Trekking to the Tron

I love unconferences.
The right people come...and in this case I had @ariaporo22 and @kasseylee11 with me.
The latest ideas are offered.
The most popular ideas are elaborated.
Educators share and connect.  They know who to ask for help.

Reflecting On Being a Digital Learner

I responded to a forum on the Virtual Learning Network and thought it was worth cross posting here...

What learning are you accessing and how?

I'm one of those folk who has to know what's happening everywhere all the time. Someone else called it FOMO - fear of missing out!  So I have notifications set up on my email for all my VLN groups. If I don't have time to read them all at least I can see what is being discussed.

I've started my Masters in Educational Leadership as I fully believe that we need to be more aware of the research and ideas that are out there and better informed.  I like the idea that Finnish educators are well educated with masters degrees. Academia is not the only necessity as a teacher, but it helps if you do have at least literacy and numeracy above Level 3 of our curriculum and I do worry that that is not so. If we want credibility as a profession we need to be the best we can be. And we have to attract the best to our profession.

I did my whole post grad paper online and didn't use a pen.  I managed with online tools and like the fact that I have everything curated and filed instead of flicking through bits of paper.  I can also restructure or reuse a piece easily without having to start again. Tessa Gray once challenged me about being a digital educatior and using a pad and pen. It made sense to me. Even my shopping list goes on to an app on my iphone.

In 2012 I completed the National Aspiring Principals' programme and loved both the learning and connections, several who I keep up with even now. Much of our learning was online with discussion in a VLN forum or in MyPortfolio - the latter not my chosen platform, I must say; it is clunky.

The people I keep up with are on Twitter and that professional learning platform is HUGE for me.  I love the links, the topics, the chats. I like that I can access learning anywhere and anytime.  Kerri sums it up:

And these people I truly regard as friends. Time and time again when I meet them face to face at educamps or conferences, it strikes me how much we like each other. We have been enabled to get to know the contents of the book rather than judging the book by its cover.

What are your top "go-to" places for online professional learning?

1. Twitter and my PLN – and you pick up who to ask about what and where!
2. Virtual Learning Network
3. Google
4. Waikato – because that’s the university I've started my post grad study with.

Do you capture your learning (and reflections) as evidence towards the Registered Teacher Criteria? How?

I keep a reflective blog - and this is it!  We are frequently reminded that we must leave a positive digital footprint. But it’s not just about not doing things on line that show bad judgement.  It’s about being “google-able.” These days you NEED to be found online. I know school leaders who are not advertising in the Education Gazette and only online because they want connected educators.

I go back and tag my posts with the Registered Teacher Criteria.  That way I am keeping evidence.  I’m not doubling up, and it’s just in time.

How are you sharing your learning with your school, colleagues and the wider education community?

1. Twitter - I’m @mrs_hyde and I connect a lot.
2. My blog
3. Posts like this
4. Staff meetings, educamps, Ulearn, Connected Rotorua (one of the start up crew, collaborative docs
5. The media- lucky enough to be interviewed by our Daily Post, the NZEI mag and Ed Review.

How do you balance your online time with the rest of your life?

Others would say not well, as I am often attached to a device. But if you are passionate about it then really, what does balance mean? I do put family first and I have times when I read “popcorn for the brain” novels, watch TV, garden and walk. And I don’t have my phone plugged into my ears as I prefer birdsong!

Reporting and Interviews...subtitled "I wasn't going to tweet tonight."

...but Karla Hull reminded me that #ptchatnz was on, and the topic is one that many educators are worried about.  How do we report well to our families about our students? What do they need to know? Want to know?

#Ptchatnz is the brainchild of Ngatea School and Principal Neil Fraser led me to it. On the first chat, I think Neil, Karla and I had more or less a three way conversation for the hour.  We advertised it; I wanted to help. We talked about it at Educamps and on other chats.

This third chat was sensational.  Karla designed great questions.  The tweets streamed down the screen!

What we need though, is more parent voice.  Many of our followers are teachers.

I will enjoy mulling over the tweets in the storified collection embedded below (thanks Karla).

Last word must go to parent Martin Partridge, from Hobsonville Point Primary School.

If we use too much jargon in our tweets then I imagine that our reports and interviews are similar. Thanks for the timely reminder.

Thinking with the Think Tank - #Educafe August 7 2014

I attended an #educafe session at the National Library in Auckland at 6pm on Thursday 7 August 2014. I was staying with Caroline Bush  as we were both attending the #edchatnz conference the next day.  The opportunity to attend an Educafe was a bonus; I'd been to my first at Ulearn13 in Hamilton, and as it's all about talking, it's right up my alley!

Emma Winder, the originator of Educafes in New Zealand, starts us off on a big idea.  We sit down at a table with others, and there are a range of people from education and beyond.  There are big sheets of paper on the table.

"How do we help prepare students for the future they want rather than the future we think they will embark on?"

And the conversation begins.  we write down our points with felt pens.

One person volunteers to be the person who stays with the table to share the preceding conversation with a new group, and we all move and separate to new tables.

The ideas are free flowing and thought provoking. All too soon the evening is over, but we are all inspired.  New connections have been made; faces put to names.

And it's only the start of an amazing weekend for me!

EduCafe Term 3 2014 on PhotoPeach

Learnings and Future Learnings...from the #edchatnz conference

This is my fourth blog post about the #edchatnz conference; from what I've seen on the Tweetdeck streams, I'm not alone in my excitement.

In @ReidHPS's meme challenge, he asks us what we would have liked to attend.  We had to make choices and those choices involved missing people and sessions which have had an obvious impact on others.  So here are links to resources, presentations and #storified tweets which gather in the goodness.

I plan to come back here to read and reflect as there is not a hope that I can do it all right now.
Thanks #edchatnz tweeps who did all the work for this collection.  Special thanks to @chasingalyx who gathered all the links in her "Superpost of Resources."

Alex's Superpost of Resources

Sonya's Listly of Reflections 

Anne Kenneally's #storify

Kimberley's #storify

Pam's #storify on SOLO

Anne Robertson's #storify

Simone's #storify on #kidsedchatnz

Karen's keynote on #storify

Alyx's #storify on the MP debate

Karen's #storify on Connected Educator Month

My #storify on Gamification

My #storify on Digital Literacy with @andrewcowie

My #storify on the inaugural f2f meeting of #Edubookchatnz


Lots of photos on the #Edchatnz community