Ever wondered what an Avatar is??? Here is one!

Get a Voki now!





http://www.voki.com for more details.
It would be a cool way for students to publish their narrative stories. They can even upload their own voice so the advatar can actually sound like them. The best thing is that its all free and Web 2.0.

I'VE PASSED!!!! and Change

I have officially passed my Postgraduate Certificate in eEducation. Sounds flash don't you think :) Now the challenge is to decide what papers to do next year. The last comment from my lecturer made some interesting points about change

The lecturer was from the University of Waikato. Some good advice for any institution going through periods of change:

'I think the thing that stands out here is the need for all involved in the change to understand the purpose and rationale for the change. This may be at a practical or at a theoretical level – with theory probably being the ‘harder sell’ to teachers! In my experience where change fails it is the result of poor articulation of purpose and a failure to establish a clear rationale based on improvement. As you point out- policy does not do this – effective leadership does, and it is the inclusive approach and trustworthy attributes of an effective educational leader that is the making or breaking of any such initiative.'

Thanks heaps Garry, given me lots to think about.

What should I study next???

I am trying to decide what I should study next at university. I don't know what postgraduate qualification I want. Any suggestions???

Final assignment summary

My two university papers finished AT LAST

I have officially finished my last university assignment to get my Postgraduate Certificate in eEducation.  The last assignment was summing up the major learning from the year of study.  The main ideas I have found are summarized in my conclusion.

'E-education is multi-faceted, only when all facets are brought together can quality teaching and learning occur. These significant factors include, but are not limited to, a theoretical understanding of what eEducation is, a competent enthusiastic educator that is willing to take a risk when developing and creating an innovative learning environment and learners who are confident and willing to collaborate and interact in a virtual world. Learning must lead technology, where ICT is an integral part of the learning and teaching progress.'  

Good advice

I got some really good advice the other day.  When participating in professional development make sure you set yourself 3 goals before you leave.  

One goal should be very short term, something that you could do tomorrow in your classroom.

The second should be something that could be achieved within the next 2-3 months.

The third is a long term goal.  This should be something that will significantly change your learning and teaching environment within a year.  Interesting concept. 

 I am going to give it a go! :)

Term 4 - Has kicked in already

Well I have begun term 4 with a bang.  I have tried a number of things from the Ulearn08 conference already in the classroom.  I used wordle.net today.  The kids thought it was fantastic.  We are doing the topi of leadership and I set them the task of finishing the sentence A leader is..... and the group had to come up with a top 10 things that a leader needs.  I transferred all of their ideas into wordle.net.  Try it, it's awesome!!! The actual is below.  

Dinner last night

Well we went out to dinner last night.  It was a Greek restaurant and the meals were huge.  Honestly I think the lamb was about half a sheep.  LOL.  

Taking responsible risks

A couple of Breakouts finished

Hey I have just finished a couple of breakouts - The best I think for me was meeting a lady called Karen Boyes.  The breakout was called Developing creativity in the classroom.  It was an awesome session.  Lots of great ideas with a really enthuastic presenter.  What is really interesting is that she didn't refer to ICT very much it was more about what a creative person does and what a teacher can do about developing creativity in other people.  

Lunch was great and Christchurch is looking very sunny at the moment.

Here is the main Key note space in the town hall in Christchurch

Ulearn08

I am currently sitting in Christchurch at a conference called Ulearn08.  It is a conference about Information Communication Technology and the three key ideas this year at the conference are COLLABORATE, INNOVATE and EDUCATE.  This conference is for 3 days. Should be interesting will post later to tell you more.

I think I might start using my blog

I haven't used this blog for pretty much a whole year and I am wondering why?  I think it has to do with time, where to do you find time as a teacher to do other things that don't involve teaching?  Well I am going to make an effort to write in my blog more often.  I have even bookmarked it.