Photo :
Stephen Downes
My quote for the day " Students seek not to be taught rather to be assessed. Learners seek ways to better get to know you, as the content you deliver is of little consequence to their learning".
Prior to leaving Sydney I caught up with Stephan Ridgway in Sydney and
we both sought access to this occasion - this celebration and interrogation of where we are with respect to web 2.0 and the new and emergent communication modes for both educators and learners.
Contrary to Michale C's comments re: the podcasts quality and purchase power I've decided to publish it...if only to indicate our enthusiasm to engage with such an event. Your comments are not neccesarily needed :-)
And on a reflective note here's my musings on the day.
I
dont hate small groups. They have their place particularly for those unfamiliar in a audience or reserved in their ability to converse in a chaotic shared conversation context.
Nor do I think that dis-organised necessarily means unproductive nor disrespectful. In fact, the key discussion filters today ran hot on the emotional filters ( probably mediated and derivative a little of the day before ) and for that I believe it was a richer and more relevant forum for examining the risks inherent with embracing an open, distributive and networked world for teachers and other less than revered terminology - something we are all moving into being subject to.
Stephen Downes spoke of assessment, learner ecospheres, attitudes to web based publication tools, disaggregation of content and effectively synthesised all peoples thoughts into the cool pic above. Stephens ability to provoke thinking in such assembled forums is as potent as his ability to engage readers in OLDaily.
Leigh Blackall reiterated 'teaching is dead' and Wiki courseware and interative learning domains feature heavily in his discussion points and I'm suprised/ happy / observant that the reactive elements of the group were noticably missing. Leigh , as always stands up to criticism with a stead fast belief in seeking ways to engage learners and lacked the super-stardom ( thank god ) that other stage-primadonas adopt faced with adversity.
Rose G went all out and put her soul on the line bringing what would have otherwise descended into stale-mating ( occasionally) back into the picture. Rose has an amazing way of bringing all audiences into an inclusive sharing environment and should be commended and given bravery medals for her efforts.
Steven Parker ....well.....his
Blip.TV productions will attest to the value of such discussions and un-conferenced forums.
Konrad Glogowski just blew me away with his recounts and anecdotes all day long...what a legend :-) Conrad has a way of framing everything in the positive possibility and this makes for such a cool way of contextualising learning using new and emergent technologies with respect for the learners concerns, the rights management process for organisations seeking buy-in for the use of such technologies in their organisational modality of .....delivery, dissemination of knowledge and heaven forbid teaching 1 > 35.
John Eyles sat quietly today...probably somewhat shellshocked at the trashing we gave his network connections yesterday at his beautiful home over at Waiheike Isalnd.
Noticably absent were a number of other FLNW speakers with some like Teemu already on his way to Manila. Rather than be accused of ranting without reason why not strike out and discover where these people are at yourself.......in the nicest possible way.
Well.....I'm feeling a litlle washed so will retire this with some links to other good things coming up and other things past.
Stephen Downes - CanadaStephen is perhaps best known for his daily research newsletter, OLDaily (short for Online Learning Daily), which reaches thousands of readers across Canada and around the world. His work also includes the development of educational content syndication systems such as Edu_RSS and DLORN along and the design of a digital rights management system for learning resources. Stephen is also frequently to be found the road giving seminars and lectures on the field of online learning, including the notable Buntine Oration delivered in Perth, Australia, in October, 2004.
Konrad Glogowski - CanadaPhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His thesis focuses on the use of blogging communities in education. His blog, Blog of Proximal Development, vocalizes his thoughts on this subject and comments on the impact that blogging and blogging communities are having in education.
Teemu Leinonen - FinlandTeemu Leinonen holds over a decade of experience in the field of research and development of web-based learning. His areas of interest and expertise covers design for learning, computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL), online cooperation, learning software design, educational planning and educational politics. Since 1998 Teemu has led
Learning Environments research group of the
Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki. The research group has coordinated research and development projects, funded by The European Commission in the Information Society Technologies (IST) framework, the National Technology Agency of Finland (TEKES), the Nordic Council of Ministers and the UNESCO. Selected projects:
MobilED audio wiki;
LeMill - Do it yourself learning resource repository;
Fle3 Lerning environment for collaborative knowledge building and jamming;
UNESCO YDC - Young Dgital Creators Educators' KIT.
Stewart Cheifet - USAStewart Cheifet is the Director of Collections for the Internet Archive, based in San Francisco. In this capacity he is responsible for all movies, videos, television programs, music, lectures, radio programs, educational courseware, and software collections. The Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet — a new medium with major historical significance — and other "born-digital" materials from disappearing into the past. Collaborating with institutions including the
Library of Congress and the
Smithsonian, we are working to preserve a record for generations to come.
Barbara Dieu - BrazilBee is an EFL teacher and coordinator of the Foreign Language Dept at the Franco-Brazilian school in Sao Paulo. She has organized and managed a
number of international projects online involving different schools and institutions worldwide. She is also Coordinator of the
Braz-Tesol EduTech SIG, member of Tesol TAC (Technology Advisory Committee) and belongs to many national and international communities of practice like
Webheads in Action,
Cyberlangues,
Vivência Pedagógica and
CiO's em Educação. Her most recent collaboration is
Dekita.org, a community of people dedicated to promoting open communication in language learning.
Michael Coghlan - AustraliaMichael Coghlan works as an online facilitator for TAFE in South Australia, and the
eLearning Networks of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. His background is in English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching, and he began teaching online in 1997. A founding member of the
Webheads community, Michael has
presented at many national and international conferences, and is a skilled MVP (Multiple Venue Presentation) facilitator – presenting to face to face and online audiences simultaneously . His particular interests are webcasting, the use of web-based
voice technologies, social software/networked learning, and the impact of the Internet on education and society.
Steven Parker - AustraliaSteven Parker works for the Teaching and Learning Resource Unit at the Wollongong Campus of TAFE NSW, Australia. He is an Irish/Australian passionate about network learning, web2.0 and working with and fostering the creativity of students to create and share their own resources, achieve their learning outcomes and form their own personal learning networks. He is currently helping to build
online communities and networks of teachers and learners from various trades and occupations. Steven has so far built a
Tourism and Hospitality Education Network which supports teachers and trainers in that field to learn and employ Web2.0 technologies in their practice.
Leigh Blackall - New ZealandLeigh Blackall works for the Otago Polytechnic in Educational Development. He has helped organise this conference and will be tagging, blogging and podcasting along to make sure everyone stays rowdy and stirs up trouble. Leigh is known in the group for his blog
Teach and Learn Online and his work developing various resources to help people understand and use more of the socially networked Internet. An advocate for networked learning, holistic learning, life based learning and deschooling, leigh looks to ways of incorporating more of life's everyday experiences into educational practices - or is it the other way round?
Rose G - AustraliaRose has broad experience in the areas of professional development and flexible learning including stints as training manager at
OTEN, project officer with
Learnscope and project manager of the
Australian Flexible Learning Community. She is currently consulting as a learning and development specialist to the
University of Ballarat and has been an enthusiastic member of
TALO eGroup since its inception.
Jo Kay - AustraliaJo works in Educational Technology, providing technical support, professional development and elearning resource development services at the Teaching and Learning Resource Unit, TAFE NSW - Illawarra Institute. Her interests include network learning, online education, web culture, digital arts, identity and performance arts. Jo's current research focus is on Web 2.0, Mobile Learning and Virtual worlds and the possibilities these new technologies offer to us all. Check out Jo's
blog or
virtual worlds explorations for more info on her work.
Sean FitzGerald - AustraliaSean is an independent researcher, consultant and presenter with a passion for emerging technologies and their impact upon society. In recent years his professional focus has been on Web 2.0 technologies and social software and their impact on teaching and learning. He has been involved with many LearnScope and E-learning Networks projects for the
Australian Flexible Learning Network supporting educators experimenting with emerging tools and learning models. His current interest is in exploring the potential and impact of 3D virtual worlds, and has been lately spending way to much time and having way too much fun in
Second Life! Sean is also co-presenter of the
Casting the Net PodcastAlex Hayes - Australia
Alex works with the Australian Flexible Learning Framework,
NSW Learnscope Team ( Sydney ) as a Project Officer. Alex has a varied and extensive education background ( Justice, Welfare, [Dis]Abilities) mixed with an array of
artistic pursuits incorporating new and emergent technologies. As a
m-learning advocate, Alex moblogs his way through
life mixing
lo-fi conversations,
flexible learning co-ordination and associated
past-times with
research and
applied application of
social softwares for educational re-purposing. Between times Alex unravels the
Australian VTE scene with Stephan Ridgway and composes mixed-leet-poetics for international settings.
John Eyles - New Zealand(organising the
Waiheke Island stop-over on 24th September and part of Auckland meet on 25th)Dr Howard Scott - I support this initiative and have enjoyed viewing it from Southern China where I am currently photographing aspects of sustainable development. email:
howard@iconz.co.nz Bronwyn Hegarty - New Zealand
Bronwyn has been assisting Leigh to organise the event, in particular the Dunedin leg and funding. Her claim to fame is that she taught herself to use a computer on an Apple Classic way back in 1987, was in the first wave of eLearners at OP, and one of the recipients of a
Flexible Learning Leader in New Zealand (FLLinNZ) award. Bronwyn now works with Leigh Blackall and Terry Marler as a developer in the Otago Polytechnic Educational Development Centre. Two projects have kept her busy recently:
online information literacy modules, and
self-efficacy and staff development in eLearning. Bronwyn is currently exploring the use of reflective strategies in teacher education as part of a
Doctorate.
Dawn Coburn - New ZealandDawn is a teacher who returned to live in Dunedin seven years ago. In her spare time you will often find her swinging a racquet on a badminton or tennis court. Dawn has various ICT roles at Dunedin College of Education as well as teaching curriculum Technology. She has taught and learned online for many years. Resource creation is a long standing interest. At present Dawn is involved with Bronwyn and others in the development of online learning modules for Information Literacy. Her current doctoral study “Gone Tomorrow?” addresses questions of transmission of culture and identity in relation to artefacts, such as photographs; with especial attention being given to the consequences of technological obsolescence, one child (or no child) families and digitisation.
Derek Wenmoth (keen to assist with the CHCH stop-over - lots to confirm yet)
Marg O'Connell (will see you in Wellington from 25th Sept)Marg works as an educational designer at the Canberra Insitute of Technology (
CIT), ACT. She is a member of the Flexible Learning Solutions team (
FLS) who support teachers in their development of electronic learning and teaching. Marg hails from West Australia and has worked in tertiary and community education sectors, as well as TAFE. She was a
Flexible Learning Leader in 2002. Marg keeps numerous blogs and uses wikis as part of her work with teachers and staff development, and facilitates the CIT Online Teacher Network (
OTN). Marg is currently studying a Master of Education, looking into the field of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) research, its impact on the sector and on VTE teachers, and asking can social software enable a 'democratisation' of VTE research in an everchanging networked world? Mark Northover - AUT UniversityMark has been involved in the support of flexible and e-learning for about ten years, and is currently manager of FL services at AUT. He has been a frequent contributor at ASCILITE conferences, and was a
FLLinNZ member of the second cohort. He is currently most interested in providing FL systems and opportunities that support teaching staff (with varying degrees of IT literacy) and encourage student collaboration. Mark is helping to organise the Auckland event, which will be held at the AUT city campus on Monday September 25.
Stanley Frielick - New ZealandStanley is Director of Flexible Learning at
NorthTec (and is also manager of the Flexible Learning Leaders in NZ (
FLLinNZ) project for 2006-07). He's been at NorthTec for two years - helping to build (from scratch) an
infrastructure and development process for flexible and distributed learning across the
Northland region. Previously he was at the
Centre for Professional Development at the University of Auckland where he completed a
PhD and coordinated the Teaching Learning Research programme. He is originally from South Africa where he had an eclectic career - lecturer in academic development, lecturer in African and Comparative Literature, and English teacher in secondary schools. Stanley has wide-ranging research interests in
(d)e-learning,
ecological approaches to teaching/learning,
complexity science, and higher education theory. He is organising the Northland leg of the tour and the FLLinNZ meeting with the FLNW group at eFest.
Russell Butson - New ZealandRussell is a lecturer in higher education at the University of Otago. His background includes teaching and learning across mixed ages in private and public schools, community based training and higher education. He is particularly interested in more engaging, collaborative learning experiences that are consistent with the idealism, imagination and expectations of learners within higher education. This requires scrutiny of the nature of the mechanisms that have formed our educational system, and examination of whether or not there is another angle to the story or another way to address education.
Artichoke - New Zealand Artichoke is an edublogger, and Pam is a teacher. Arti’ works on laughter and irreverent conversation with imaginary friends, and suffers from a stuck bold key. Pam works as a teaching and learning consultant with schools and teachers across New Zealand on curriculum alignment, ict and thinking. Arti’ and Pam were only persuaded to join the tour in Dunedin when RoseG described it as “running away to join the circus”.
Anne Elliot - New ZealandBreaking with apparent tradition, I will use my own voice. I am a doctoral candidate at Massey and this semester also teaching a Internet-based paper about Internet-based learning at the Faculty of Education at Otago, doing both from my home in Middlemarch - approximately where Wednesday's train trip ends. I am a primary teacher, have worked in teacher education and in educational research on ICT. My doctoral thesis investigates the experiences with ICT by New Zealand beginning teachers, a topic about which there is a dearth of information. Although easily swayed by "cool" technologies, I attempt to maintain a critical perspective on ICT in education - a dissident voice in the celebratory discourse.
Glen Davies New ZealandHoping to catch up with the circus on Thursday when they hit Chirstchurch, I will follow Anne - always feel uncomfortable talking about myself in the third person. I have been involved in online learning application development at the Christchurch College of Education for the past 6 or 7 years - mainly on
Interact, but various other projects as well ... My pet hate is making students upload pointless asssignments to locked LMS class sites that get zipped up and archived when the course has finished and a grade has been assigned - if that isn't a stupid and pointless use of the web I don't know what is ;-)
Brent Simpson, Waiheke/AucklandI am currently an interface/interaction designer on the
eXe Project an Open Source authoring tool for eLearning. I live on Waiheke Island so will catch up with this contemporary 'dog and pony show' over there. I have been entwining myself in the intersections of learning and technology for over 10 years now. I was an early instigator of Open Content having released the Texas Information Literacy Tutorial (
TILT) under Wiley's Open Publication License (before there was a CC). TILT has been modified and installed in 100 institutions worldwide and translated into 4 languages.
