September 2008

Make sure your laptop is ready to join the ULearn network.

You will need a laptop that has a wireless card in it, all current Tela laptops are suitable.

Windows
On Windows laptops, you will need to make sure that the wireless card is turned on, there may be a small switch on the case of your laptop that needs to be slid to the on position.

Your laptop needs to be set up so that the wireless interface will look for a DHCP server to provide it with the IP addresses it needs for the ULearn network. If you are unsure how to tell if this is the case then visit this page to look at the help sheet. Please make sure that you write down what your current settings are so you can put them back for when you return to school.

The ULearn network does not have a proxy server that you need to authenticate to so you need to have proxies turned off for ULearn. If you are unsure how to tell if this is the case then visit this page to look at the help sheet. Please make sure you write down any proxy settings so you can put them back for when you return to school.

Macintosh
There should be an Airport (wireless) menu near the right-hand side of your laptops menu bar. It looks like a fan shape with four bars that indicate signal strength by changing colour between black and grey. Click on the Airport icon and make sure that the Airport is turned on.

Your laptop needs to be set up so that the wireless interface will look for a DHCP server to provide it with the IP addresses it needs for the ULearn network. If you are unsure how to tell if this is the case then visit this page to look at the help sheet. Please make sure that you write down what your current settings are so you can put them back for when you return to school.

The ULearn network does not have a proxy server that you need to authenticate to so you need to have proxies turned off for ULearn. If you are unsure how to tell if this is the case then visit this page to look at the help sheet. Please make sure you write down any proxy settings so you can put them back for when you return to school.

Secondary Sight: Towards inclusive and flexible education

Secondary Sight supports the future of an online, personalised, flexible and inclusive education model for all and will be giving a presentation at ULearn08.

We want to help you maximise your valuable time and effort. We want to ensure that what you produce is accessible to and usable by all students.

Come and join us at ULearn!

Where: Christ’s College Art History Room
When: Friday 10 October from 11:15 to 12:45 (Breakout 7)
What: Secondary Sight interactive workshop
Who: Kylee Maloney – Access Consultant
Kathy Olsen - project founder
Ryan Kean – student
Dylan Neale – student

During this session you will:

• get a mini tutorial giving practical advice on how to create accessible and usable documents;
• be given a tour around the Secondary Sight website so you won’t forget where to find the resources next time you need them;
• hear from blind and vision impaired students about their experiences and how to plug access gaps;
• see assistive technology in action!

Join us at ULearn and help us realise our dream of totally inclusive education! We’d love to meet you!

For further information, please contact:
Kylee Maloney
E: kylee@timeless.net.nz
P: 04 2359 559
M: 021 0501764

You will meet our enthusiastic team of students from the Media Team throughout the conference venue working to record the event and reporting the delegate’s thoughts and wonderings. By interacting with this team you will contribute in a number of ways through video, blogging, wikis and social software, to the conference as a whole. See the handbook for details about this very important part of the conference and how to get involved. Watch for their work on the ULearn website and on the screen opposite the middle entrance to the trade halls.

If you contribute to any of the Media Team activities you will receive a coloured sticker for your name badge to show you have contributed, and a ticket to put in the box at the Media Centre to go in the draw for an iPod Shuffle!

As an increasing number of teachers and principals like to run their scheduled VC class or meeting during conference time, our friends at asnet Technologies are providing a Polycom videoconference system for your use for the duration of the conference. This will be in the asnet Technologies Meeting Room 1, upstairs in the Christchurch Convention Centre, and is available for bookings OUTSIDE scheduled breakout times.

Note that during breakout times, the videoconference system at asnet’s stand (40 and 41) will be available to you on a ‘first in, first served’ basis. Please make all bookings by contacting Denise Hansen on 027 476 5370 or emailing her at deniseh@asnet.co.nz

As this is a popular and free service, if your needs change, please let Denise know.

A key component of ULearn08 will be the contribution by participants to the understanding and knowledge being created throughout the conference through the use of Web 2.0 applications. To do this, we will be using a range of media to connect before, during, and after the conference. Here are some ways you can connect with others:

Blogs and blogging
If you are a blogger, please continue to blog while you are in Christchurch at the conference, and include the tags ulearn08 or ulearn08. Meet and join other bloggers during breaks at the Bloggers’ Cafe. There is more information on the blogs and blogging page.

Conference newsletter
The student reporters in the Media Team will be compiling a newspaper for each day of the conference. These will be handed out around the venue as well as being available on the ULearn08 website.

Flickr
Remember to bring your digital camera and upload your photos to your Flickr account. Tag your pictures with our conference tags, ulearn or ulearn08, so that others can search for them.

Twitter
Add people you meet to your Twitter network and tweet about your experiences at the conference. Twitter is a form of micro-blogging, where each tweet is a maximum of 140 characters - a great way of quickly letting people know what you’re up to, what you’ve just seen, where you’re going to next … and what you think about it all!

Check this page for more information about the social media being utilised at ULearn08.

Our second spotlight presentation will be given by Westley Field. Westley is Director of Online Learning and Manager of IT at MLC School in Sydney. He is also is Director of the ‘Skoolaborate’ Initiative.

Skoolaborate is a global initiative which uses a blend of technologies including, blogs, online learning, wikis, and  ‘virtual worlds’ to transform learning. These tools are combined to provide collaborative blended learning experiences which make learning more meaningful and engaging. The projects integrate curriculum and digital technologies into collaborative global actions. This video provides an introduction to Skoolaborate:

Westley’s spotlight is about emerging technologies and their implication for learning and the abstract is as follows:

Technologies change the way we work and live. The rate of change with technology and the types of technologies that are emerging have tremendous implications for the future of education. Schools will need to adopt new practices including new skills for teachers if they are to remain competitive.

In this presentation, participants will explore new directions with emerging technologies as well as learn the strategies that worked in establishing a successful global collaborative initiative in teen SecondLife - from admin to practice.

This presentation will explore the learning and subsequent heuristics used to make this project a success. Participants will learn about practical strategies and administrative considerations that make these projects work. Participants will view video footage of student experiences as well as interact with students and partners during the presentation.

Westley Field presents around the world on topics such as education in virtual worlds, making 1 to 1 work, heuristics of implementing e-learning, educational technology, connecting students in a web 2.0 world, and leading in a flat world.

In 2008, Westley received the ASLA John Lee Award for innovative us of IT in learning. Westley has previously received a Churchill Fellowship, Computerworld Honours (Smithsonian), Apple Distinguished Educator, Macromedia Ed Leader, and Adobe Ed Leader for his work with schools and communities. Westley is also on the Board for the NSW and Sydney branches of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders.

Westley will also give two interactive presentations during breakouts 3 and 4. One-to-One: 10 years of ideas will allow participants the opportunity to work collaboratively to develop a vision for learning, then explore strategies and successful working models and for a one-to-one learning environment.

One of the things that we can rely on at ULearn is that some of our firmly held beliefs about teaching and learning will be challenged, often in surprising ways. I am particularly looking forward to Nicola Yelland’s spotlight. Having come across her in the reference lists of several academic papers by other researchers, and then discovering the work she has done in the Mapping MultiLiteracies research in South Australia, I am excited at the prospect of hearing her speak. She will provide exactly the kind of challenge that I look forward to at the conference.

The framework that she has been involved in developing for mapping children’s literacies, her view of teaching and learning (which crosses both ECE and early primary sectors) and the challenges that she throws at us in terms of our role as teachers of young children give us the opportunity to look at some of our own beliefs and practices with a new lens. As a primary-trained teacher now working in the ECE sector I know that there are practices and perspectives from both sectors that would enrich the other.

I am certain that I will hear comments after her spotlight that her focus on the ‘other’ sector meant that “she isn’t relevant for the sector I work in”. My challenge to you is to suspend your attachment to your own sector, and listen carefully and critically to what she is saying about children, teaching and learning, and our roles and responsibilities as teachers.

I really look forward to some lively debate after her session.

Elaine Newton
ECE ICT PL facilitator

Have you subscribed to the early childhood education blog yet?
http://centre4.interact.ac.nz/1723/68623 (For participants in the ECE ICT PL programme)

Take the opportunity to check out what the innovative and passionate early childhood teachers and their children and families get up to in a day before heading off into their workshops at ULearn08.

Below is a list of some of the ECE blogs available for public viewing.

Manaia Kindergarten
http://www.manaiakindergarten.blogspot.com

Next Generation Childcare
http://nextgenerationchildcare.blogspot.com

Greenwood Kindergarten
http://greenwoodkindergarten.blogspot.com

Geraldine Kindergarten
http://geraldinekindergarten.blogspot.com

Botany Downs Kindergarten
http://bdownskindy.blogspot.com/

Mangere Bridge Kindergarten
http://mangerebridgekindergarten.blogspot.com

Recently, a group of educators met in Auckland to spend the evening sharing together and exploring various aspects of ICT in education. This was an unconference event similar to the planned unconference sessions for ULearn08. Check out the impressions of the evening from some of those that attended and see the power of this type of event. The Voicethread below is an example of an web 2.0 application that you can use to activities to life with voice comment, that might have previously been a set of photos with captions.

Remember to register for one (or both!) of the unconference sessions on Friday 10 October. The unconference will take place during breakouts 6-7. The more people who participate and present, the better this event will be.

An unconference offers the flexibility to talk about topics of interest for a short time, and to engage in informal discussion about a range of ideas. There will be several discussions occurring simultaneously and, from within this ‘organised chaos’, productive and professional dialogue emerges.

Here’s how an ‘Open Space’ unconference works:

1. Whoever comes are the right people.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
3. Whenever it starts is the right time.
4. Whenever it is over it is over.

And, finally, the Law of Two Feet is a guide to people attending an unconference: “If you are not learning or contributing, it is your responsibility to respectfully find another place where you are.”

We look forward to seeing you and your colleagues at our very first unconference!