What happened in November

We had our last cluster get together, looking at how we progress in the future and how we can share ideas once the 3 years are over.  Some great ideas from the other schools, we will look at using Scratch next year to run some programming, probably starting as a lunchtime or before school activity.  ePortfolios are still on the horizon, perhaps trialling next year in one class.  Hardware is always an issue and that is something we need to really think about over the summer.

Other activities, we created a draft curriculum for years 1&2, 3&4 and 5&6.  This was rolled out at a staff meeting then discussed at syndicates.  The idea behind it is that many of the activities we are already doing, we are just putting some structure behind them.  Another interesting outcome from the development was a realisation our kids can use the software, but do not always have the depth of knowledge behind its workings.  Including a knowledge element to the curriculum will allow us to focus on that.

Rochelle is working hard to run school workshops for the kids, that means our current year 5's and some year 4's will get some training in mentoring the younger students, an introduction to responsibility with a view to becoming leaders next year.

Sure there is a lot more but those are the highlights.

Term 4 Posting

Week 3 was quite exciting, Rochelle and I ran a staff meeting introducing our ideas for an ICT curriculum within school.  It was recieved quite well, now comes the hard part of trying to implement it next year.

We also shared what had happened over the past 2 years, where we are at now and what we hope to happen over the next term, and a wish list for next year with the board.  Will be interesting to see what materialises from the board meeting.

Next week sees our final cluster meeting and dinner out in Lower Hutt.

Week 5 will see room 9 preparing to take workgroups around the school of younger students.

Exciting term.

ICT PD Day - Sept 12

Wednesday was a lead teacher cluster day out at Normandale.  We headed out to start thinking about a video diary highlighting what we have done over the last 3 years of the PD.  Rochelle and I managed to get one section completed, 5 minutes of video, which is more than we expected. Now we just have to complete the remaining 4 videos before the end of term so Lyn can complete the final milestone for the Ministry.

Peter

Term 3 has been a very busy term and most of the first half was taken up with the production. As part of our production we were able to utilise some of the skills the students have learnt, we had student editing music using Audacity, making their own music using Garageband, using iMovie and also using the digitial cameras for photography and videoing.  The production was a great success.

Weekend Workshops

Saturday 9th June

A day out at Boulcott School with 2 guest speakers.
The first was Derek Wenmoth who talked about the purpose of ICT in learning and how we need to make sure technology is inclusive. 

The second speaker was Mark Osborne from Albany Senior High, he discussed BYOD and how they developed the wireless at Albany High.

Below are some notes from the day.

ICT Cluster Professional Learning Day

Derek Wenmoth: Director of eLearning CORE education

Pass the Learning:

“What is our purpose?” Huge investment in ICT in New Zealand, so what is the impact? Change happens and has always happened.

“Technological change is not additive, it is ecological”. A new technology doesn’t just change something…….. it changes everything”

Have we reached a tipping point in education?:

1980’s: Added computers to the classroom, put in the back of the class. (games)

1993: Commercial web browser, came to NZ in 1995 and teachers were the first to see and use the world wide web. Opened up the world to everyone: stuff!

2000’s: Transition from world wide web of it as a consumer environment to communication and sharing information. Instead of taking information from the web able to share what you knew on the web. The power of the social network

Trends:

- Will become more digital and more mobile, multimedia.

(cool clip about future technology: glass company/Sweden winning world cup)

Digital: More things are connected to the Internet than there are people!

Openness:

- GCSN: Greater Christchurch Schools Network website. The need that came out of the Christchurch earthquake was the importance of kids being able to work from home, getting rid of the walls of the classroom.

-       Hippo Campus Resources: gave them a free subscription to Christchurch schools. Great animation resources

-       OER university: imitates

-       Wikieducator.org: resource development into this environment

-       Kids need to be able to think in 3 dimensions: think and visualise what is behind the picture. Need to add layers to the basic literacy to equip kids for the world that they will be working in.

-       Google sketch up: great resource

Network and inter-connected:

-       Important that schools link up and share and communicate. Video conferencing used in Christchurch to teach and learn.

-       Great for language learning

-       Skype use it more this term.

Accessible and online:

Self-directed, Individualised, Personalised education

-       twitter a great professional learning tool (sign up)

-       Book “Growing up digital” Don Truscott ( great to follow)

-       Bringing your own device….. different devices okay and contribute to their learning. (Different is okay)

-       Portfolio: students make decisions about what to put in

Mobile:

-       Necessary and wanted

WHAT DO STUDENTS EXPECT?

-       How to make it easier to use technology in schools?

Top students demands:

1.     Let me use my own tools and device

2.     Give me unlimited Internet access

3.     Let me access my projects anywhere

4.     Provide me with communication tools

5.     Give me access to the school network even from home

So what is my purpose? Why am I here? Vision of the future… am I passing the learning on? Looking at the future not your past.

What makes a really good player? Pass to where the player is going to be not where they are now!

Something to think about with our students and our teaching

Derek.wenmoth@core

Notes:

Albany Secondary School: New school, great to go and see!

Carol Moffet: E learning, ministry to start 1998 cluster and ict strategy

WORKSHOP 1:

Derek: “ Driving decisions from a pedagogical model”

It is all about how you “think” about technology and use within the classroom. Is it an add on, or supporting and enhancing the learning.  How to do this effectively with the equipment, time, expertise and constraints in place?

Infrastructure: moving off site, servers

Discussion Questions:

Q 1. How would you describe the pedagogical approach at your school?

Pedagogical approach -“ The method of teaching and practice” Basically the way you teach. The craft and science of teaching.

-       Some focuses were on enhancing learning through technology that can’t be done in other ways.

-       Why are you doing things?

-       Creating choices for curious learning and pursue their own lines of inquiry

Q 2. Does your school have a learning model that it uses to help explain this?

One approach:

At one Primary school:

Teaching and learning

Processes:

-       Learn - Engaging with existing knowledge.

-       Create - New knowledge

-       Share - Communicating ideas, sharing and celebrating

-       Assess- that idea of reflection should underpin the whole approach

Principles:

What makes this different in the 21^st Century?

-       Ubiquity – learning anytime and anywhere, anyplace, device.

Life long and life wide learning

-       Agency – Learner choice and control (personalised and adaptive)

-       Connected – Collaborative skills and knowledge within a shared network

Services

Infrastructure

Good to read and have a look at George Siemens “Connectivism”

Knowledge exists within the spaces between us not just within us, hence the importance of connectiveness.

Secondary School Approach:

LEARN – CREATE – SHARE (do we spend enough allowing for sharing?)

Share – feedback- reflect – improve!

Final thoughts: “ Share your model with your students. Create a learning culture where everyone is able to communicate and share the model for learning and teaching at your school” Shift the culture of the our learning into the whole community”

 

Keynote Speaker 2: Mark Obsorne

“BYOD: Putting into personalised learning”

Technology is a tool to be used by people, a servant to learning.

·      BYOD: bring your own device.

Putting the person into personalised learning

http;//bit.ly/LwAoXr

WHY:

-       Consider your school vision and where you are headed.

-       Decide what they can bring: It is not what it is but how you use it!

-       Assumptions we have about technology and learning.

-       Students already have them. At a secondary level most students already have a phone, why not use this as a tool for learning?

-       Openness and flexibility of learning outside of school hours

-       Collaboration of learning for students and teachers.

-       Creating spaces for this  kind of learning

-       “ The question is not if you are bright, but how are you bright”

Albany High School

-       Tools to show how they are bright.

HOW:

-       Be a new school everyday: Albany School

-       Wikieducator:  info from A S for everyone to access and use

-       http://wikieducator.org/Albany_Senior_High_School

-       Respect for each-other and the learning environment

-       Bring in any device

-       Issues around charging and sercuity

-       Must be sustainability and transferability

-       Laptop lockers with plugs

-       Connect to wifi and put in user name and password, covered by sercuity and watch dog

WHAT:

-       Able to use any devices

-       It needs to wireless capable

-       Use of QR codes to use to go directly to websites etc and download learning resources.

-       Use only free apps

-       Breaks down the walls of who knows what and when can learn it

-       Authentic learning, inside out learning, project learning

-       Context Learning: learning tools that are location aware (augmented reality)

-       App: Wikitude

-       Moodleinschools.org.nz – so don’t need to download apps. They use a browser

-       Koha Integrated library system – open source software. Community developing the software then is put back out there for everyone to use.

-       Youtube: has a video editor

-       Celesita: space

-       Freemind: mind maps

Workshop 2: Mark Obsorne

“Big progress through little steps”

E-port-folios

-       E-port-foilios: Way forward with the learner making choices and it gets passed on through the different stages of education.

-       Myportfolio.school.nz

-       Student should own the port-folio not the school

-       Students need to be very active in their learning

Impact Projects

-       Get to work on a project of their choice for 1 day a week.

-       Deep learning with a benefit to the community

-       Posterous –blog site

-       status.net  good for creative posts

-        

Staff Meeting

Staff Meeting last night, it was good to hear staff members being so positive about ICT, and also good to hear everyone sharing.
Rochelle had a good day today sorting out problems with whiteboards, getting everyone's blogs up and running, tracking down our telstra clear details and making sure we are on the right plan.  Great work.

iPads

As a result of our student conference we have purchased 6 iPads for our junior syndicate. These have been released to teachers to trial, we have also been out to Normandale to see how they use their iPads, what apps they recommend etc.  We are awaiting covers for the iPads before we give them to the kids, also once we get them set up with all the apps we will give them to teachers for a week or so.  It would be good to also let a couple of senior students use them so they can be our 'experts' in that area.

We have also purchased another 2 desktops to run the whiteboards so all of our IWB's have a designated machine with them. We have another access point for our ruckus system coming as well to try and fix a dead spot in our middle syndicate. More on that later.

Next for us, to catch up with our teachers to make sure they are happy with using the new technology.