Friday 8 November 2013

Te Mata Takeaways

Fantastic to end our year in the Beacon ICT Cluster on such a high note. The library at Te Mata School was buzzing today with the hum of everyone sharing. 

Thanks very much to Mike Bain, Danielle Burroughs and Kate Hindmarsh for hosting us today. A very special shout out must go to Kieren Moriarty for the mammoth organisation behind our cluster this year. Our acknowledgements must also go to Mark GifkensMike Bain, Rohan Pearse, Malcolm Dixon and Matt O'Dowda for being the vision behind the cluster. We are all very appreciative of the opportunity that we have been given to share and learn from our peers. Thank you!

Have pasted in my top three takeaways from ULearn '13 below. 

Attribution: Gaping Void Art

What are my top three takeaways?

1. Sharing

Allanah King mentioned in her uLearn Mobile day that we may well be doing many of the things that she does already. The important difference is: sharing. She shares everything. By doing this, she opens up her virtual vault of immense eLearning knowledge for all to learn.  We are all here for our kids. Sharing your knowledge is really the greatest thing that you can do for your profession. 

To live in a vacuum is not human. We need to pass this message on to our kids. Does an idea come to fruition without being shared? Unlikely. It may be still hazy in your imagination. Sharing is synonymous with learning.

The sharing theme was also prevalent the keynote, The Sharing Nexus: Connecting, Learning and the 21st Century Educational Environment given by Mark Pesce.


Mark spoke about the 'triumph of sharing' and added that we are now past being 'digital natives' and are now 'sharing natives.' 
2. Small steps

It's easy to feel like you're now drowning in a tsunami of information. I know. I feel it. Karen Melhuish Spencer proffered her opinion on how to positively respond to this. Simple yet profound. Her Friday workshop: Effective eLearning: Kickstart the way you integrate gave us the ideas and resources to design our own mission. Key message: Start with your students needs. Seems so obvious doesn't it. Go back to the beginning, think about your learning intentions and weave the tools into your activities and learning experiences: the WHAT and the HOW.
Attribution: Planning for effective eLearning - Karen Melhuish Spencer

3. Empower Kids

The dynamic duo of Summerland SchoolAmanda Signal and Jess Vidal have given me a plethora of practical ideas for my classroom. Their breakout Self Managing Learners & BYOD was exceptional. So powerful to see authentic examples of eLearning impacting on student achievement. Loved the fantastic practical routines they shared and their clear and simple ideas for embedding eLearning throughout their daily practice. 

A standout message for me from their breakout was to open everything up. Forget being precious about your planning, keeping it to yourself. It's for the kids. Write it in 'kids speak' and share it with them online. Give kids the big picture. We like to have it to know where we are going. Why don't we give it to them?


Mark Pesce wrapped up his keynote address with the following words:


Connect.
Share.
Learn.
Do.


I’ll stop learning when I’m dead.   …...Maybe.

We know how to draw on everybody’s expertise. Let’s get started.

Small steps. 

3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much, Juliet. You have been an enormous help. Loved today - we definitely got that buzz!

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  2. Thanks for sharing this Juliet. Your 'Storify' has enabled me to think about direction and question 'why'. It has also given me so many more ideas to add to my list. Now I need to make time to 'nut out' my next steps.

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  3. I was just showing a friend how you can Google yourself and see what trail you have left on the internet.

    Thanks for the mention.

    Allanah

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