We had a wonderful time. You can hear and read about it here -

Tony Richards – EdTechCrew Podcast
Sue Tapp – And Another Thing
Jo McLeay – The Open Classroom

Could you get by without your PLN?

Well, in the last 24 hours I have mustered up the courage to delve into a whole new virtual world that is exciting and fresh and offers huge potential for interaction and learning.

To begin with I needed to download the application (about 72mb) and then had to register with a user name and a password. I used my own first name but needed to choose another second name – I became Helen Moonite. Pretty cool sounding name I think!My next step was to choose an avatar that I could later modify.

Upon entering Second Life I was run through a series of tutorials that help you to communicate, travel, and modify appearance. In this area I was supported by other newbies who were just one step ahead of me.

Today I went into Jokaydia, a region created by Jo Kay from Wollongong. Here a number of OZ/NZ educators met the night before. Unfortunately I was late in last night so decided to go and explore tonight. I found a few twitter friends there, including barbs1, Laurenogrady, heymilly, efreeman and jokay. Jokay was amazingly helpful to the newbies and made you feel very comfortable even after the many mishaps that can happen when you are still learning to walk, fly and even get dressed.

This is a screen shot of me as Helen Moonite standing in front of the Edublogs sign.

As I said the possibilities for learning and interacting are many and in the next few weeks I will explore these further. Please feel to add how you use Second Life in your educational setting.

Where are you now? Oh, I see you. On the couch reading. Feet up. Using your laptop with a small snack by your side. Lights low. Music going, telly in the background. Did I just see you get up to get a drink?

With Information and Communication Technology (ICT) becoming more prominent in classrooms since I was in school (and most parents of our students these days) the physical layout has had to change somewhat to accommodate computers. In my experience I have seen a variety of ways that teachers and administrators have decided to arrange the technology in the classroom.
When I returned to teaching in 2000, computers were neatly positioned at the side of the classroom and students would sit facing the wall to do their work independently as part of rotations.

Then as a school we moved to positioning the computers at each table cluster. There was normally 4 table clusters in a room. This meant the students would have a computer at their table without having to leave. They often worked in pairs or in groups.

In my last classroom in this school I was lucky enough to be part of the pilot for laptops in a classroom. We had four laptops in my room and they no longer needed to be neatly set up against a wall or positioned at a table. They were free to roam around for learning to take place anytime anywhere! And boy did it!

I would have to say that when we moved from computers fixed to walls to becoming mobile units that could be used anywhere in the room to anywhere in the yard, then this was the time learning took off in my classroom. My Grade 5 students would pick up a laptop just like they would pick up a pen or a book. If they needed to research, look up a word, publish or even create a music piece the laptop joined them wherever they were.

So that’s where the computers are!

“A couch! Cool. Looks like a lounge room” says a wide-eyed newbie to the room.
“Check out all the cute stuffed toys,” says her friend.
“My classroom never looked like this,” joins in Sam.
And these were just a sample of comments coming from the parents!!
You can imagine the pleasure I felt when I could hear these positive comments, and the affirmation that this may have been the beginning a great learning environment. Hesitantly the parents left their children’s classroom and my year began with a new group of students.

I have to thank the forward thinking leadership in one of my schools for supporting teachers in their quest for creating learning spaces that were appealing and inviting to students. As teachers we were given a small budget at the beginning of the year that was purposefully for establishing a learning environment. This supplemented what we as teachers often spend ourselves creating the classroom we would want to spend time in if we were students.

What can I buy this year? Hmm lets see –
• Floor cushions
• Dr Seuss stuffed toys
• Oils and a new oil burner
• Stable tables for floor work
• Colourful table covers

Now what have I got from home that I can use –
• An old but comfy couch and recliner
• More stuffed toys my kids no longer want
• Floor rug
• A pink CD player
• Bean bag and scatter cushions

“Now kids, what can we do to make this our room?” I ask.
“Can we paint the tables like Mrs M’s room?” ask the kids.

So we set off on our first inquiry of the year…
How do we create a great place to learn? How should we paint the tables? What colours should we use? What sort of designs would promote thinking and learning? How do we decide the groups we work in?

Now where are the computers?