iPads in learning

Posted from the iPad breakout at L@S!

Some ideas of how these are being used in a NZ classroom

http://ipodsiphonesineducation.wikispaces.com/

http://learnersandthinkerswithipadsandipods.wikispaces.com/

iPads in classrooms - do's and don'ts!

http://learninginhand.com/do

You need a school iTunes account and a 'mother ship' laptop that goes 'with' them. Powered USB hub best way to charge and sync multiple iPads. Numbering each iPad wallpaper to individualize them.

ePortfolio platform debate?!?

Interesting discussion yesterday at the eportfolio forum hosted by Jaimen Lietze from Bethlehem College.  There was some great sharing about what different people are doing and even though the discussion tried to stay away from the platform debate an interesting point was thrown out there!  The Ministry of course are backing and have made free the 'myportfolio' aspect of mahara while the sharing that happened was mostly based in 'Ultranet'.  The point was made by one person about how this direction seemed to be in complete contrast to where the world is going - ie open source, free and transferable across multiple presentation platforms.  This in contrast to the paid for platform by schools where all info is held and when the student leaves it goes with them as a static pile of stuff on a flash drive / whatever.   The MOE made the point that myportfolio is aiming to be interoperable with the main 2 - Ultranet and KnowledgeNet - but the point made was that the ownership is still not with the person who creates the content - its managed by someone else.  His example was things like blogger are owned and administrated by the student and therefore can stay with them and 'alive' for ever.  Interesting debate and one not liked much by some people who have a vested interest?!?  Your thoughts??

** Here is a link to a presentation by Nick Rate (CORE) who is a bit of a guru on the ePortfolio journey.**

http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/nickrate/eportfolios-ls-2011

Getting to Learning@School Conference 22/2/11

Flew through Christchurch this morning - landed there at 8.30, flight out was delayed but we flew out at 10am - some 3 hours before the earthquake struck.  Glued to the news throughout the afternoon and really feel for everyone and what they are going through.  Going to be hard to concentrate tomorrow (if the conference goes ahead?!?)

What is eLearning @ MBS part 2?

Last year was a real 'sandpit' time with Inquiry Learning and the use and place of ICT tools in our teaching and learning.  Today we reflected on our e-learning journey so far.  With Mark introducing the concept of Teacher and Principal Inquiry (where we focus on something to do with our own practice or school development) and the Pod groups with 'e-buddies' it has given us cause to stop and ask the 'WHY' question of what we are doing and how.  This process became clearer after I watched the Simon Sinek TED talk blogged about below.  The connection between what he said and our schools journey with e-learning inspired my rough draft (the good ol' giant stickie) which we discussed today after I shared that TED talk as an introduction.

What is eLearning @ MBS part 1?

As our school enters the second year of our ICT & Inquiry (I would say eLearning) contract it finds us at an exciting point.  Last year had MBS buying / trying and talking about how the opportunity for using digital learning tools could make a real difference to teaching and learning in our classrooms.  The conversation ranged from seeing ICT as just adding some interest to what we already do, to seeing the development of the Inquiry Learning process becoming a core part of our curriculum framework.

The exciting thing is that we are having conversations that 12 months ago were not really possible.  It gives us the chance to now ask the 'why' question  - to work out the pedagogy / philosophy of what e-learning really means to our school (as we now know some of the things the 'tools' can do) before we get stuck in the detail of how we're going to do it and with what (just as the Simon Sinek TED talk exampled )!  If we get this right then it will truly make a difference to all our learning community - the students, the parents and the teachers!

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

Is it the 'Lone Ranger' that sets the trend or is the first follower that gives a trend the legitimacy of something that is more than a random act and therefore allows others to join??  Comments??

Just browsing through Jamin's presentation on e-portfolios that he presented late last year to his school colleagues at Bethlehem College (http://lietze.org/?p=415) - looking forward to talking through how its going with him at Learning @ School conference this year! I then checked out the link that someone had posted on his feedback to a TED talk on 'How great leaders inspire action'


(You need to view this so the next few comments make sense!)

I like how Simon Sinek explains how the 'why' described passionately will give true meaning to the how and the what (that is from the inside out!)  You need to know what you believe - why what you do is what you do.  It is only then that they will believe and be inspired also.  In the context of the school world it is the 'why' of each school culture that gives it a unique flavour - and the leadership and the sense of ownership and pride of the wider team that makes being at some schools much more that just a job!

Derek Wenmoth talked recently about 3 key words that are used in schools all around NZ. They are (outside in) curriculum, assessment, pedagogy - every teacher can talk about their school's curriculum, every teacher can talk about the way they assess their school's curriculum but how many can really talk about the pedagogy of their school - the why?? Some can, and so - just like Apple in the computer company world - they have more success and 'buy in' from all stakeholders (parents, staff, students). Jamin is doing the why - awesome. I am inspired to do the same and with a passionate staff (who understand the importance of pedagogy) and support from Mark Herring, our ICT2LRN facilitator - I am excited about where our journey is going!

Learning to fish or fishing to learn??

Just been spending time with Mark (our ICT2LRN facilitator) who is helping our ICT leads / pod leaders(!) to learn some tools and tricks that will help them share and inspire their teams on our e-learning journey! He made the comment that time spent giving them the tools to learn to fish is better than just giving them the fish!

For our school this means that time invested in ICT leads and all teachers to increase their understanding and use of how e-learning tools and skills can give a context to 'real time' reflection and growth which will effect change in the way we think about teaching and learning - both with our classes and each other, but with ourselves!

(and yes that is a photo of the mighty stags on the office wall!!)

Principal Inquiry

Year 2 of our ICT2LRN cluster has Mark getting us, as Principals, designing our own Principal Inquiry for our own schools and where we see our school - in my case Myross Bush - going. This is also a great example to our staff as Mark inspires them to design their own Teacher Inquiry for 2011. Watch this space!