Questions for school leaders

* How are your students’ ICT skills and literacies being developed? (Explicitly)
* How is your netsafety programme being promoted and put into action?
* Discuss the ways you are leading elearning in your school.
* What are your thoughts on our cluster ‘developing elearning leadership’ initiatives? (eShare, ICT Lead Teacher workshops.)
* Discuss other ways elearning leadership is being developed in your school (e.g. teachers facilitating workshops, eskills sessions, staff meeting sharing, assemblies)
* How are you providing ICT training, support and scaffolding for your teachers?
* How do you know if teachers are integrating elearning effectively into their practice?
* In what formal ways are teachers sharing ICT/elearning ideas and practice with each other?
* How are students’ Key Competencies being developed through ICT and eLearning?
* How is elearning being celebrated at school events?
* Discuss the 2011 implementation of ‘teaching as inquiry’ in your school.
* What models of practice to inform engage and educate parents is your school using this year?
* How successful are these? What feed back are you receiving from parents?
* How have parents had the opportunity to contribute to school developments in elearning?
* How do you share and celebrate students’ elearning achievements with parents?

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Workshop at Halcombe School, New Zealand

Te Apiti ICT Cluster Conference

The Te Apiti ICT Cluster , where I’m the eLearning facilitator, had a mini conference recently.  Our keynote speakers were Tony Ryan and Suzie Vesper.  Tony is well-known for his ‘Thinkers Keys’ and Suzie for her knowledge of, and links to, Web 2.0 applications.

The keynotes were followed by two workshop breakouts about digital photography, wikis, web 2.0 applications, eportfolios and student engagement. (Repeated in the second breakout)

The day went really well and I’ve had lots of positive feedback.  The keynote and workshop resources are on the Te Apiti ICT Cluster website.

Fun with Web 2.0

Here are some websites for those of you who want to have fun with some web 2.0 applications -

Weebly
Very easy website making www.weebly.com

Vocaroo
A very easy way to record a podcast for your blog. www.vocaroo.com

Voicethread
Uploading graphics, adding voice and getting audio comments from others www.voicethread.com This site is fantastic – there are so many ways you could use it with teachers and students.

Blabberize
Make your photos talk! It’s very engaging and your students will really love it! www.blabberize.com Click the pink play button on the picture to listen to the alpaca.

Picturetrail
A photo slideshow maker. Copy the code and embed your slideshow into your blog. www.picturetrail.com

Slide
Yet another photo slideshow website (good fun though!) www.slide.com

Photofunia
Put yourself in the picture  www.photofunia.com

Fun with Photo Filtre

Today I was working with a teacher using Photo Filtre to enhance images. We used inspiration from the artist Andy Warhol’s art. Here is an example showing one of the neat effects you can use! Photo Filtre is freeware – click here if you want to download it and try some of the filtres and colours yourself.

Visiting 3 eBest ICT Cluster Schools

On Monday our Principals and ICT Lead Teachers visited 3 of our ICT Cluster schools – Paroa, St Joseph’s and Apanui. Here are some photos of classroom environments … 21st Century teaching and learning in New Zealand schools!

 

Mind Map

Yesterday I had a discussion with a teacher about what a mind map was for.   Our understandings about how you made and used one and what it looked like differed,  so I checked out  Tony Buzan’s website.

7  Steps to Making a Mind Map

1. Start in the centre of a blank page turned sideways. Why? Because starting in the centre gives your Brain freedom to spread out in all directions and to express itself more freely and naturally.
2. Use an IMAGE or PICTURE for your central idea. Why? Because an image is worth a thousand words and helps you use your Imagination. A central image is more interesting, keeps you focussed, helps you concentrate, and gives your Brain more of a buzz!
3. Use COLOURS throughout. Why? Because colours are as exciting to your Brain as are images. Colour adds extra vibrancy and life to your Mind Map, adds tremendous energy to your Creative Thinking, and is fun!
4. CONNECT your MAIN BRANCHES to the central image and connect your second- and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. Why? Because your Brain works by association. It likes to link two (or three, or four) things together. If you connect the branches, you will understand and remember a lot more easily.
5. Make your branches CURVED rather than straight-lined. Why? Because having nothing but straight lines is boring to your Brain.
6. Use ONE KEY WORD PER LINE. Why Because single key words give your Mind Map more power and flexibility.One Word Per Line
7. Use IMAGES throughout. Why Because each image, like the central image, is also worth a thousand words. So if you have only 10 images in your Mind Map, it’s already the equal of 10,000 words of notes!

Blogger vs WordPress

During 2009, when I introduced blogging to the teachers in the eBest ICT Cluster (where I am the facilitator) I set their blogs up in Edublogs. At the beginning of 2009 I decided to change to another host. There were several reasons – Edublogs lack of stability at the time:constant resetting of passwords and the difficulty getting new passwords. The final decision was reached when Edublogs decreased their free space from 100mb to 20mb. To get 5gb you needed to be a ‘supporter’. As I work with 90 teachers who use a blog with their students (i.e. as part of their job) I don’t think it should cost them anything.
So the question was ‘where to now’? The two main contenders were Blogger and WordPress. I chose WordPress and haven’t regretted it even though Blogger is neat too. My reasons were:
1. WordPress is the format used by Edublogs, so my teachers were familiar with the tabs and layout
2. Teachers could import all their posts from Edublogs into the new WordPress blog (An earlier post shows how to do this)
3. 3gb free space vs 1gb in Blogger (Doesn’t that make Edublogs 20mb look sad?!)
4. WordPress had a photo gallery function. Photos have to go into posts singly in Blogger
5. WordPress allows pages to be added to the blog, Blogger does not.

The decision was quite difficult though because Blogger has some really neat features and gadgets that WordPress doesn’t have. Of course there’s nothing to stop teachers using both hosts and linking the blogs.

Here is a table which compares Blogger and WordPress.

Thinking strategies and tools diagram