Taradale Ulearn 2013 Notes

Here are our notes from Ulearn 2013.  We would also like to thank all the Beacon teachers for their support. Have a relaxing Christmas.  

Taradale School

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 Gifkens, Mike 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.' 

View the keynote here.

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 School, Amanda 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. 

U Learn Takeaways

Umbrella: Equity of learning, for everyone. Collaboration. Using the tool to cause learning.

Mark Pesce: Craptastic World. The digital divide is temporary. Every moment of peer sharing is a moment of assessment. 
Connect, Share, Learn, Do. Culture of shared knowledge is so important - we know how to connect and share knowledge - lets get started!

1. elearning = the e is for effective. Using the technology of today to help cause learning. A thinking teacher who adapts to change is the best app.

Taupaki School Stephen Lethbridge and JJ Purton Jones

2. Digital de-cluttering. Linking your tools. Sustaining eLearning. Megan Iemma and David Kinane

3. Better writing online. Up your game. Chrissie Butler

Bonus takeaway:
The brilliant breakout, The Writing Classroom from Mary-Anne Murphy and Catriona Pene (but my colleague Tracey has dibs on sharing that). Its structure has inspired planning for our teacher only day in 2014.

Ubiquitous Learning Talk from Mark Osborne

Ten Trends 2013: Ubiquitous learning from EDtalks on Vimeo.

"CORE Education consultant Mark Osborne asks how can we take the learning opportunities available around the world and bring them into our classrooms so that our learners are not limited by our skills and our abilities, and at the same time how can we take the learning that we’re doing in class and make it accessible to our students wherever they are in the world."

Thank you Fiona Roil for alerting me to this. It is from the Core Education newsletter. Definitely worth the free subscription.

Cluster Day 4: U Learn and Beyond

We are meeting at Te Mata School on Friday at their library. Thank you so much to Mike Bain, Danielle Burroughs and Kate Hindmarsh for hosting.

Apps for a writing workshop

There are 21 confirmed. Of the 20 attending in the morning, 13 will be sharing from ULearn. We will be sitting in groups of 4, then rotating around. Everyone getting a chance to hear from everyone. It is expected that those who didn't attend ULearn share ideas or examples of eLearning from your class or school. It's all interesting and beneficial, even if it's been seen before, it is the pedagogy and the way we use tools (not the tools themselves) which are important. All of us are sure to have connections, ideas and examples to keep the professional conversations going.

At the end of the B.Tict session, we will add examples right here, on this blog.

U Learn post-conference website

Please visit the ULearn website where there are photos, links to videos, quotes from delegates, as well as prize winners, news, etc.

IFTTT: put the internet to work for you

B.Tict Smackdown

Here is the slideshow for the Smackdown, which is part of our B.Tict day on Friday. It is packed full of great ideas and is a truly collaborative effort.

An "Onramp" To Success In Literacy

Last year, Parkvale School had two classes trialling one to computers. The device we chose was a netbook. This has been successful with parent demand leading to four classes this year.

Near the end of the year Chrissie Butler from Core Education visited and filmed three short videos which focussed on the impact our classrooms were having on literacy. For two videos, Chrissie weaved stories around two students, Teva and Tyler. The third was about the 1:1 programme making a difference for all learners. They turned out great. The videos appeared on the Ministry's Enabling eLearning site. It's wonderful to see Irongate School and Kimi Ora Community School now on the site. C'mon the Bay!

Here are the videos below. I have had a few requests to view them and I thought it would be good to have them on the B.Tict blog. For our school, they have been neat to look back on as we continue our learning journeys. Thanks, Chrissie!

Netbooks - an "onramp" to success in literacy

1:1 Netbooks - Allowing excellence in the classroom

A 1:1 netbook programme makes a difference for all learners

1-1 iPad Learning at Richmond

BTICT @ Richmond School

Friday 22 June 2013

Thanks so much to Kim, Paddy and Matt for hosting us - wonderful hospitality, and most impressed that we got fed! Always memorable in my book! A thought provoking and thoroughly hands on day! I certainly had plenty to take away and reflect on. 

I know that many of us have perhaps one or two devices per classroom, and it was great to discuss ideas about different ways to manage this. I took on Kim's advice and just let a couple of kids have devices to themselves for their morning's literacy time. The chosen children were, of course, thrilled, and I have now started to build Book Creator "experts" so that they can teach their peers.

A brief overview of the day:

• Purpose of iPads
• SAMR
• Learning spaces
• Literacy programme
• Learning /using and applying apps – Book Creator, iMovie, Garageband, Toontastic, Puppet Pals, Explain Everything, Inspiration

Key messages:

• Good learning goes hand in hand with good, quality teaching and formative practice.
• iPads to enhance the learning for the kids.
• Good pedagogy is the main drive behind integrating technology
• What skills do we want the chn to get better at?

I have included a short SAMR presentation that you may like to share with your colleagues. Looking forward to sharing in Term 3!

#ictHB and #educampHB

(Apologies: If you're not into Twitter yet, skip the hash tag talk. I have chosen to use it to illustrate how Twitter can help educators learn and connect together.)

#ictHB is a hash tag coined by Juliet Revell for our first Beacon Teachers of ICT meeting in term one. It has been wonderful to see that hash tag catch on a little. Nowhere has the meaning of that hash tag been more personified by the EduCamp hosted by Juliet and Matt O'Dowda at Richmond School on Saturday 25th of May. In fact, the event was much bigger than our beautiful bay (which put on its coldest, most grim Saturday of the year so far). I was amazed to see inspirational teachers travel from across the North Island, ready to collaborate and share. It came together under the hash tag #educampHB and it was for the majority of us, our first experience of an "unconference". This means a user generated conference - which Juliet explained well in the previous post.

The Smackdown below gave users a chance to choose their topics and we went into two rounds of four different workshops from there. For me, I felt proud to learn from others as well as to share and help other people learn more about topics such as Google Apps and Teacher Dashboard that they were interested in. It was also a privilege to be in such distinguished company and encouraging to see the enthusiasm of Hawke's Bay teachers and educators. #ictHB all the way!

Educamp Wellington and Hawkes Bay

Go with the flow- follow your passion- take responsibility for your own learning
Saturday saw Kerry Elphick and me rising at the ungodly hour of 4am. What on earth for, I hear you ask..?  Educamp Wellington was taking place at Wellington Girls College. Educamp is a user generated 'unconference.' It's free! No real agenda is set, and it's up to you to determine the focus for the sessions, grow your learning and have fun. The people that are there on the day are the people that are meant to be there.


Educamp Wellington was hosted by Stephanie Thompson, of Tawa Intermediate. A few hours of driving was a small price to pay to meet Stephanie, an exceptionally knowledgeable and uber tech savvy teacher. Stephanie has recently returned from being made an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) in Bali. To balance that accolade, she is also one of nine NZ teachers that were invited to be inducted into the Google Teacher Academy last week in Sydney.    

Our day started with introductions and moved on to an e-Learning Smackdown where participants shared ideas within a two minute timeframe. There is no pressure to share, but I found that it's great if you do, often people haven't heard of the thing that you may think is old hat! The ideas were recorded on a Google presentation  and all participants were encouraged to collaborate on this. 


The next part of the day ensured that you own your learning. Participants were asked to write what they are able to share, and what they would like to learn about onto a post it note. The notes were collated and sessions  drawn up based on the learner's needs. You were free to "vote with your feet" at any time, and move to another session should you want to. 














Our day wound up with a late lunch at the backbencher. The rich conversations continued there over our delicious lunch. The "Royale" rocks! I found it an exceptionally rewarding day of learning and sharing with other teachers. I am excited that I now have some new colleagues to collaborate and share with. 

You may like to read Ruth's reflection of Educamp Dunedin which also took place on Saturday.

Next Saturday, I am hosting Educamp Hawkes Bay  along with Matt O'Dowda of Richmond School. The day starts at 9.30am with coffee, and a Smackdown follows soon after. We would love to see you there! 

What conversations could you share on the day that may help make a difference or move you forward in your thinking? How might we support each other and contribute to creating new possibilities?