K12 Online Conference 2009

If you haven't taken part in this wonderful learning experience before, you're in for a treat!

The K12 Online Conference is a totally FREE international conference open to anyone from around the globe. For educators by educators if you're interested in integrating technologies into classroom practice you'll LOVE the conference. View and learn from international presenters all from the comfort of your armchair - now that's great professional learning!
Check out the conference teaser below for details of presentations:





I am also honoured and excited to be among the fantastic presenters at this year's K12 Online Conference. My presentation "A Peek at a Week - Inside a Kiwi Junior Classroom" is the Keynote for the Week 2 "A Week in the Classroom" strand. Check out my teaser below for a sneak preview...



You don't have to wait until November 30th to begin the learning. Take a look into the treasure trove that dates back three years on the right sidebar of the K12Online site.

Catch you at the conference (well virtually anyway!)

UPDATE: 

Now Live! 

Check out my ACTUAL presentation here!

ULearn Visual Dictionary of NZ Bloggers

OK, drum roll please.... this is my

Visual Dictionary of Fab NZ Edubloggers....

Hopefully you will already know them all and read them regularly like I do, if not, stick them in your aggregator NOW!

Almost of these fantastic educators I had the pleasure of meeting f2f @ ULearn.

(Oh and a warning..... yes I am in lots of photos with the blogger, so you'll be seeing A LOT of me - sorry) Plus, I'm going in alphabetical order by first name just to be different ;)

Click on their name or on the photo to go on a tiki-tour.

A
Allanah King, Nelson









C
Chrissy Hellyer, Napier









D
David Kinane, Auckland

Derek Wenmoth, Christchurch
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 3, 2007 by Edublogger








F
Fiona Grant, Central North Shore









G
Greg Carroll, Dunedin (we missed you @ ULearn!)


J
Jane Nicholls, Dunedin








Jamin Lietze (class blog), Tauranga (I will send you a chocolate fish when you finally start your edublog Jamin!)
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by Edublogger








Jedd Bartlett, Christchurch


L
Lynne Crowe, Te Awamutu (we all missed meeting you f2f Lynne!)


M
Marnie Thomas, Auckland









N
Nigel Frater, Wellington
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by Edublogger







Nikki Gemmell, Auckland (great to see you back blogging, great to meet you properly)

S
Simon Evans, Hastings











Suzie Vesper, Wellington

NZ Edubloggers @ The Bloggers' Cafe
(thanks Jane for all your organisation)

Image credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by *** ICT U Can!

Day One of ULearn07

Day one of ULearn07 was such a buzz. A day full of new adventures, experiences and things to challenge and ponder in the mind.

Meeting several NZ bloggers has GOT to be one of the highlights.... you converse, share ideas, skype chat, email, read blogs etc etc with these people and it is such a great experience to finally meet them f2f.

Ewan had hinted in his keynote that f2f conferences aren't needed so much anymore (and I agree that this should not be our sole PD)but these experiences have been gold for me; nothing like finally meeting someone in the flesh, after ever only seen one headshot photo of them in your entire life (or for people like Teaching Sagittarian, having NEVER seen a photo of her at all!)

Derek gave the welcome message on behalf of Nick from CORE and Allanah and I even got an anonymous mention each with stories from our Twitter... now we KNOW you read your twitters Derek! (even if you are somethimes very quiet)

What a fun experience just a little later to have twittered away and then got into a several way skype chat in the middle of Steve Maharey's talk... a little naughty but skyping with Jane, Chrissy, Simon and Allanah (later also with Durff) ... we had LOTS of jokes and were able to 'further discuss' the 'pertinent points' Steve was making to the audience on a much 'deeper level'... ok, well that's not quite true, but that IS my story and I'm sticking to it!

Finally it was time for Ewan's keynote, and luckily Chrissy and Jane's batteries died and so we soaked up all Ewan had to offer. His keynote was great, inspiring but also challenging... and the wonderful Scottish accent only added to the charm.

My notes from Ewan's keynote can be read here; I shared them on twitter too and got a couple of replies from people like Lenva (who is over presenting @ Navcon) and Simon May (in China). Glad they found them useful.

During Ewan's keynote I skyped in Sue Waters (Sydney, Australia) who listened as best she could for about 15 minutes, before Ewan's accent was just too difficult to follow ;) and later Durff (America) joined us briefly via Skype

..... with the powers of wireless internet what a connected world we live in!

Image Credits:
NZ Minister of Education - Uploaded on October 2, 2007 by Edublogger
ulearn07 001 - Uploaded on October 2, 2007 by teachingsagittarian

Challenging and thought-provoking

Starting October 15th (just over a week after we return from ULearn) is the K12 Online Conference.

The “K12 Online Conference” is for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice!

At the moment presenters are giving us 'tasters' or short movies/presentations of what they'll be presenting on.

I particularly liked the clever and exciting use of animoto to promote Kevin Jarrett and Sylvia Martinez's presentation on “Second Life: K-20 Educators Exploring Virtual Worlds - Panel”.

One presentation teaser that caught my eye today was from fellow NZder Derek Wenmoth. His challenging and thought-provoking teaser is a preview to his keynote presentation on “The Promise of ICT: How Can It Be Realized”I highly recommend you check it out: you can either view the presentation above by clicking on the link or view the embedded video below. This has certainly made me very keen to check out his actual presentation and has also got me thinking. (good thing it's the holidays here in NZ!)

A NZ Bloggers' Cafe!

Jane Nicholls is amazing!

I am so excited that NZ is to have its very own Bloggers' Cafe at the Ulearn07 Conference in October. There were some whispers early in July from Jane that she was keen to assist in organising it, and after some fantastic feedback, she's gone and done it!

The below is from Jane's blog: ICT U CAN:

Hey all you NZ edubloggers out there, want to put a face to the blog? The NZ Bloggers Cafe is happening this year at ULearn 07. Come along and engage with other bloggers in some lively debate about life, the universe and everything. This would also be a great place for 'budding bloggers' to come and learn some tips and tricks from 'blooming bloggers'. The cafe will be open during morning tea and lunch breaks so come along and join in the discussions. The venue will be advertised in the conference handbook and I am told there will be some aromatic coffee available!

Well I WON'T be coming for the coffee (I can't stand the stuff!).... but I WILL be coming for the fantastic conversations and to meet in person so many NZ edubloggers I 'know' through their blogs and even some new faces!

On a journey to ULearn

The countdown to ULearn 07 is on: from 3rd to 5th October in Auckland.

I am excited to have been selected to facilitate two workshops: "So you've got a blog - now what??" and "They're FREE and on the Internet: Harnessing the power of educational games using social bookmarking".

I'm also delighted to see other great educators I know who are also presenting workshops - Allanah, Jane, Simon, Suzi and many others! It will be great to meet F2F many of these educators that I know well through reading their edublogs.

Highlights I am looking forwards to at ULearn07 would have to be the keynote by Ewan McIntosh from Scotland (who's blog I have been reading for a little while now) and the Bloggers Cafe that Jane suggested!!

See you there :)

Learning, Sharing & Connecting Online with 6 & 7 year olds!

How do you like my post title!... pretty long huh!
That's what happens when you just can't decide on the right words to title your presentation with... in the end I just chucked ALL the words in together!

This little video is the main part of my presentation for the Time4 Online Conference that is on right now! The section I'm involved in: Student Voices doesn't go live until the 31st May in a few days.

The 6 & 7 year olds in my class worked really hard to assist me with this video; they thought long and hard about what they wanted to talk about and we wrote a big plan from their list.

Luckily, I was given an ICT planning day (Thanks Paul!) to record and videotape my students for this presentation. They will be really excited tomorrow when I show them the finished product (although two students ended up on the 'cutting room floor' and got chopped out due to time constraints).

The video is under the section: Globalising and Personalising Online Learning - from Student Perspectives on Time4 Online. The presentations I've already seen on the site under: Collaborative Online Learning and The Collaborative Cauldron: Blogs and Wikis have been top notch and very interesting... if you haven't been to check them out yet, I highly suggest you do! (NB: open entry to other educators from around the world)

Presentation Blurb:

Take a tour through the 'digital side' of Room 9 at Nelson Central School.

Let these 6 & 7 year olds educate you about blogs and blogging and show you what they're doing with podcasting, wikis, blogs and more everyday in their classroom. Also, see the effect these "cool" tools have had in enhancing the home/school relationship.

These students may be young, but they're connected worldwide!
Share in their learning & experiences!

Actual Presentation:


Intro: What is a blog? Why do you like having one? - Answers by 6 & 7 year olds

Off to ischool!

Well I certainly am getting my fair share of ICT PD this year!

It seems I have just got back from Learning@School and the Nelson TUANZ Conference only to be out again (for 2days) at ischool in Nelson (not that I am complaining!).

I have been really looking forwards to these two days at ischool as they are specifically Apple based and I can get to work really using my apple to its full potential.

I have chosen a one day course on Kidpix in the Classroom and one on creating digital movies and portfolios. Jane from Nelson Central is going to the podcasting one tomorrow which I normally would have gone to except I already have done a 1 and a half hour workshop with Kirsten Beggs when I was at Learning @School.

Anyway, REALLY excited about ischool tomorrow and Wednesday... I have always wanted to go to one of these courses, but haven't been lucky enough to be allowed to go until now!

I am looking forwards to taking all my ideas back into the classroom and planning lots of interesting and rich things for my students to do. Nicky, my 3rd year teacher trainee finishes her teaching this Friday and then we have only one week left of school until the holidays. At least I will have a bit of time to hatch my plan...

Discover IT Tasman PD Day

Tomorrow afternoon we have our ICT Cluster PD Day.

I am presenting a workshop for teachers on how to Enhance your Classroom Blog.

It's a hands on practical session where we will be using popular web 2.0 tools to enhance existing class blogs. It should be great to work personally with such a small group of innovative teachers.

Here's a simplified slideshow of my PowerPoint Presentation that I've used Slideshare to host.