Simon Breakspear – ‘Edupreneurship’

25 October 2011 in from the conference, keynotes, ulearn11 by Diane Mills | No comments

Simon Breakspear in his closing keynote asked us to step up into what he calls Edupreneurship

For too long technology has been the driving force of change rather than the pedagogy. He urges us towards action and to become creative innovators. Whose future are we educating students for – theirs or ours? Are we preparing students for a future that no longer exists?

Breakspear talked about 4 mindsets for Edupreneurs: Questioning , Design, Experiment and Leadership

Question in the pursuit of better. Ask Why? Ask Why not? Ask What if? Disrupt the status quo! Challenge. Two such challengers to the status quo are Salman Khan of the Salman Khan Academy, educator to the masses and Marc Koska the inventor of the auto-disposable syringe.

Design - Embrace the constraints frugal engineering in India led to the production of a car for $2500! Constraints help design. Take the solar bottle bulb, – using nothing more than a water bottle, light was brought to the slums of Manila. Breakspear urges us to embrace user-centred design. As educators think about what a school might look like that truly educates students for their future? Open up the demand side of learning. Listen up to user needs, motivations and aspirations. Learning should be something we do with students rather than to students.

Experiment - To get great learning we need to fail first. Success and failure are not polar opposites. We learn much more from failure than we do from success, so educators just need to take some risks! Fail often in order to succeed sooner

Could NZ become a learning lab for education best practice globally? Can we learn to value failure and learning in our schools and education system? Every school and system should always be in beta mode.

Leadership mindset - Leaders bring the change. Breakspear urges us to let go of our ideas to start a movement. Uphold creative commons give attribution back to where the idea came from and keep the cycle going. If you play the moral purpose of gift giving then you rise to a better level. Ideas are not enough, – seed a movement.

Finally, Breakspear tells us: You have Permission to lead; we have been waiting for you. You don’t have to be the expert, young or old. Just take the step!

Visit his website at: Simonbreakspear.com

Dr Jan Herrington – Mobile Technology keynote

21 October 2011 in educate, innovate, keynotes, ulearn11 by Diane Mills | No comments

Mobile phones in the classroom? Banned in your school? Dr Jan Herrington started her keynote with Rupert Murdoch’s challenge – let's bring classrooms into the 21st century. Most mobile phone policies in schools are couched in negative language – ‘banned, sanctioned, disruption, no need to have in school…’

Mobile phones are tools for learning and what’s more most students have one or even two in their pockets. Mobile technologies are everywhere. They enable teachers to bring the abstract alive, and to be innovative educators. Dr Herrington provides two examples. Take a look at the funky school's article or teaching the Bernoulli’s principle using YouTube.

What are the characteristics of effective mobile learning? Set an authentic and complex task for students to create a genuine product. Move from teaching ‘how ’ – to using technology to create. For example students could create their own app to demonstrate some concept. Giving learners the confidence to try things has the best outcomes. It is the task that matters most!

Questions to ask as you consider the next unit of work:

  • What does the student do?
  • Who uses the technology?
  • How long does it take? Authentic tasks go on for weeks
  • Is there collaboration – this helps to grow understanding
  • Is there a polished product? – it is the crafting of the product that truly gets students engaged
  • Is there somewhere where work can be shown – in school, on the web, or for different occasions
  • Authentic learning involves students using mobile devices as cognitive tools in a participatory manner with their environment.

For more on mobile learning, check out Jan's website: http://web.me.com/janherrington/ULearn/

Dr Jack Bacon – The Parallel Bang

21 October 2011 in educate, keynotes, ulearn11 by Diane Mills | No comments

ULearn11 started with a bang a parallel bang according to Dr Jack Bacon in his keynote address.

The pace of knowledge acquisition today is leading to what he refers to as the parallel bang a creative knowledge explosion that is changing society. Preparing students for life ahead is getting even more difficult.

What has brought this change about? Dr Bacon used the tumbling mile records over the last 50 years to describe this growth in knowledge. What caused mile records to fall? Did we breed different runners? No, what changed was knowledge about nutrition and training. This was captured in mind after mind leading to a creative ‘explosion’. This sort of intellectual achievement leads to change and development. Each time we learn something new we develop as a society.

Change is accelerating. Previously one major change in a lifetime was likely, now we can expect 5 or 6 major shifts and these huge shifts have a sobering effect. This is the parallel bang – the explosive growth of human understanding in the 21st century. What has caused this?

  • The sheer number of people on the planet provide more ‘brains’ to call on
  • Global communications give greater understanding about societal needs
  • Technology has provided personal access to the ‘library of the world’ and
  • People have access to more data than ever before

This growth in technology and networks links diverse minds fluidly around the globe, benefitting society. One instance of this is the World Community Grid. Dr Jack Bacon threw out the challenge to get students signed up to this so that they can be a part of changing health worldwide.

Finally he cautions: Now more than ever students need to learn how to reinvent themselves and this is changing the face of education. Trends are no longer linear making predicting the future impossible. How do we educate students for this?

ULearn11 Research Stream

21 October 2011 in general info, ulearn11 by Diane Mills | No comments

The research stream kicked off on day one of the conference with presenters sharing their research. These were timed presentations, with each presenter taking 20 minutes to showcase their topic. Research topics covered information privacy practices of adolescents, online communities of practice, blended learning, effective e-learning practices and innovation. Poster presenters have their work displayed in the Historic Walkway of the EEC. Delegates are invited to vote on these.

The ULearn11 research stream is supported by the University of Canterbury e-Learning Lab. The aim is to celebrate achievements in the e-Learning sector and to increase participation by teacher leaders. Presenters of research are also able to develop their papers and submit them to the online journal: Computers in New Zealand Schools.

Innovation: Lamborghini or Lemon

21 October 2011 in collaborate, educate, spotlights, ulearn11 by Diane Mills | No comments

What qualities should teachers have? Open mindedness, an ability to be flexible and adaptable, a dose of optimism perhaps?  Schools, Graeme Aitken believes, need teachers to be innovative in a high performance way. Although he concedes that innovation can be expensive in terms of teacher time.

Aitken thinks we are not successful as teachers unless we work at the intersection where successful learning and achievement, greater interest and greater confidence overlap for students. Each idea on its own doesn’t lead to effective learning and teaching; all three must be present.

He believes it is critically important that students need to be questioned about their own learning and he gives some examples here:

  • To what extent can you answer questions about the work in this unit?
  • Make a well-informed contribution to a discussion about …
  • Clearly explain what you have learned in this unit to someone else
  • Can you use the ideas and skills you have learned in this unit in some other unit or subject?

Posters

21 October 2011 in general info by Sherry Chrisp | No comments

Posters will be on view in the Energy Events centre Historic Walkway for the duration of the conference. Presenters will be available to discuss their posters on Wednesday morning tea and lunchtime. You will have a chance to vote for the best poster and the results will be announced on the final day of the conference

Visit  to see what is on offer 

http://www.core-ed.org/ulearn/posters-research-stream

The New “Science in a Van Roadshow’ comes to ULearn

21 October 2011 in general info by Sherry Chrisp | No comments

Alan and Emily, husband and wife team, are extremely passionate about inspiring people of all ages to get curious and excited about science. They provide an experience that demonstrates how science is relevant to everyday life and proves how essential science is to understanding the world around us.

They started “Science in a Van” on their return from London in 2010. The response has been immense.  This dynamic duo make the most of their science communication and educational experience. They both worked at the world’s leading science museum in London and have facilitated hundreds of science shows, storytellings and workshops in New Zealand, England, Ireland and India. Emily also has a New Zealand teaching degree and has taught in primary schools here and in London.

See them in the Energy Event Centre Grand Hall during all breaks

http://www.scienceinavan.co.nz/

Game Playing at ULearn

21 October 2011 in general info by Sherry Chrisp | No comments

The Dell team are bringing Alienware gaming pod to ULearn this year. If you want to test your skill you can hop into the gaming pod and play computer games in an immersive racing style seat.

Challenge your friends to a game

ULearn 11 Numbers

21 October 2011 in general info by Sherry Chrisp | No comments

Wonderful support for New Zealands premier educators conference is still apparent with the numbers for ULearn11 reaching the 1500 mark. This year we have slightly higher secondary numbers with 26% of the delegates. Primary lead with a total of 66% while the balance of the delegates come from tertiary, early years and exhibitors. Leadership teams make up 20% of the audience while lead teachers and teachers lead from the front with 70%

Secondary Teacher Bonaza

13 October 2011 in general info by Sherry Chrisp | No comments

With more than 26% of the ULearn delegates from secondary schools this year we have made sure that there is ample programme JUST FOR YOU!! A grand total of 181 workshops have selected secondary as their focus. So be in, if you haven’t already registered get to it now.

One workshop to watch out for is “Enhancing knowing and learning in a changing world”by Diane Mills in Breakout 3. Diane discusses the fact that Secondary schools are increasingly being urged to change to meet 21stC expectations of knowing and learning and what this means for the school community of administrators, teachers, students and parents?

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