ULearn News

We have already had an exciting showcase to the future session, and the second one is now underway!

If you have seen an idea you like and want to find out more about it, check out the Presenters’ knowledge base on the ULearn08 website. There is a special category for the showcase to the future.

Just a reminder that the showcase to the future runs in the James Hay Theatre during each breakout on Wednesday and Thursday at the same times as other workshops (and not at the times incorrectly shown in the programme). Each presentation in a ten minute snapshot of a new idea or innovation. You can come and go as you please and don’t need to register beforehand, which is perfect if you’re looking for something else to do during a breakout.

Look out for the student media team who are looking stylish and happy in their blue and yellow ULearn t-shirts.

The media team will be capturing the spirit of ULearn08 on video. If you are approached by a student for a short interview, don’t be shy! Everyone who takes the time to support our media team will go in the draw to win a prize You can check out what their up to on their team’s wiki.

There is also a wonderful team of student runners supporting each room. These are the people to ask if you have a question or need support for your presentation.

The Ministry of Education supports ULearn08. Visit their team just along from the Registration desk to talk about the strategies, programmes, and research supporting and promoting the effective use of ICT in schools.

Learn more about the development of Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI), the Digital Technologies Guidelines, Digistore, Foundations for Discovery (ECE e-learning framework), The National Educational Network (NEN), e-Principals, assistive technologies, and Software for Learning.

Also, come and give your view on the Online Learning Environment (OLE) project and the ICT PD review.

Check out the at the latest reflections of ministry staff on the conference at the blog – www.lunchbox.org.nz

If you are a twitterer, we are keen to have you tweet about your experiences at ULearn08.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. At the conference, add people to your Twitter network and tweet about what you’re up to, what you’ve just seen, where you’re going to next, etc …!

To keep track of everybody’s tweets, we have set up a ULearn08 Twitter page here. This will show all tweets which include the text #ulearn08. It is important to include the hash symbol # before ulearn08 (all one word), so that our page will pick up your feed.

Tweet tweet!

We are pleased to be welcoming back Mark Treadwell to ULearn. Mark will give a number of presentations, starting with a pre-conference workshop, then a spotlight, a series of presentations, and a featured presentation. Mark’s combination of intelligent dialogue and a sharp wit mean that his sessions are always both thought-provoking and entertaining.

Mark’s bio and abstract for his spotlight presentation are as follows:

“Whatever!” The conceptual era and the evolution of School v 2.0: A new paradigm and a new renaissance in learning

New Zealand leads the world in so many aspects of innovative education practice. In this session Mark will take you on a nationwide tour looking at innovative practices surrounding curriculum, school and centre management, assessment, use of ICT and transformation leadership. Schools and centres highlighted range from early childhood, primary, middle school, and secondary.

Our next challenge as a nation is to learn from this exemplary practice and integrate these practices across the board. Mark will briefly speak on the central nature of school and centre culture as the driving force behind systemic change within schools and centres, given that the iterative approach to professional development is simply not applicable in a time of exponential rates of change across almost every aspect of education.

Mark Treadwell has been lecturing, providing teacher seminars, and speaking at national and international conferences for over 15 years. Mark speaks on a wide range of topics including curriculum information and communications technology, thinking, teaching pedagogy for the 21st century, authentic assessment, competencies, wisdom and values.

Mark is a director of Dataview, a high-tech company which focuses on developing technology solutions for companies as well as for education authorities and schools. Dataview is involved in several MOE projects which centre on the interoperability of Student Management Systems (SMSs) and Online Learning Environments (OLEs).

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.