Friday, October 30, 2009

ako aotearoa academy symposium - day two afternoon

Afternoon began with a session by Dr. Peter Coolbear on 'staying in limelight - the future of the Ako Aotearoa Academy. He covered Ako Aotearoa's strategy for championing excellence in tertiary teaching & learning. Emphasis is changing along with locus of activity towards becoming more strategic with an advocacy role on future government policy development. Emerging strategic themes are to develop a 'second front on 'threshold of acceptability' for advocacy?, evidence based enhancement of practice, strategic, sustainable support of Maori educator/learners, also with Pacific educators & learners, supporting the learner voice & working in partnerships.

Oriel Kelly then facilitated a discussion on the future priorities for the academy. Groups worked on how the academy may meet individual members' needs, how academy is able to work with Ako & how Ako supports the academy.

Last session was organised and facilitated by the Massey University Teaching Excellence at Massey (TE@M) with their Vice Chancellor, Hon. Steve Maharey, academy members from the Waikato, Bay of Plenty & Dr. Craig Pritchard also from Massey.

ako aotearoa academy symposium - day two morning

A busy morning with variou presentations and workshops.

first up, three award winners provide a view of 'how did I get here?' The three presenting are Prof. Gary Bold, Karl Dodds (both Prime Minister award winners) & Dr. Rachel Fewster (winner of two awards - 2003 & 2009). Gary's humour came across well during his presentation on techniques for lecturing to large classes. Rachel covered 'how to make 90% of students love statistics?' providing a good example of how to make a subject interesting by building on what students know & providing relevant 'real life' problems & reasons for why they should solve them. Karl covered the more serious side of winning the award including increased levels of expectations from students & other colleagues.

Second presentation from Dr. John Reynolds on "the impact on curriculum change on health sciences first year students' approaches to learning". He presented on a study which used a learning inventory (the approaches and study skills inventory - ASSIST) to measure if curriculum change on students' approaches to learning. John provided good examples of how the curriculum has been changed in structure (eg. student study groups formed) and objective (deepening understanding & links between concepts to made) and the results of an evaluation using ASSIST to find out if there were changes in students learning (surface, deep, strategic). Found surface similar to pass cohorts, strategic increased but significant increase in deep learning.

Dr. Lisa Emerson then lead a session on the new criteria for the Tertiary teaching excellence award. Lisa is the academy representative on the TTEA panel & found the experience to be inspiring & a great privilege. Background provided to assist academy members in mentoring potential applicants for future TTEAs.

Great presentations from all :)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

ako aotearoa academy symposium - day one - afternoon

Two main sessions this afternoon. The first one is three discussion groups to produce position papers for the academy. These are on teaching excellence (facilitated by Pip Lynch & Juliet Gerrard), Scholarship of teaching (with Peter Mellow) & quality enhancement process in education (with Karl Dodds & Rachel Fewster). I chose to attend the session on scholarship of teaching as a continuation of my project on "perspectives of trades tutors." Group discussed the definition of 'scholarship' which has various connotations depending on teaching subject and institution.various papers put by Peter on to the Ako website were discussed with expectation of others to put more papers on plus need to perhaps do a literature review of the field. group then organised to work out how it will work together towards producing a position paper by December!!

After afternoon tea, Welby Ings, facilitated a session on 'challenging some debilitating myths', using story telling as a method to elicit our philosophies on teaching & learning. Welby modelled the power of story telling by firstly narrating a story to us. Group work then followed on using narratives in teaching. A good session which provided a good opportunity to explore the deeper issues related to using narratives in enhancing learning, especially metacognition and attitudinal transformation.

ako aotearoa academy symposium - day one morning

Symposium began by Dr. Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa director with a karakia. Then welcome from Donna Buckingham who is the president of the Academy to the symposium 2009 - turning vision into promising practice.. Hon. Wyatt Mapp, associate Minister of Tertiary Education then provided the official opening. He covered the macro picture, tertiary education strategy, the research /science / technology strategy & how the academy may assist with bringing some of these strategies about. John Hosking summarised the academy's response and thanked the minister for his encouragement and support.

First key note from Dr. Sally Kift on "a transition pedagogy for first year curriculum design and renewal". Sally provided results from a review conducted via a Australian Learning & Teaching Council fellowship. This was pushed by a recognition of the growing diversity of students and the need to engage, support and realise a sense of belonging for first year students in tertiary education. A transitional pedagogy was proposed around the identification of six first year curriculum principles. These are transition, diversity, design, engagement, assessment and evaluation & monitoring.


My workshop followed after morning tea. I covered the usual ground of the move of hardware to mobile, software to the cloud & humanware to virtual social networking = everyware. I provided the opportunity for participants to explore a range of web 2.0 tools which may be useful in various teaching & learning contexts using small group activities supported with Dell Minis on loan from AUT and organised by Peter Mellow. An opportunity for partcipants to get to know each other better & to share ideas & applications of various web 2.0 tools with examples from their teaching contexts. Plus the challenge to use these tools for their own professional development and for students to 'do the work to do the learning.'

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

ako aotearoa academy symposium - afternoon second session

Second half of the Ako Aotearoa Academy symposium provided for two concurrent sessions to run.



One from Peter Mellow & Paul Denny, who facilitated a session on Web 2.0. A session from which I would build on for my presentation tomorrow. Attended the session on research funding so had to give this one a miss. However feedback from the others who attended this session indicated blogs, wikis etc. were covered by Peter & Paul covered Peerwise which supports the construction, display & organisation of student generated multiple choice questions.



Kirsty Weir, research manager from Ako Aotearoa, ran a 'funding clinic' to provide information on the various funding streams available for research in education. Always good to recieve some clear indication of what is expected when applying for funding. All in a very helpful session.

ako aotearoa academy symposium - 28/10 afternoon

Over the next few days, I am attending (& presenting again!) at the Ako Aotearoa academy symposium. This is open to all winners of the New Zealand excellence in tertiary teaching awards. So for the next few days, a busy programme unfolds with various keynotes, workshops, presentations and academy organisational matters.

First up this afternoon - which is a pre-symposium workshop - is Professor Sally Kift from Queensland University of Technology - on 'engaging diverse first year student cohorts: Moving from theory, through policy to action", with some good links to a proposed project I am hoping to begin on studying the first year experiences of first year apprentices.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

eportfolios for VET - 16/10 afternoon sessions

Richard Wyles from flexible learning network in NZ speaking on "regional & sector eportfolios".
started with youtube video on eportfolios at solent university . myportfolio.schools.nz & myportfolio.ac.nz for tertiary are service for portfolios system based on Mahara. Detailed origins of Mahara & explained it's many goals including flexibity to accommodate a variety of models of learning, learner centred (learner decides what to add, who sees what etc.), personal learning environment, includes social networking for learner communities, has blogging tool, resume builder.

It is open source so has a strong developer community including peer support via forums, wikis, training content etc.original funds from TEC in NZ but has had $$ contributed from many other international institutions plus now supported by a host of Mahara partner. Also provided examples & listed ongoing development going on with the myportfolio platform.

Next up, eportfolios communities of practice;local, national & global - from Gillian Hallan, Queensland University of Technology. she spoke on how eportfolios COPs may assist each other in moving eportfolios forward across different sectors and into the future. Especially important as eportfolios move from early adoption into the mainstream. study undertaken to find out what eportfolios COP would actually need in the for of support & the attributes of a successful COP should have. findings from the Australian eportfolio project - report out oct. 2009
majority of eportfolios use in Australia are in the higher Ed. sector (70%) with only 10% in the VET sector. There is a strong need for COP to be available for the VET sector. In the study, most people wanted the COP to be used to share pedagogy, or disciplined based, assess technology / tools etc. needs of new & seasoned (over 2 years) eportfolio practioners differed. Seasoned practioners more interested in sharing ideas about 'resources'. critical success factors seems to be having a funded facilitator, member engagement and diversity of community activities. Main challenges were using the technology, facilitator workload and community engagement.

Virtual presentation from University of nottingham - Kirstie Coolin, Stuart Wood & Kat Wehrheim on eportfolios to support lifelong learning did not run due to problems with audio not getting through.

Last session of the day, eportfolios for lifelong learning: the benefits for Australia by Jerry Leeson from education.au Everyone should have a right to have a eportfolio. Presentation covered review of SICTAS report'eportfolios beyond education & training', better support for lifelong learners & the focus on the ACE sector.
SICTAS research reveals eportfolio used globally beyond traditional formal ed. including supporting workers facing redundancy, career development (careers wales & myfuture - Australia - www.myfuture.edu.au), workforce development & planning, continuing professional
development, lifelong learning, articulation of skills & experience & development of competencies in ICT.Not formal sector fit into industry or regional. Small number of large scale implementation exampled by careerswales,( www.careerwales.com )
netherlands (the future that works), nedcar , efolio minnesota ,europass.

How can lifelearn learning be recorded? especially for people who began their formal learning long before digital arrived. Is your digital evidence enough? does if show 'all of someone's learning? Web is not a good place for employers to be researching job candidates! dependent on what the intend of your web identity is. Challenges for lifelong learners & eportfolios include uncertainty about reflection (how, when, how much?) there might be multiple portfolios accumulated over time, stuff disappears before they are archived, ACE sector could be a potential user of eportfolios.

Allison closed the conference with where from here? We are in an era of innovation in order to meet the challenges of the future. where does learning happen, where we value learning, much of learning happens outside of formal learning, eportfolios need to be one way for people to collate the learning they undertake through their learning lives.

eportfolios for VET - 16/10 morning sessions

welcome by Howard Errey from the Australian Flexible Learning framework.
Followed by welcome to country from the Wurundjeri Council.
Opening address was from Rodney Spark, Victorian Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG).
He also set the scene by reading a case study example of 'lifelong pathways to empower learners' as the VET visions for eportfolios.


Allison Miller from the Australian Flexible learning network then updated on current VET initiatives & eportfolio national directions. Also the blog which accompanies this conference
She drew attention to the eportfolio roadmap & resources availablewhich are excellent resources contextualised to provide information on eportfolios for learners, teachers /trainers, CEOs / managers, IT & teaching & learning support staff, employers, prof bodies & career services and employee.

Morning keynote from Ruth Wallace (Charles Darwin University, Darwin) on eportfolios supporting learner identity & re-engagement. Detailed research undertaken with disenfranchised learners living in areas with very little infrastructure for use of technology. Interest in using eportfolios to reengage learners in exploring the ways in which they learn which may not be similar to the recognised forms of learning 'accepted' by the mainstream. Learner identity was found to be important especially the development of an active learner identity rather thatn learners who' were passive & waiting for things to happen. eportfolios provide opportunities for the exploration of learner identity - are they active or passive. How can they enhance their own learning? Also allow the way in which people connect and how people represent their conceptions of the world.

eportfolios should not necessarily be linear but be like a 'bramble' where various aspects of someone's knowledge are 'collected' and the connections between the different ways in which this knowledge becomes applied. Therefore eportfolios & learning need to be learner-led. trying to fit disenfranchised learners in to the current framework only leads to frustration both of the part of the learner & the provider :) Also inportant for learners to own their own knowledge even if it is a mportfolio on a memory stick. They are then able to make the decision to share their knowledge at the time/place and with people that they are ready to share.

Second morning keynote from Hazel Owen (Unitec, NZ) eportfolios and web 2.0. summarised the projects at Unitec including work with Thom Cochrane.
Provides examples from her work in Dubai & the work at Unitec to bring together some strategies to enhance eportfolios development.
Handout of links & photos. Future possibilities summarised with the mindmap which detailed the learner eportfolio of a fictional learner - Chan Sook.
Need to ensure there are no barriers to learners developing their own ways to describe how they learn, what they have learned & how they will recieve feedback, what you do with the feedback & then who & how you showcase your eportfolio.

Again, needs to be learner led. They need to set up their private, public spaces and which parts they make visible & share. Call to educators to develop their own eportfolios so that they are themselves more confident with using technology and also for them to then become of the possibilities of eportfolios within their subject area & with their students. They are then better placed to evaluate suitability, set up of support structures and use of eportfolios.

eportfolios at VET - Thursday 15/10

Arrived off an early flight across from Christchurch to Melbourne. Paul Levy picked me up at the airport & we commenced for a longish drive in the much needed rain to the Croydon campus of the Swinburne University of Technology. Here Terri Mathot had set up the conference centre for my lunch time presentation to staff on 'using technology to teach baking. Prentation went well, with about 40 -50 attending & many relevant questions fielded. My overall message was to start with something apppropriate to subject context & student profile & to gradually build on introducing ICT into enhancing student learning as required.

In the evening, the eportfolios showcase mix, mingle & network sessions bracketed the presentations by vendors of eportfolio platforms.

The presentations were on Concord, from eTech, Desire2learn, Mahara, Pebble Pad & Skillbooks
Mahara, Pebble Pad & Skill books were eportfolio focused platforms with the others being learning management systems with added eportfolios capabilities. Mahara & Skill books are open source.


All pretty much did the same things, allowing for archiving of artefacts, revision of material, areas to store reflections, possibilities for feedback from various interested parties and the ability to showcase the portfolios in a variety of ways to cater for intended viewer audiences.

Visually, Pebble pad stood out with a very clean, user friendly user system. Mahara had drag & drop capabilites & most of the others had standard browse your folders methods for bringing artifacts into the eportfolio.

Desire2learn had a mobile interface for phones, PDAs and ipods.
Most also had the option of putting in a template so that users could then pop in the required evidence into the right places. rubrics were possible for teachers & student reference so that students could work out the level of learning required to be reflected in their artifacts.


So a good opportunity to catch up on other people working on or intending to work on eportfolios. Also good to see what is available in the market for eportfolio solutions. There are inherent advantages & disadvantages to using proprietary software when some alternatives are available the aggregation of Web 2.0 tools. However, a structured eportfolios environment might be one way to get things started.


Learners & teachers, once familiar with eportfolios' capabilites may then be more confident with exploring other options for eportfolio collation & construction.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Richard Stallman on threats to & due to digital inclusion

Yesterday evening, I attended a presentation by Richard Stallman at the University of Canterbury. He was in Christchurch to present a keynote at the annual LIANZ – library association of NZ conference. So a good chance for me to catch up on the current thinking around creative commons, copy left and the GNU

The presentation was very well attended. At least 70 – 80 people filled most of the large lecture theatre. Richard Stallman (bio) is best known for starting the free software movement, however his talk was focused on digital inclusion, its effect on society and the threats digital inclusion presented.

Free software (read as in ‘free speech’ not ‘free beer’) provides choices including freedom to use programme as you wish on your computer, freedom to have access to the source code to amend, to provide assistance to others/contribute to the community by improving the source code & to be able to provide changes of source code to others. There is therefore democratic development of the programme. No malicious features included as for proprietary software.

He covered threats to digital inclusion including surveillance, censorship, restrictive data formats, proprietary software, software as a service and war on sharing.

On surveillance, digital technology allows for ease of access by authorities to the private lives of citizens. Eg. Eftpos which traces all your purchases/spending or mobile phones aka a portable tracking device – which does not only track where you are but also who you talk to. Ditto for social networking sites. CTVs track where cars go (eg. UK). Citizens need to resist the automatic collection of all this data about our lives.

Censorship is facilitated by people using computer networks. Networks tend to be directed through very limited number of ISPs. Therefore it is easier for governments to block or censor websites (including information about censorship!).

Restrictive data formats (eg. Microsoft word!) do not have code which is accessible or patented or copyrighted. Another example is Abode’s continual versions of Flash, so that it is difficult to keep up with each version & restricts users from viewing these files. Many media players (realplayer, windows mediaplayer & quicktime) plus audio formats like .mp3 & video .mpeg2 etc.. Better to use formats which are not closed or secret. Make an effort to use formats which are not restricted – playorg.org.

Proprietary software, users do not have control, only developers are able to access the source code. Some proprietary software may have features in them which may collect data about the user which the user does not know about (eg. Real player, windows media player sent information back to the organisations about how users are using these). Microsoft windows is able to use a back door to install changes, restrict access of users to parts of the programme & sends messages about the user without the users knowledge back to the company. Kindle from Amazon is also another example.

Software as a service involves another company doing the data processing using software which you do not have access to. Users then not only have no control of their data but also no choices on how their data is used.

The war on sharing prevents individuals from sharing copies of published work. Publishing houses take the stance that sharing is pirating and is lobbying governments to tighten laws on copyright. His view is that sharing provides more advantages to society than not sharing, therefore should be encouraged, not forbidden.

Thought provoking, providing another way of understanding the viewpoints which revolve around the complex issues presented by digital information technology. We need to be aware of all these perspectives and ensure that evangelisation of ICT in education includes the threats as well as the advantages.

Friday, October 02, 2009

efest - eTLC2009 - day three

My workshop went well with just over a dozen keen people attending & participating. We explored possibilities A 9am start after a very late finish at yesterday’s conference dinner. Convivial community, good food, a nice merlot & a hypnotist for entertainment.

Professor Tai Black keynote on relevance, research outcomes of Tuhoe oral & written literature as a continually expanding commentary on Tuhoe people’s infinitely varied lives of yesterday, today & tomorrow’ dedicated to Sir Howard Morrison.

Dr Black began with a story about how he first met Sir Howard. His first meeting was to bring Sir Howard out hunting & fishing into the Ureweras. Hi grew up in the Bay of Plenty / East Coast where much of the ‘literature’ he encountered was oral & not written. Hi provided examples of the oral richness of Maori literature & provided these within the context of why & when these were coined. An example is:
‘Hokia ki o maunga kiap urea koe e nga hau Tawhirimatea’ (John Rangihau) Return to your mountains that you may be cleansed by the winds of Tawhirimatea. In order to find out about yourself, you have to go home. There is a need of Maori academics to assist Maori (especially urban Maori) to find where they come from, the land & people they are connected to, to help them ground themselves for life. The presentation provided a good background on an aspect of multiliteracies valued by Maori but generally well known or appreciated by the wider NZ population.

Second keynote of the day from Dr. Peter Coolbear from Ako Aotearoa. Peter spoke about the ‘meaningful reflective practice: the mark of a professional tertiary teacher. The recent Tertiary education strategy emphases quality of teaching and learning framed in value for money terms. Increasing whole-of-institution perspective on completions/outcomes, performance based funding framework, self assessment & evaluation review (SAEER) & governance accountability. Tertiary teachers (should be in leadership position to make changes to teaching & learning), are they professionals (have power & influence) or journeypersons (skills & buffeted by policy changes etc)? Critical reflective practice through reflection in action and reflection on action. Need to move from self reference/self reflection towards meaningful critical self-reflection. High performing professional tertiary teacher has empathy, utilises reflection-in-action, able to use critical self-reflection & emancipatory. Evidence based research informs what tertiary teachers to do, how it is done & how they are valued.

Last conference keynote from Dr. Lisa Emerson on ‘teaching for excellence – excellence in teaching’ picks up on the conference theme. What is excellence in teaching? How can it me measured quantitatively – retention, success rates, student evaluations, compliance measures, willingness to engage with new technologies, willingness to engage in professional development & willingness to disseminate good practice? Used the consequences game process to collect & share participants’ thoughts on teaching excellence.

Conference closed by Bonnie Dewart, deputy chief executive at UCOL.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

efest - eTLC2009 - day 2 afternoon workshop

Thom Cochrane presents on mobile learning with Roger Bateman (Design tutor) from Unitec. Demonstrated use of poll everywhere again which also allows you to embed into a powerpoint. Short history of cell phones including short clip from Lethal Weapon (1987) compared to what is now possible via vodaphone ad. (2008).

Followed by a demonstration of live video feed via qik. Live feed followed by video playback on qik almost immediately. Question followed on privacy on youtube. Students tend to enjoy sharing their work with others online but also important to form community of practices in the form of study groups which assist students in using the technology. Students choose technology based on the context they are working in. Eg. Design students rejected iphones as they did not have good cameras & could take videos which was part of design students’ specific learning direction.

Student work was showcased. Video of a students’ mlearning scenario with photos of drawings etc. on a Nokia N95. Students’ organisation of the end of year grad design show focused on mobility on Prezi including using a qik video, using GPS to show people how to get to the show & photos of how to collect evidence using camera, microphone for her studies. Using fring to chat, twitter etc. Site on ning to archive student work to build sustainable habitats which included discussion forums etc. Mobile integration provides an email link for students to email photos etc. into the site.

Important to find the correct hardware which matches the requirements of the course and the students’ expectations. Use of the technology needs to be seen to be an advantage for the student. WiFi capability on mobile phones or devices important to cut down on costs related to mobile web browsing. Support sites set up on Unitec LMS along with the weekly meetings with students to help with technical challenges.

Thom also showed livestream as a way to store & show case videos. Costs of pre-data is dropping esp. for Vodaphone allowing for photos & videos which cost less than txt messaging.

efest - eTLC2009 - day 2 afternoon keynote

Joyce Seitzinger from EIT presented on "You are not alone" centred on social networking sites including twitter and blogs. We are able to connect & contribute but there are thousands of web 2.0 sites, too much information to access!

Where to start? Join a community of practice. Find a community which appeals eg everybody, trademe. Ning was used as a site for the eTLC09. This is more than a website as it includes many opportunities for networking. Examples of smaller communities include online conferences & Special interest groups.

Start a personal learning network. Maybe based on a blog, wiki or a social networking site.
Helen McPhun presented on engaging, motivating and assessing learners.

Opportunity one – cultural diversity should be used to enhance classroom learning. Move out of your comfort zone, bring learners together, challenge them & work with what results from the challenges. Employers need knowledge, skills & right attitude = cognitive (in context & memorable), psychomotor (realistic & practiced) & affective (fun & engaging) domains.

Need to bring separate units together into an integral part of the programme. Current assessments tend to assess declarative knowledge (what & why – algorithmic approach), how about the procedural knowledge (how & when – heuristic approach). Which one engages learners? Therefore best to provide opportunities of what & what if, why & why
not, how to & then what, when to & what happens, who does what but what if?

Project based learning recommended eg. To complete 6 units on communications, work in two teams to plan a real ‘school excursion’ working within real parameters, budgets etc. Mon – Wed. = teach led interactive lessons, Thurs. group time to do ‘research’, Fri.was run as a formal meetings in board room over the course of 8 weeks with last Friday being a formal presentation. Week nine, winning team subcontracts the logistical dogsbody work to the other team. Week 9 ended with THE TRIP. Week 10 focused on review of the trip & ended with where to from here session.

Formative assessment formed the background of the project. Summative assessments were also completed to reflect individual evidence of understanding and performance. Other evidence including audience feedback, peer assessments, personal reflection & teacher observations. Weekly self assessments were provided to assist with the reflective learning process.

efest - eTLC09 - day two debate

A debate on ‘the web: End fo the classroom era’ was adjudicated by Alan Caldwalder. Affirmatives on the motion by Stephen Bright, Joyce Seitzinger & Leigh Blackhall. The Negatives represented by Helen McPhun, Bonnie Dewart & Colin Cox.

Stephen began by stating the affirmatives case. Online school students on the increase. Evidence provided by increases in students, courses & teachers using Moodle. Helen approached the debate from the point of ‘sensing human instead of insensitive technology’. F2F affords PRESENCE both for the learner & for the teacher. Joyce countered with the need to provide students with a voice using technology so that learning is not teacher-led. Recommends we check out youtube video – Mr Winkle wakes up where all of society apart from education has engaged with technology. This was followed by Helen J. with the trivialising of knowledge by twitter & other web 2.0. Leigh provided a rebuttal to the negatives case & brought the affirmatives case by stating that school as being interdependent & does not meet learning needs of students but the internet is where the student connects with experts, other kindred spirits etc. Colin closed the debate of how effective elearning / simulators may be in training pilots & dentistry?

Interesting points of views from the audience & rebuttals from both the affirmatives & negatives. Alan provided a quick summary. Votes counted indicate a DRAW!!

efest- ETCL2009 - day two morning workshop

Workshop on ‘towards excellence in e-learning for adults with needs in literacy, language & numeracy’ with Dr. Niki Davis & David Earle from the University of Canterbury.
Details of project and report available soon & also via project blog.

How characteristics of programmes (mixed mode, blended, online) etc. cope with literacy needs of learners. Initial literature review include ALLs survey (not many people are able to self access their own literacy to the right levels), low levels of adult literacy have a direct impact on the economy and reduce life chances for adults & their children, there are many challenges in supporting adults to improve literacy & one approach has been to use e-learning to extend self-study.

Studied five ‘nested’ case studies, web based numeracy online distance learning (not all engaged), blended m-learning with apprentices (fits student & tutor lifestyle), ESOL resource centre (not without challenges – autonomous learning had to be an end goal), online units & simulation accessed through LMS (increasing access for students literacy & numeracy) & evening class to support adult literacy using ICT including games (intensively supported environment required).

Whole organisation buy in important including leaders’ vision, learning services coordination & resources, professional & curriculum development, e-learning professional development, e-maturity & development & Maori-related initiatives.

Findings include LNN in the 21st century includes: proficiency with digital technologies & elearning. Computers provide a relevant learning context with adults seeking to enhance their LNN skills & help alleviate some of their anxiety about LNN learning; Elearning for LNN not widespread in NZ. Teaching strategies recommended include; elearning is more effective as part of F2F training; Maori approaches to elearning can be used to build capacity; and with adequate support, elearning provides a good source of practice & motivation for second language learners; diverse Pasifika peoples benefit from elearning that is accompanied by induction which fits in with their culture & lives; many elearning strategies used for building reading & writing can also be successfully used for & by adults with specific needs; and mobile elearning increases flexibility of provision. Professional & organisational development also required.

efest - eTLC2009 - day two morning keynote

First keynote of the day from Colin Cox from National Semantics on ‘Talent Development’. What are the components that make or grow talent? What is or not talent?

Case studies of exemplars of talent (eg. Tiger Woods) who achieved success through HARD WORK. Supported by work achieved at Carnegie Mellon University where the average 7-9 digits retained in short term memory could be extended to 88 & on to 105 based on hours of practice. It’s not neurons & synapses it’s about myelin. Myelin is a neuron insulator. The more you do an activity, the thicker the myelin becomes.

Talent is made up of passion, practice and persistence. Passion maximised talent as development of talent is demanding requiring effort & time, hard work which is not always fun. Perfect practice makes myelin grow & deliberate practice is not any old practice. It is designed to improve performance & identifies specific elements for improvement. The learning zone is beyond the comfort zone. It is where you have to apply yourself to move items in the learning zone into the comfort zone. If too much push applied, the panic zone occurs! Burn out or giving up occurs.

Practice involves repetition includes observation & imitation. Focused work helps builds myelin & feedback is VITAL.

efest - eTLC2009 - day two - Sitech presentation

An earlyish start with a vendor presentation from Sitech. Nicholas Hall from Command systems represents Commbot (control system), Video Commander (original analog video) & DVC (current product replacing video commander).

DVC is a way forward for managing & delivery content. It is a content management & distribution system for video recording, editing, digital signage, camera management, control system & educational content packages. So all content videos, lecture notes, powerpoints, DVD, podcasts etc. can be stored in one box (the DVC server). The content can then be managed by using age level restrictions (schools), meta data/tagged, integrated into one place. Can then be distributed through intranet, via hyperlinks from Moodle & available via portal access as well.

Content is then multi/uni-cast so that streaming is real-time. Digital signage can also be used for internal broadcasting of messages. DVC content has ability to store 25000 hours of video (16 terabytes) linked to internal PC, laptops, interative whiteboards, TV/CD player etc. Admin PC & a com box control (which links to DVD & VCR players – for copyrighted material, Sky etc.), security cameras, event recording videos, video capture & editing, internet & digital signage.

Demonstration of some of the above in real time provided good examples of how the system works using DVC player, DVC administrator (has nifty user-friendly editor) and DVC commander. Capabilities go well beyond what is now available with ecast.