media team

Anita Phillips is the lead ICT teacher from Cobden School. She has never been to Ulearn before but this year she has come to learn about new innovations and to get enthusiastic about teaching and ICT again.

So far she has found the conference fantastic and thought provoking. She attended break out one by Tony Ryan which was about Innovative teachers. The key message that she picked up from this was that we need to have a zest for life and for learning.

So far she has been inspired to return to her school and introduce the kids to the world of technology no matter what age they are. She wants to let the children explore things for themselves and question how things work.

Pene Abbie is the principal at Clarkville school.  She has come to Ulearn many times before and this year she hopes to learn more about ICT in the classroom.Her role at Ulearn is as a  presenter and she is going to be talking about children leading their learning using the CHILL factor.

She enjoyed the Keynote speaker Gary Stager because he talked about ideas that were practical and she thinks that she will be able to implement them in her school.

The first breakout that she attended was called “Got to know when to hold em.’” This was presented by David Anderson. When she gets back to Clarkville school she would like to make sure that all the teachers have the knowledge to help the kids complete ten things in ICT. These things include writing a novel, building a blockbuster, and robotics. She intends to do this by getting lots of professional development for the teachers and it might end up with the children teaching the teachers.

Anna Chapman is the lead teacher of ICT at Taitoko school in Levin. She is a year 5-6 teacher and she found the keynote fantastic and very motivational. The speaker, (Gary Stager) talked about 10 things you can do with a laptop and about giving the students more ownership of their learning. This gave her lots of food for thought in regard to some good practical ideas for the classroom. This has helped her to reflect on her own classroom and classroom practice.

When she gets back to school, she would like to try using some hands on technology such as lego robotics instead of using computers all the time.

Richard Bishop is the South Island Regional manager for IP communications. He attended Ulearn last year as a visitor but this is his first year attending with the company. Hes been impressed by the organization and has had great conversations with teachers. He’s also enjoyed the keynote speeches that he has heard.

Before he came to Ulearn his expectations were to meet and talk to as many people and organizations as he could. He says his expectations have absolutely been met and that it’s been an excellent week. New ideas that have inspired his personal learning journey is a clear understanding that teachers need to focus on teaching and not fighting with technology.

New ideas that have inspired him at:

• Leadership level – Understanding how the Ministry of Education works as well as interacting with various groups that use video to deliver aspects of the curriculum.
• School-Wide Level – Importance of getting the network right.
• Classroom Level – Making technology an invisible tool not something you have to fight with.

Richard said his thinking has been extended towards distance learning, bringing experts into the classroom and using green screens for video conferencing. One thing he would like to share with others is that the importance of these conferences is immeasurable.

Gordon Dryden is the publisher for The Learning Web. He is an author and presenter at Ulearn and this is his first time attending a Ulearn conference, although he has attended similar ones.

His experiences so far include what he calls a “very good keynote” and “brilliant” workshops. Before he came his expectations were very high because he has been to similar conferences before. He said that his expectations have been met, commenting on the conference’s “smoothness”, “efficiency” and “overall brilliance in organisation”.

Gordon said Ulearn has shown that New Zealand has the ability to be high up in the world, and would like to share with others his thoughts that New Zealand has the potential to lead the world in future technology.

Wayne Mackintosh is the Director at Open Education Resource Foundation. His role at Ulearn is to help teachers understand the value of sharing knowledge. This is his first Ulearn conference. Wayne said that the conference has been wonderful so far and he has been inspired by the amount of teachers who want to share their knowledge. He had no particular expectations before attending the conference other than having an open mind and wanting to share experiences with other educators. Wayne says these expectations have been met so far and that the networking is excellent.

An idea that has inspired him at leadership level is the willingness of leaders to think about the benefit of open education resources.

He has been impressed by the extent of the teachers’ information and how ICT is being implemented in the classroom. With others, he would like to share knowledge freely.

Douglas Harre´ is a senior consultant at the Ministry of Education. His role at Ulearn is to advise people about the Ministry of Education’s initiatives such as new education systems, computer programs etc. He has attended Ulearn about 9 times.

He came with high expectations, which have been met, because he’s been here quite a few times before and knows what to expect. He says that it’s good to meet people from overseas and compare their ideas with ours here in New Zealand. Douglas says ideas that have inspired him at leadership level are that, “leadership is very important and that it isn’t always easy being a leader”. Some ideas that he would share with others are those of the details informing the public of the government’s education priorities.

Andrew Dunningham is a scientist at Scion. He is attending Ulearn as a learner. So far he has attended about four Ulearn conferences in New Zealand. This time he has really enjoyed Gary Stager and says he was very enthusiastic and thought he had great ideas.

Andrew didn’t have high expectations before coming to Ulearn, he thought of it more as a chance to catch up and meet with people but says his expectations have definitely been met. His thinking has been extended by the ability to network with some teachers to provide a service-G.I.S training. This will take place in November and he says the idea was enhanced and improved after listening to Gary speak.

Andrew said the ideas he would share with others from the conference were Gary’s ideas and the ideas on how to video conference.

DK is the founding director of MediaSnackers in Wales. He is a presenter at Ulearn 09 and has done spotlight sessions, breakouts and a training day on Tuesday. It is his first time attending a Ulearn conference and also his first time in New Zealand.

DK chose to speak about ‘Social Media and how it has changed the game’ because he thinks Social Media is under used in schools for education and wants to promote that it be used more. He thinks we should be using different Social Networks and trying them out before making a judgment about them. “The world has changed and it’s not turning back”.

On July 15 2009 MediaSnackers launched a web program called ` The web makes me feel’. Nearly 500 UK based young people have participated in this project. Over 143 feelings and 65 reasons for why youth feel that way. MediaSnackers have also hosted other projects such as The button theory and Pacific youth. “Businesses are not run by IT departments….they are run by people who hire and fire IT departments”.

Paula Jamieson is a Facilitator at Te Whakatipuranga Hou ICT PD. She is a presenter as well as a learner at Ulearn.

She attended breakout one which was called ‘Know when to hold them know when to fold them’ which was presented by David Anderson and Mel Stoppard from Hands on Education. It explained about your role as a leader, what skills and attributes you have and what you need to learn. She found it inspirational, purposeful and authentic because it was very reflective and made you think about yourself as a learner and think about personal experiences. It also provided the opportunity to listen to others and see things from a different point of view.

Paula has attended more than five Ulearn conferences in New Zealand. She commented that the essence of the talk was empowering you to lead your own learning. She had very high expectations before coming to the conference because she knows a lot of the key motivators and knows how much planning and research goes into Ulearn. She connects a lot with people on the back channels of this. It is a huge networking opportunity.