Thursday, May 1, 2014

Holiday learning

I am extremely grateful for another opportunity to enhance my learning with help from my amazing PLN on twitter.  Through them, I was once again able to attend both the GAFE Summit  and NAPP virtually.

A couple of things that stood out for me at GAFE:
  • A crucial overview from Julie Lindsay was Meaningful collaboration is Co-operation + Contribution + Co-creation. Her 'Emerging Technologies' Presentation and the then live Collaboration about emerging technologies document.
  • A great presentation by Rob Clark with practical tips, was on 'Developing a shared Vision' for school leaders in which he mentioned that "the essence of developing a vision is not only being able to envision a possible future, it's also about articulating it in a way that's both compelling and inclusive." A possible future also needs to be seen as reasonable and achievable.  Being open to learning is massively important when developing a shared vision.  ~Touch hearts... minds will follow ~
  • If you are interested to see if your school is future ready, there is this 'Future Ready' website mentioned by Dr Mark Wagner. 
  • "Our students are not all the same so a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching is not going to meet the needs of each learner."  Differentiate learning tasks.
  • Richard Wells' presentation on "How Google can move the 'un-movable' teacher" was about how to support and develop colleagues in their efforts. He revealed that 70% of teachers he surveyed "Didn't know" what a Google App was!
  • Incentive #1 - Cancel Meetings to enthuse non ed-'techys'. Replace it with a collaborative doc with clear expectations and see what happens.
  • Incentive #2 - Let the students lead the change - don't expect you to become an expert, focus on what they do already.
  • Incentive #3 - No more excuses from student - flipped teaching (but don't call it that)
  • Incentive #4 - Leverage friendships. Use relationships and positive interaction & examples to build confidence.
  • Incentivise and Enable the majority. Treat them as learners and not roadblocks.
  • "Making the most of you Google Drive" via Leigh Hynes
  • "Re-design your School technology around the Cloud" via Tim Lee
  • "We've 'Gone Google', now what? via Amy McCauley


Some 'quotes':
  • Freedom is power to engage and amaze - Let's give our students & staff the freedom to amaze us!
  • Great is not good! - A motto to teach by?
  • It's really not failure unless you quit... fail forward and learn.
  • Teachers not masters of knowledge, but the most experienced learners in the room.
  • Internet access is more important than the chairs we are sitting on! The device isn't as important as the connectivity.
  • Our school websites need to be like newspapers, rather than magazines.
  • Don't undersell yourself! What we do here in New Zealand is AWESOME!
  • Tenets of reflective learning: Thinking Backward, Thinking Forward, Thinking Inward, Thinking Outward.





~ "I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same." - K. Shelton GAFE Summit ~


No comments:

Post a Comment