The power of sharing ideas

I had a good day yesterday. The best part of my job is listening to teachers share their successes and ideas. I spent yesterday at Outram School and every teacher I worked with walked in with something they were proud of to share with me. What a buzz!

I had one teacher who had been exploring the use of glogster to make posters explaining algebraic equations. Another teacher had made her first digital story with PowerPoint on a Mac and then using the easy 'make movie' function to turn it into a Quicktime to post on her blog. The next teacher was buzzing from a workshop she attended at ULearn facilitated by Amanda (heymilly) on 5 frame storytelling. She had started with two frame stories with her 6 year olds and was delighted with their achievements. We discussed the next steps and how digital storytelling can enhance and enable oral language in students and the resounding "That's so exciting" could be heard emanating from the room. Another teacher had made the most remarkable printed storybooks with her juniors where their original artwork had been scanned.

Wow! All this after just one year in the cluster! I remember my first visit to the school where I met with some very uncertain teachers. Uncertain about their ability, uncertain about how useful ICT is for learning, uncertain about the cluster. I am really looking forward to watching these teachers' journey continue over the next two years.

ULearn08 Keynote - Steven Carden

The second keynote was presented, ably, by Steven Carden. This was a highly entertaining talk with a profound message. I asked the twit network to reflect on the keynote as it was happening and you can see their comments in the image to the left (click to enlarge).

The take away message from this keynote:

We are facing or experiencing rapid, extreme change - discussions are needed about our future. What sort of society do we need to be to survive in a changing society?

Steven argued that we are not ready for this change. We forget how small we are (NZ) on the world's stage. We do not have any profound answers... yet. Dialogue is needed.

Societies who are moving in a forward direction have three things in common:
Idea-generating
Ideas are needed to cope with a world that is changing

Idea-absorbing
Small countries like NZ can't generate all the ideas we need. We need to absorb them from elsewhere.

Willing to change


Steven asks what does all this mean for NZ's education sector?

1. The workforce needs highly adaptive people. The nature of jobs is changing dramatically
2. We need radically new ways of educating young people
3. It's all about YOU - the quality of the teachers in our schools is the key.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." (Alvin Toffler)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

ULearn 08 Keynote - Sheryl Naussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson

Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach opened the ULearn conference with an inspirational presentation with examples of students using blogs to make a difference.

Laura is a young girl who lost her grandfather, she decided in his memory to make a difference to the world. She tells her story at her blog http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com.

At a conference Laura was asked a question.

"Laura can you tell us how do you come up with your ideas of who to help."
She replied "I ask my readers."

Laura has a voice. She knows her opinions are valued. She feels empowered to make a difference and contribute. Do we allow this in our classrooms? I use the word 'allow' pointedly. Do our students get to use their voices?

It makes me think of the joke of the young girl spending her first week at school:
"Dad, I don't think I'll go to school anymore there really isn't any point"
"Why is that?"
"Well I can't read and I can't write ... And they won't let me talk."

21st century technologies allow us to have voices, to voice our opinion, to make a difference. These technologies are available for our students, our children. We must let students have their voices and we must make sure they know how to use these voices in an ethical manner and in a safe way.

That is our job as educators.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The official ULearn08 blog is up and running. Contributions of participants is what makes this conference so successful and as the Ulearn blog states:

A key component of ULearn08 will be the contribution by participants to the understanding and knowledge being created during the conference through blogs, wikis, podcasts and online discussions. By subscribing to this blog you will receive regular updates about all of these, as well as some examples, and guidelines for getting involved yourself.

So add the Ulearn blog to your aggregator in preparation for the conference.

Sharing the Blogger's Cafe

I have been talking with Adrian Bruce from Australia and Chrissy (NZChrissy) who is soon to be moving to Bangkok to start an exciting new phase of life, and they both mentioned wanting to be included in the Blogger's Cafe, and our uLearn experience, virtually.

So here is a challenge for those of you attending uLearn and joining in the fun at the Blogger's Cafe, how can we make this happen? What are the best online apps at our disposal for bringing in others from around the globe? What have you tried and what do you want to try?

Ulearn 2008

Ulearn 2008 is fast approaching, this year it is being held in Christchurch from 8th to 10th October. This is a quality conference, I have attended ULearn for the last 4 years and have found it a dynamic experience each year. The Keynote speakers this year are Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach from the USA, Steve Carden and our very own Derek Wenmoth, Director of eLearning at CORE Education.

I am presenting three workshops so far :

The first presented with Jane Carroll, speech and language therapist:

How does "oral language" fit into the ICT world?
In this highly interactive workshop we will examine oral language development and how and where oral language fits in the New Zealand Curriculum and other new resources coming out of the Ministry of Education. We will demonstrate how ICT can develop oral language skills, critical thinking and reflection in your classroom.

The second and third presented with Christina Ward and Jenny Keeton, CORE Education:

We are suggesting a pedagogy where the participants in the learning interaction become involved in the process of collaboration, in the process of mutual storytelling and re-storying, so that a relationship can emerge in which both stories are heard, or indeed a process where a new story is created by all the participants. (Bishop and Glynn, 1999)

The New Zealand Curriculum Online is an environment designed for schools to share their developing knowledge, challenge thinking and effect change. In this hands-on session we will explore ways you can use the rich resources available on NZC Online to help you collaborate within your own school community, and to connect with the wider education community as you implement the NZC.

If you want to build a boat, do not instruct the people to saw wood, stitch sails, prepare tools, and organise the work... but rather, make them long for setting sail and traveling to distant lands. (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)

What's online that can help you with curriculum implementation? This lively, hands-on workshop is designed for those who haven't yet had time to explore the rich resources available and opportunities to share and discuss online.

There are also a selection of 13 pre-conference workshops offered on 7th October. I'll be supporting Mel Stopford of CORE Education in the workshop "You can lead a horse to water..."

As you can see there is plenty in this conference for everyone. You can find all the details on the website at http://ulearn.org.nz.

And of course... I look forward to seeing you all at the blogger's cafe... However, for this conference I'm proposing a "Twits" cafe, I have many more Twits I would like to meet face to face.

See you at ULearn.