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 ~