Blogs in Plain English

Finally it is here... the long awaited Commoncraft video "Blogs in Plain English".

I have been hanging out, eager to find out how it would be presented and keen to also use it in any presentations or with professional development I do with teachers.

So what's the big deal about blogs???
Watch and enjoy....

(video embedded below)

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!)