Below are a list of ideas/notes from the day. I hope you can make some sense of them.

ICT Teacher Only Day @Roslyn School 7-6-2011

Derek Wenmoth -Core Education

• Would you like to be in your class?
• Do you give purposeful feedback to the learner?
• How have we embraced technology??
• Learning with ICTs is about developing skills and thinking.
• The emphasis of ICTs is on appropriate use and integration.
• What does learning look like in the Te Apiti Cluster?
• How are you engaging the children in your care?
• We live in a multi media world..why not include that in your class?
• How are you using ICTs in your classrooms?
• What tools can you use...what lies ahead? What might the future classroom look like?

CORE's Ten Trends for 2011

1. Smart Web

As the WWW grows and develops there is an increasing sophistication in terms of the applications being used, and in terms of the level of “intelligence” that exists in the web itself. A growing trend will see more applications and services that are capable of acting without human intervention, with decisions being made on the basis of data usage patterns etc.

2. Ubiquitous computing

Among users of all ages there is a clear shift towards computing ‘anywhere, anytime with any device’ – where access is not confined to a particular time and place, and not dependent on a particular device. There are three key enablers of this:

3. Personalisation

There is a growing awareness that one-size-fits-all approaches to school knowledge and organisation are ill-adapted both to individuals’ needs and to the knowledge society at large. The move beyond uniform, mass provision can be described as “personalisation” of education and of public services more widely. Digital technologies are playing a pivotal role in enabling this to happen.

4. Data

We are witnessing an unprecedented ‘explosion’ of data in the world, accumulating in electronic databases everywhere. This poses challenges about its usefulness and about how we may store, manage and derive meaning from it.

5. Citizenship

Citizenship is a continually evolving concept. It is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. As these contexts change, so too does the concept of being a citizen within them. Citizenship involves understanding the ‘rules’ and boundaries that exist, and involves both rights and responsibilities. As our world expands to include the ‘virtual’, so too do the following lenses on citizenship:

6. Cloud computing

The “Cloud” is growing significantly over the whole of the ICT world. Cloud computing refers to storage and processing that occurs in a networked environment rather than relying on the limits of a personal computer. In “the cloud” storage and processing resources are allocated “on the fly ” among users based on their specific needs.

7. Virtual Learning

Virtual learning embraces the range of teaching and learning activities which take place in an online environment, utilizing a mix of synchronous and asynchronous technologies. It is an effective way of providing access for those who may not otherwise be able to participate. Virtual learning services are expanding internationally, with the development of virtual schools in many countries.

In the virtual learning environment there is opportunity for three key areas of activity:

8. New forms of engaging with information

Digital technologies are expanding the opportunities and ways we can engage with information. What has historically been confined to 2D print and/or oral/aural communications, is now accessible in a range of new and exciting ways. In addition, where engagement tended to be passive, it is now an active experience.

9. Open-ness

The move towards open-ness is a reaction against the many ‘closed’ characteristics of our current education system – such as enrolment schemes, copyright, student records etc. What were previously regarded as barriers to growth, access or innovation in our system, are now being challenged or circumvented through the use of systems that are more open and participatory, including:

10. Networked schools

In the networked age, our education institutions need to shift from the existing paradigm of operating in relative isolation (even competition) to being more collaborative and working as a node on the education network. The model that is emerging is referred to as the Networked School.

Two significant things

1). There is a national move for fibre. The “cloud” is going to be the way of the future.Google Docs..the sophistication of this will increase.

2). Mobility ..these devices are the way of the future. Transformation to mobiles and wireless.

• Ubiquity....the classroom model is becoming outdated. Is age grouping still appropriate? Learning anywhere...anytime.
• Personalised...learner choice and control. Learn at own pace.
• Collaborative....social knowledge construction.
• Start at the top...vision..before deciding on what system to put into your school.
• Connecting schools together through an aggregation point...share resources...share BOTs...these ideas emerge through networking...they are joined by fibre.
• www.gcsn.school.nz...join ..Christchurch schools.
• The End of Education ...book by Neil Postman.
• What is out there ..wheat is next...keep thinking about the future and our kids.

Mark Osborne-Breakout

Mark suggested a range of tools which teachers could employ in their own classroom. Check these out.

• Gimp - photoshop
• Scribus
• Scratch...designed to teach the basics of programming.
• Minecraft
• Blender 3D
• Open Source software....free to download.
• Sketchup
• Sweethome 3D
• Musescore -great music software
• Tuxpaint
• Tuxguitar
• Xmind
• Jokosher
• Audacity
• There is a 58% drop in email use by 17 year olds...they are using social media instead.
• Chrome Apps
• Angry Birds
• Picnik
• artproject.com
• 3dtin.com
• cranberry -flash cards on a topic
• podomatic.com   .....to record podcasting without software
• jaycut.com  ........online video editing
• pixlr.com ....photoshop with multiple layers and mask.
• Mind42.com    ...mind mapping for a collaborative means.
• Smartphone app develpment
• imapmyownrun
• Googlesky
• wikitube

Mark Osborne - Keynote

Creativity- How to foster it

Catching creativity

• Guy Claxton...new kinds of smart. -What’s the point of school.
• You can become more intelligent by believing you can become more intelligent - Carol Dweck
• The environment you create helps students become more creative.
• Fixed mindset vs Growth Mindset - If you are fixed you will never grow. By having a growth mindset you can take on challenges.

The key features of an environment that fosters creativity?

• Freedom
• Lack of fear
• Break from tradition
• sense of purpose and reward
• Spirit of playfulness

Modeling creativity...be the first learners in the classroom.

• Mountain vs Meadow...Two ways of viewing thinking.
• When traveling in the mountains there are normally only one to two routes to take. In the meadow you can choose any number of paths. The intelligent mind can go between the two.
• Make space for reflection.....make spaces in our classrooms...quiet, plants, lighting etc.
• Consider spaces in your school to make reflection and creativity happen.

• 100 Days of creativity....do something once a day for 100 days. Really encourages new ideas, as after about 7 days new ideas are hard to come up with.
• Why not try 21 days of creatively for our students and then reflect on the process.
• The school I’d like....Get student voice on how we can reconfigure our schools.
• Failing forward...intelligent failure
• Project based learning...one day per week. Pitch their project to the panel, carry it our and then feed them back at the end. They are called “Impact Projects” and they have to make a difference, often a social difference. Kids are fully engaged.....it gives life to the Key Competencies.
• Self Efficacy - Bike riding for the first time - check out the UTube

Derek Wenmoth - Breakout-Thinking Digitally

Key Ideas

1). Search - Google does not = search. Search will develop increasingly as a visual and interactive means.

2). Thinking guides tools to empower students.

3).Resources for critical thinking.

• Live binders....... livebinders.com
• Search engines...google is not the only engine...try these ones. Quintura kids or Yahoo for Kids or Ask Jeeves
• Boolean search(Internet tutorial)
• Wolfram Alpha
• Search Cube.com......engaging for kids. Lots more search engines like this will appear in time.
• Explora Tree - lots of graphic organisers which are grouped or themed.
• DebateGraph- very interactive
• MIndmeister
• Developing the ability to think depends on your ability to organinse and use information. Critical thinking........Cybraryman (Check it out)
• www.cybraryman.com/criticalthinking.html
• Austhink website........some good things here on critical thinking -Good for Year 6-8 students.
• Using Language we need to think consciously about how we are using the learning time. The choices we make about the environments we use are pivotal.
• Graphics...www.gimp.com
• 3D graphics
• Movie maker
• Audio - Garage Band or audacity
• Dream Weaver...nvu is free and does the same thing
• Games...scratch (excellent)