A Newsletter For All Members Of Ethos Online Community May 2013

Received this in the last few hours, posted at a time for my Kiwi readers…

Ethos Online Community Newsletter

Kia ora, talofa lava, and greetings everyone,

If you are based in New Zealand you may be wondering if the long hot summer was a dream as the rain lashes down outside. You may also have been aware of the announcement made at the end of April that exams in the secondary school sector, in the next 8 years, may be taken online thus enabling “Pupils…to sit school assessments…when they are ready, rather than waiting for the traditional exam period” (source). Hmmmm.

Merryn Dunmill very soon after shared a really interesting podcast from Radio NZ. Based on the discussion, Merryn asks the questions: “Is there a danger of simply planting old assessment methods in online environments? How will online assessment impact on teaching and learning and vice versa?”. Having listened to the podcast, I responded: ” The elephant in the room isn’t necessarily access, advances in learning and technology, or whether a student has plagiarised. I would strongly argue that the way we assess…as an entire system…badly needs to be overhauled. Assessments themselves need to be designed to have flexibility and choice for the students, and be designed such that they ask students to work on authentic tasks where it is almost impossible to ‘cheat’. These assessments should recognise and reward a range of competencies and skills rather than a prodigious memory or exam-taking techniques.

Standardised testing, I feel, quashes slowly but surely, the love of learning in students. Those students who aren’t great test takers, or who are disadvantaged due to the cultural biases, for example, within some assessments, are set up to be seen as ‘failing’. Once this happens, the students performance often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy…something that is supported by both cognitive developmental theory and neuroscience”.

Merryn requests “As an international community here on Ethos, I’d be interested in your thoughts and experiences in relation to the points raised in the interviews”. The conversation is already underway – please contribute :-)

(A heads up – if you are already blogging in another environment then please DO cross-post some of your provocative/interesting postings into the Ethos Community space. Go on – you know you want to! :-))

Welcome to new members – May 2013

The Ethos community now has 213 members, and I hope you’ll extend a warm welcome and kia ora to:

• Alejandra Arratia-Martinez, who is a educational psychologist and researcher, based in Victoria, Australia. Alejandra is “very interested in the way teachers learn in the ICT context, specially in the way in which they take responsibility of their own and other teachers’ professional learning to be able to meet the huge challenges education is facing nowadays”. She is also interested in understanding “more about the way teachers conceptualize and target the diversity as part of their teaching practice, aiming to improve all students’ learning”.
• Christine Waitai-Rapana is an researcher with a keen interest in LAMS, the Learning Activity Management System, as well as in virtual communities of practice. Christine lives in Whanganui, New Zealand.
• Ingrid Rinsma is a Secondary teacher, living in Hamilton, New Zealand. She is interested in ”Encouraging learners to become curious and passionate about mathematics”.
• Joel Dodd is based in Taranaki, New Zealand, where he is a teacher of maths, who is developing a vast range of multimedia resources for students. His key interests are “blended learning environments, online learning, distance learning, online assessment, [and the] use of mobile devices”.
• Prem Lal is based in Auckland, New Zealand. Prem is a teacher who is keen to use ePortfolios with students.

If you know of anyone who might like to be involved in the Ethos online community – or to contribute a guest post, please feel free to invite them using this link: 
http://bit.ly/16U3q7Y
.

Guest Posts and discussions

It has been a mammoth month for posts with 27 blog posts, and activity in the discussions. I hope you’ll find something of interest! In this newsletter we have a great guest post. Please jump into the conversation and feel free to ask questions.

• In Closing which gap?, the guest blogger for May, Alejandra Arratia-Martinez, (an Educational Psychologist with over 18 years of experience in Chile), in Part 1 (Part 2 to follow in June) describes the research she is conducting around a model of teachers’ metacognition that integrates teachers’ ongoing reflection about the complexity of differentiated teaching practice and teachers’ capacity to think about their own learning process as professionals. The study examines and assesses levels of comprehension about the teaching situation and the challenges that it represents to their own learning. This important study has aspects of interest for anyone involved with ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’, so please pick Alejandra’s brain and ask heaps of questions.
• John Birnie has posted a thought-provoking article about What Professors Can Learn From ‘Hard Core’ MOOC Students. The discussion has already started around some of the assertions and findings, so please join in. You may also like to read this post, which unpacks other views of what a MOOC comprises, and the sorts of learning experiences you may have.
• If you are working with learners who are facing literacy challenges, then you are likely to find the e-tools (PC) for engaging reluctant writers, (collated and shared by Monika Kern in Long time no post), invaluable. Please drop into Monika’s post to “use, adapt, add” to the collection, and to catch up with Monika’s recent musings and projects.
• A smorgasbord of tried and tested suggestions, dip into and find something relevant to you and your context in 50 Community Building Tips, shared by Catriona Pene. You might also be interested in Facilitate an online community? How to mobilize followers, as well as this Easy to follow tutorial of how to set up a Google Plus Community.

Recommended blog posts / Discussions

There were 14 blog posts in May that cover a wide range of topics. Some of those that you might like to dip into include:

• A pedagogical framework that was developed from two mobile learning projects (Australia and UK) from a socio-cultural perspective: Framing mobile learning from the perspective of learners’ experiences.
• Mentioned above was Merryn Dunmill’s post Online Assessments. Do you think we’re ”simply planting old assessment methods in online environments?”, and how do you feel online assessments will impact teaching and learning? Please add your responses to Merryn’s discussion.
• Created by Cynthia Lieberman, and the wonderful team at CyberWise, is the video What Kids Are (Really) Doing Online. The post, What are your young teens (really) doing online? An invitation to share, provides some background to the making of the video, and also asks:  What are your experiences with 14-year-olds in your context? Do you know any 14-year-olds who might offer a different point of view? (Would they be up for making a video of their experiences, and sharing them?)
• How can you combat Pseudo Attention Deficit Disorder? - a five minute alternative “angle on time management”.
• In Open Source LMS – what’s what, Zariah Gaelyn-Levai shares the review of an Open Source LMS option with an uncluttered, intuitive user interface.
• I must admit that I hadn’t thought of the characters, interactions, and communications of an online community as a thriller, but in this paper shared by Derek Wenmoth, Wenger, Trayner and De Laat explore the notion of The online community as ‘thriller’: Capturing stories of value.

Recommended videos

From the ever growing repository of videos (785 in total – thanks as always to John S Oliver for his wonderful contributions), these are a just few of the highlights:

• Shared by Vasi Doncheva (@playnice_nz), this video features Ken Robinson, who outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them: How to escape education’s death valley.
• I’m sure you will know that it is Samoan language week. Partly in celebration of that a number of videos have been released that focus on how best to engage Pacific Island students and their families; a small selection includes - Exploring Career Pathways for Pasifika Students, Meeting Pasifika Learner Interests, What happens when school management is culturally responsive? and Using a school Web site to stay in contact with Pasifika parents.
• A really rich resource to unpack with the educators with whom you work, Above And Beyond was shared by Jenny Sinclair.
• Shared by John S Oliver, this video features and inspirational educator: Every kid needs a champion.
• Two videos made by young learners; one is Manaiakalani students share their thoughts about education, and other is From the (primary) students themselves: Engage Me!. Both represent the students’ own work and the opinions in the videos are theirs.
• This video is a call to re-vision our perceptions, as well as illustrating how ‘serious science’ can be conducted by learners of all ages.
• From a rich selection of ‘how to…’ videos shared by John S Oliver the highlights for May are Glaciers With Chocolate, How To Speak Chemistrian, and Reasons for the seasons.
• A speaker who opens up a way of looking at the world through different lenses! Of particular note, I felt, was the whole notion of accessibility…and also access: Hack a banana, make a keyboard!

Resources

• Did you know that you can filter your Google search results by reading level? Watch this video to learn more about the reading level tool! Google search and literacy: How to find texts with specific reading ‘levels’.
• Some insights into Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Universal Deign for Learning Explained, and What does UDL look like in practice: A Grade 6 Science lesson unpacked.
• A special issue from the Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning is now available online, which focuses on a variety of aspects about distance education in the schools sector: Primary & Secondary Distance Education: Expanding the knowledge base in the schools sector.
• Excellent resource for students – the ‘How to make a video’, video
• I found this to be a useful overview of some of the key challenges and frustrations education systems that many countries are facing: To be or not to Be: frustrations & innovation in education
• Wondering what the differences are between aims, learning outcomes and objectives? Check out this ‘in a nutshell’ overview.
• The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 29(2) has a wide range of papers available, which cover, for example, using e-portfolios in a field experience placement; examining students’ use of online annotation tools, mining interactions in immersive learning environments, and designing interaction tasks in Second Life.

Events

Lots of other things happening (online courses, conferences and other opportunities), including a Free webinar: Evolving Digital Literacies – inductions to employment skills - have a look at the events listing for more details.

Please feel free to add events to share them, or just let me know and I’ll add them :-)

Many thanks once again to Alejandra, Monika, Merryn, Zariah, Catriona, John Birnie, Derek, Cynthia, Vasi, and John S. Oliver.

Please keep your posts (including cross-posts), comments and recommendations coming :-)

Warm regards

Hazel

–
Hazel OwenEducation consultant / Director
Ethos Consultancy NZ Ltd

17 Inglewood Street
Wai O Taiki Bay
Auckland 1072
Phone 09 5750206
Mobile 021 2273777
Web site:
http://www.ethosconsultancynz.com/

Blog:
http://ictelt.blogspot.com/

Email addresses: ethosconsultancynz@gmail.com / hazelowendmc@gmail.com
Skype: hazelowendmc

A Newsletter For All Members of Ethos Online Community April 2013

Something for my Kiwi readers…

Ethos Online Community Newsletter

Kia ora, everyone,

Last month I opened by asking ‘Who are you?’, and in April to continue on this vein of I thought I’d follow up with a couple of questions posed by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie (founder of ADDandSoMuchMore, and guest blogger for April): “How do you KNOW – and what do you do with that belief?”

 

Madelyn, in her post, opens with the provocative statement that “Those of us who are well-educated tend to be some of the most intractable” [my emphasis]. She goes on to explain that “by the time we become adults, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into compiling a body of knowledge we like to consider our ‘expertise’”.

 

Using a variety of sources (especially from neuroscience) to inform her discussion, Madelyn unpacks the reasons we become so confident in our ‘knowing’, and covers some of the not so positive effects this can have on the way we interact with other people. It certainly made me think back to my early 20s. Reflecting back I realise that I argued rather than discussed, and rarely considered that there may be other points of view. Related emotions were confidence, frustration that others might not agree / see my point of view, and sometimes anger. Deeply held biases and prejudices (not that I recognised them as such) from my childhood often coloured and shaped my certainty.

So – how do you know? What are your thoughts? The conversation is already underway – please contribute :-)

(A heads up – if you are already blogging in another environment then please DO cross-post some of your provocative/interesting postings into the Ethos Community space. Go on – you know you want to! :-))

Welcome to new members – April 2013

In April we reached another milestone as the membership tipped the 200 mark – congratulations to Joanna Romanowska. The Ethos community now has 207 members, and I hope you’ll extend a warm welcome and kia ora to:

• Abolfazl Kohzadi is based in Shahrak-e Vali`asr, Iran, where he is a student. He is keen to explore more about how ICT enhanced learning and teaching can be of “service to humanity”.
• Eddie Reisch is an Educationlist and consultant. Eddie is “keen for learners to be able to learn anything, anytime, anywhere”. Eddie lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
• Hoana Hati is a facilitator He Pikinga Reo, and is based in Whangarei, New Zealand. Hoana is interested in “blending te reo Māori and enhancing student learning through ICT teaching and learning”.
• iGameMom is based in Cincinnati, OH, United States, where she is a researcher with a keen interest in mobile learning and Apps for learning.
• Jenny Sinclair is based in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. Jenny is a teacher who is “interested in using tools so the transition between students out of school life and school life is seamless”. She also strives to teach and learn “alongside my students to enable them to be purposeful in their use of ICT as it relates to their learning”.
• Jennifer Munro is a Teacher, Facilitator, and Project Officer, who is interested in “anything to do with teaching and learning for students and workforce capability”. Jennifer is based in New South Wales, Australia.
• Joanna Romanowska is based in Auckland, New Zealand. She is a doctor (medical) who has “contributed to the development of an on-line learning course for doctors training in cosmetic medicine”.
• K.T. Bryski, is an author, who is interested in the potential of ICT Enhanced Learning and Teaching to help people engage “with global resources, interdiciplinary communication, global opportunities for collaboration and mentorship”. K.T. is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Ramon Eixarch is a manager at Wiris, a company that develops software tools for math (STEM) learning that are compatible with mobile devices, and can be integrated into leading LMS such as Moodle. He is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
• Tamara Yuill Proctor is keen to implement “web based tools into classroom practice to enable students to have authentic learning experiences in a real world context”. Tamara is a teacher, who is living in Christchurch, New Zealand.
• Wendy King is based in Auckland, New Zealand. Wendy is a writer and beautician, who enjoys “learning interesting things”, and would also like to find out how an online community ticks.

If you know of anyone who might like to be involved in the Ethos online community – or to contribute a guest post, please feel free to invite them using this link: 
http://bit.ly/16U3q7Y
.

Guest Posts and discussions

It has been a mammoth month for posts with 27 blog posts, and activity in the discussions. I hope you’ll find something of interest! In this newsletter we have a great guest post. Please jump into the conversation and feel free to ask questions.

• The guest blogger for April is Madelyn Griffith-Haynie (founder of ADDandSoMuchMore), who has written The Tragedy of Certainty - a post that challenges the bedrock of our own sense of ‘knowing’, and provides insights into the science behind it. The post has already attracted 70 views, and the conversation is well underway – please add your voice to it.
• John Owen has posted about a video where Amanda Palmer in The art of asking asserts “artists can survive in an online world where everything is sharable – by making it free and simply asking to be paid”. What implications might this have for education? What are we already seeing underway?
• It is really refreshing to read about an approach that has been implemented, researched, as well as tweaked and adapted over time. Thanks to Yvonne Hynson who shares her practical experience with screen casts as a writing feedback tool and vocabulary extension for ESOL students.
• In May 2012 I shared the Moodle Tool guide in Arabic. Now, as Ramon Eixarch shares, you can get an Arabic maths editor, which integrates with Moodle, and is great for mobile devices.
• Peter Breach, a long term member of the Ethos Online community has just dropped me a line with information about a job opportunity teaching in Kazakhstan.
• As an educator with no children I haven’t witnessed first hand the expectation that my kids would excel; I do know, however, that I find it really tricky to ‘teach’ members of my family. Please read Monika Kern’s musings about what it is like to be a teacher with children.
• If you are looking for some great ideas behind eLearning, as well as some practical ‘how to-s’ you’d be wise to check out the two resources recommended by Nigel Bailey: Our Brains Extended, and Steve Wheeler’s e-learning resources.
• This post was shared by Karen Melhuish Spencer, who writes “great story here that was shared this morning on Radio NZ National, highlighting the absolute importance of learning being culturally grounded”: Māori and Pasifika achievement at secondary school.
• Please join in the ongoing conversations about rewiring ”our teaching methodologies whilst being actively aware of the socio-economics of our students”, with the members of the group established by Zariah Gaelyn-Levai: iEDu: Web2.0 ReWired for the iGeneration.
• In this powerful thought piece, John S. Oliver asks What remains?.

Recommended blog posts / Discussions

There were 27 blog posts in April that cover a wide range of topics. Some of those that you might like to dip into include:

• Monika Kern has a way of asking knotty questions. Please read and comment on her thought-provoking post, Extra-ordinary.
• What impact is participating in a Virtual Professional Learning and Development programme having for students? Check out this video for reflections by teachers on the impact it is having on them and their students.
• Transforming lives in Cambodia by helping to ensure human rights: Just over a year ago I met a remarkable woman, Denise Arnold. She held myself and a group of friends entranced as she described the work she is involved in with the Cambodia Charitable trust. Please read the post and leave comments.
• I read the article, App-titude: Apps for High Schoolers With Autism, with a great deal of interest, and while reading started to wonder - what are students who are on the autism spectrum already doing with apps? Thoughts? Experiences?
• Another peach from Diana Ayling: What the student does is more important in determining what is learned than what the teacher does…
• Flipping: Leigh Hynes shares some experiences from the coal face, as well as ‘top tips.
• Although there is a significant body of research on Māori learners in institutional settings, there is far less literature focused on the experience of Māori learners within workplace settings – especially in industry training: Report – Māori learners in the workplace setting.
• I was working on something this afternoon, and was quite excited to stumble across Cultural Examples of Collaborative Learning. The reason for my excitement? It provides concrete examples of how culture can impact collaborative learning.

Recommended videos

From the ever growing repository of videos (752 in total – thanks as always to John S Oliver for his wonderful contributions), these are a just few of the highlights:

• John S Oliver recommends these Two Movies about Teachers, Mona Lisa Smile, and October Sky. He also showcases the Video Biography of Coach John Wooden and more.
• Tongue in cheek, full of energy and humour, this pep-talk shows what folk can do when they put their mind to it :-): Do something awesome! A Pep Talk from the 9-year-old Kid President’
• Karen Melhuish Spencer shared this powerful, inspirational spoken poem that highlights the stereotyping and barriers that female Pasific Islanders face in New Zealand: Brown sister
• A quick overview of The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines.
• The 2012 CCSSO Teachers of the Year share five things they’ve learned over the course of their careers as educators.
• From a rich selection of ‘how to…’ videos shared by John S Oliver the highlight for April is How much does a video weigh?, which looks at how the art of “asking the right – seemingly silly – questions can make incredibly effective lessons.

Resources

• Thanks, as always to the wonderful, Allison Miller, who is one of the key figures in ePortfolios in Australasia, and globally, for The wonderful world of ePortfolios…Australian style.
• Bachelor of Health Science: Utilising eLearning environments to deliver inquiry-based learning offers an exemplar of inquiry-based learning, delivered through an eLearning environment.
• Originally shared by Diana Ayling, this blog post offers and insight into, and some strategies around how to avoid making smartphone security mistakes: The ten worst things you are doing with your smart phone.
• A few days ago Paige Harris contacted me to let me know she had developed a resource that ”provides an intro on the topic of MOOCs: how they differ from traditional courses, and how one can plan and prepare to teach an MOOC”: More about MOOCs – a teaching guide.
• Tertiary sector organisations have developed a range of approaches around planning and implementing eLearning. This annotated bibliography gives an overview of some of the research literature relating to a variety of approaches.
• The visual tools developed by the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Iowa State University provides an accessible guide to learning objectives: A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Events

Lots of other things happening (online courses, conferences and other opportunities) – have a look at the events listing for more details.

Please feel free to add events to share them, or just let me know and I’ll add them :-)

Many thanks once again to Madelyn, Monika, Yvonne, Zariah, Leigh, John Owen, Nigel, Diana, John S. Oliver, Pascale, Allison, Karen, Ramon, and Peter.

Please keep your posts (including cross-posts), comments and recommendations coming :-)

Warm regards

Hazel

–
Hazel Owen

Education consultant / Director
Ethos Consultancy NZ Ltd
17 Inglewood Street
Wai O Taiki Bay
Auckland 1072
Phone 09 5750206
Mobile 021 2273777
Web site: 
http://www.ethosconsultancynz.com/

Blog: 
http://ictelt.blogspot.com/

Email addresses: ethosconsultancynz@gmail.com / hazelowendmc@gmail.com
Skype: hazelowendmc

A Newsletter For All Members Of Ethos Online Community March 2013

A item for my Kiwi readers (posted at a time that reaches them)…

Ethos Online Community Newsletter

Kia ora, everyone,

I am so looking forward to over-indulging with chocolate eggs and hot cross buns!

Who are you? As an immigrant to New Zealand myself, who has spent time in a variety of countries I often find myself wishing I had more of a sense of who I am…and where I am ‘from’. Sure, I am a product of the culture I grew up in, although subsequent travel and experiences have forced me to re-think my vales, and often, my prejudices. In this thought-provoking post, Monika Kern explores the notion of identity, and asks how our notion of own identity can influence how we learn, while also looking at possible impacts on teaching.

 

So, thinking about the learners and colleagues with whom we work, maybe something we have to do is not generalise – and something to aim for is inclusiveness. And in the process also recognise overtly that anything we do will be culturally biased by our own beliefs and values. We also need to put ourselves in situations where we feel vulnerable, and uncomfortable culturally. We need to push the boat out and take risks, which is what we ask our learners to do every day (both children and adults!). Only then, I feel, can we start to figure out who we are, and be in a position to be truly culturally responsive…and culturally intelligent.

 

What are your thoughts? The conversation is already underway – please contribute :-)

(A heads up – if you are already blogging in another environment then please DO cross-post some of your provocative/interesting postings into the Ethos Community space. Go on – you know you want to! :-))

Highlights Ethos Community space from March 2013

The Ethos community now has 197 members, and I hope you’ll extend a warm welcome and kia ora to:

• Cindy Shen is based in Taipei, Taiwan, where she is working with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and early literacy. Cindy would like to join conversations about mobile learning and learning strategies.
• Claudia Keene is a Facilitator of eLearning for Maori Medium. She wants to “keep up to date with what is happening in the virtual world of teaching and learning”, and to explore “the opportunities that are available to Maori Medum Schools in the country. Mauri ora!!”.
• Orlando P. Willis is based in Prattville, AL, United States. He is a Moodle Consultant, Administrator, Tech Support, ISD, and Developer, who is keen about all things eLearning.
• Lutz Rininsland, a guidance counsellor, with a general interest in ICT Enhanced Learning and Teaching. Orlando is based in Vänersborg Sweden.
• Melvin H Din is an educator who has a great interest in equity and sustainability. He is particularly keen on applied eLearning, and is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

If you know of anyone who might like to be involved in the Ethos online community – or to contribute a guest post, please feel free to invite them using this link: 
http://bit.ly/15JQZLE
.

Guest Posts and discussions

There are as always a large number of posts, resources, and discussions, and I hope you’ll find something of interest. In this newsletter we have a great guest post. Please jump into the conversation and feel free to ask questions.

• I wonder what it will take for some educators to realise that “The most underutilized technical resource that we have in education is the students themselves”. In fact a major question might be is ‘why do some educators appear to be reluctant to embrace this approach?’. In Untapped Resource, March’s guest blogger, Kern Kelley provides an overview of the Tech Sherpas initiative – a super example, of what it can ‘look and feel like’ for teachers who are keen to take explore this path.
• Monika Kern complements her thoughts about identity by also posing some searching questions about the power of relationships in learning.
• If you have nodded off in lectures and presentations, you are likely to enjoy Leigh Hynes’ post Just another thought along the same lines - scroll down through the comments to get the big ‘picture’ :-p. 
• If you are keen to join in conversations about rewiring “our teaching methodologies  whilst being actively aware of the socio-economics of our students”, you should join the new group set up by Zariah Gaelyn-Levai: iEDu: Web2.0 ReWired for the iGeneration.
• Painting some lovely word pictures, John S. Oliver has shared some super thought pieces again this month, including Visual feast, and Cell phone.

Recommended blog posts / Discussions

There were 16 blog posts in March that cover a wide range of topics. Some of those that you might like to dip into include:

• I came across this infographic about SMADD (social media attention deficit disorder), and I am a bit cautious – weren’t similar predictions of doom and gloom made around the printed word, and television, and telephones… Social media is ruining our minds…thoughts?
• A post that comes from the heart, Success and potential raises more questions than it answers, including “How can I support Maori and Pasifika students to be successful?”, and “So what exactly is educational success?”. If you have an opinion, please jump in with a comment for Monika Kern.
• In What every teacher should have…digitally speaking, Leigh Hynes has collated a list of ICT tools that every teacher must have. Any you would like to add?
• As a self-professed skeptic of learning analytics (I’m still not totally convinced they are great for the learner…even if they might be a great tool for education institutions), I found the podcast featured in this post reassuring: Could learning analytics lead to the ‘Wal-Martification’ of Higher Education?

Recommended videos

From the ever growing repository of videos (739 in total – thanks as always to John S Oliver for his contributions), these are a just few of the highlights:

• A powerful video that is almost certainly going to leave you speechless: “To This Day” … for the bullied and beautiful.
• This video was shared by Chrissie Butler, who also asked the question “who are your mentors?”: What can we learn from role models?.
• For folks who believe in the benefits that coding can have for improved mental acumen, you are likely to enjoy this video: What most schools don’t teach.
• What sort of spaces are best for learning? Watch these three examples to pick up some ideas about modern learning environments: Albany Senior High School, Stonefields School, and Hingaia Peninsula School.
• If you are involved in Early Childhood Education, or if you are interested in how education in Christchurch (NZ) has been faring since the earthquakes began 2 years ago, you are likely to want to watch Looking Forward, Looking Back: Teachers’ Stories and Earthquake talk please.
• From a rich selection of ‘how to…’ videos shared by John S Oliver here are a couple of highlights: How to overcome fear and shyness, and Why Do We Wear Clothes?.
• Is technology destroying our ability to write or reviving it?

Resources

• ePortfolios has been updated with a range of examples, guidelines and multimedia (including some valuable resources from Pascale Hyboud-Peron). Check out in particular Soundbites and Videos: Experiences with ePortfolios, and Resources about ePortfolios.
• Maurizio De Rose shares the link to the Free E-Book “Open Education Resources”, which includes examples of OER from all over the world. 
• Shared by Monika Kern, this post is likely to be useful if your school is about to go down the iPad route: 5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make With iPads (And How To Correct Them).
• If you are interested in using eLearning to enhance your your students’ learning experiences – especially if you are teaching in the social sciences – then this resource is for you: Bachelor of Health Science: Utilising eLearning environments to deliver inquiry-based learning.
• The awesome team at Cyberwise have put together a neat resource: Some tools to have under your belt that will help protect your online privacy.
• What are the most important issues for students and parents when it comes to satisfaction with Higher Eduction (HE)? This infographic (based on US data) highlights important factors, as well as providing some guidelines for improving the overall college experience.

Events

Lots of other things happening (online courses, conferences and other opportunities) – have a look at the events listing for more details.

Please feel free to add events to share them, or just let me know and I’ll add them :-)

Many thanks once again to Kern, Monika, Zariah, Leigh, Maurizio, John S. Oliver, Pascale, Merryn, Chrissie and the awesome folks at Cyberwise.

Please keep your posts (including cross-posts), comments and recommendations coming :-)

Warm regards

Hazel

–
Hazel Owen

Education consultant / Director
Ethos Consultancy NZ Ltd

17 Inglewood Street
Wai O Taiki Bay
Auckland 1072
Phone 09 5750206
Mobile 021 2273777
Web site: 
http://www.ethosconsultancynz.com/

Blog: 
http://ictelt.blogspot.com/

Email addresses: ethosconsultancynz@gmail.com / hazelowendmc@gmail.com
Skype: hazelowendmc

A Newsletter For All Members Of Ethos Online Community February 2013

Not really February anymore, but close enough (and posted at a time when my Kiwi colleagues are still awake)…

Ethos Online Community Newsletter

Kia ora, everyone,

The year feels as though it is flying by at a great rate of knots, and March is now approaching rapidly.

I’d like to open with a couple of thoughts (which came out of the conversation on the Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes post). The process of learning isn’t tangible – end even the ‘results’ of the learning can be tricky. For the parents of younger learners ‘education’ is also once removed, sometimes undervalued or misunderstood, or the experience is generally awful for the students and the parents. With these factors in mind I can see why the notion of tax dollars being used to pay for something so ‘invisible’ makes some folks snippy, and also why governments use standardised tests to try to show ‘value for money’.

At the end of the day, though, maybe we have to take some of the value of education and learning on trust – that it is money well spent. After all, we all have a vested interest in education. Without educated folk most of those inventions, art, movies, food, medical care etc etc that we use or engage with, will not be available. We need to keep investing, and that should be in time as well as financially. It would be superb, for example, to see more communities involved in mentoring high school students (not only your own, if you have children :-p)…or working with learners of all ages on various projects. The caring, breaking down of barriers, and widening of understanding that are spin offs of getting involved, are priceless.

 

(A heads up – if you are already blogging in another environment then please DO cross-post some of your provocative/interesting postings into the Ethos Community space. Go on – you know you want to! :-))

Highlights Ethos Community space from February 2013

The Ethos community now has 192 members, and I hope you’ll extend a warm welcome and kia ora to:

• Darren Murray is an IT Consultant, based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Darren believes that “results driven education has destroyed the learning environment in the UK and elsewhere”. His work has led him to apply his knowledge of ICT “to help drive change within Tertiary learning in particular and a volunteer time to assist lower decile schools in Dunedin”.
• Gerry Freehill is a publican, who is based in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland. He is keenly interested in any ideas, support, or resources about building strategies for living with ADHD.
• James Lewis, a learning designer, who wants to learn more from ICT Enhanced Learning and Teaching. James is based in Maidstone, United Kingdom.
• Jean Latting, a leadership consultant, is passionate about all aspects of learning and teaching. She is based in Houston, TX, United States.
• Lane Clark is a consultant who is 100% committed to learning and engagement. She is very active in  learning and teaching spheres around the world, and has been involved in design and research for many years. She is based in Ontario, Canada.
• Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, who is based in Cincinnati, OH, United States, is a Brain-Based ADD Coach and Trainer / co-founder of the ADD Coaching field. Madelyn says that she loves “being in community with like-minded life-long learners working for a world that works for EVERYONE (in *my* lifetime, please!)”. She avoids ” ‘push’ technology in favor of platforms that allow me to ‘pull’ when I have the time and cognitive bandwidth to do so.
• Maurizio De Rose is a Post-Doc Researcher, who designs and evaluates of e-learning environments …. to integrate formal and informal learning! Maurizio is based in Cosenza, Italy.
• Med Kharbach, situated in Halifax, Canada, is a teacher with a keen interest in education technology.
• Mike Scaddan, is an educational and high performance sport consultant, who is interested in making more connections with like minded people. He is based in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
• Monika Kern, situated in Okaihau, New Zealand, is a Blended eLearning facilitator with Te Toi Tupu. Monika would like to work toward improving educational outcomes for all students – especially those facing challenges of all sorts :-).
• Sarah Smith, is a teacher and mother, who is interested in ICT enhanced learning and teaching and how it “relates to my teaching and my children’s education”. Sarah is based in Worcestershire, United Kingdom.

If you know of anyone who might like to be involved in the Ethos online community – or to contribute a guest post, please feel free to invite them using this link:
http://bit.ly/Ww6XEN
.

Guest Posts and discussions

There are as always a large number of posts, resources, and discussions, and I hope you’ll find something of interest. In this newsletter we have a great guest post. Please jump into the conversation and feel free to ask questions.

• February’s guest blogger, is a follow up to an initial (popular) post around leadership and Taking charge of your own learning. Diana Ayling will be posting the final version in the next couple of days, so please watchthis space.
• A heart-felt call to action, in her The Butterfly Project, Self Harm and Self Soothing post Madelyn Griffith-Haynie explains that “Educators especially need to be aware of what they are seeing and how to respond when butterflies are spotted on your students”, before providing more information about the phenomenon of ‘cutting’.
• In I Do Not Genuflect: Mind, body, and spirit, Madelyn Griffith-Haynie shares some of her philosophies, closing with the assertion that “When the definition of ‘evidence-based’ confines the term to ‘double-blind, placebo-controlled, peer reviewed, journal published, scientifically replicable – consistent with the body of knowledge in the field‘, I can’t help but wonder if those engaged in the pursuit of proof will ever glimpse Truth through that particular lens. The ‘controlled experiment’ has many uses, but at bottom, forcing anecdotal report to genuflect at its alter is short-sighted”. Please jump in to the conversation that follows. 
• Shared by Merryn Dunmill, Occupy Your Brain: On Power, Knowledge, and the Re-Occupation of Common Sense featured Carol Black participating in a Future of Education webinar. If you scroll down to the comments, you can access the original blog post as well as a recording of the session. Well worth listening to.
• John S. Oliver has shared some wonderfully evocative thought pieces again this month around a range of topics, including Night rain, Deck, and Markings.
• Another forum that has had resources and ideas added to it is the Instructional Design Portal, started by Rustica Lamb.

Recommended blog posts / Discussions

There were 21 blog posts in February that cover a wide range of topics. Some of those that you might like to dip into include:

• It’s what you’ve been waiting for (maybe ;-p): Out now: NMC Horizon Report – 2013 Higher Education Edition
• Embedding multimedia resources into meaningful tasks can scaffold learners’ understanding of concepts, demonstrate practical skills, and, where learners are creating the multimedia, enable cultural appropriacy and foster creativity. Mayer’s Theory of Multimedia Learning unpacked – and illustrated provides guidelines about how to achieve this.
• Often educators are seen as either tech savvy and eLearning focussed…or not. Jennie Magiera’s story describes her journey from Digital Doubter to Tech Guru; where she shifts from openly mocking her friends who had bought iPads “pointing out that they had just bought a ‘giant iPhone that can’t make calls’.”, to one where she is very aware of the potential of eLearning to make “classrooms…creative, innovative and outstanding places to learn”.
• The wonderful team at Cyberwise recently shared the following resources, focussed on the Millennial Generation: Millenials under the microscope: Resources, ideas and a quiz from Cyberwise.
• Still featured from January, because they now include the video of the accompanying session (just scroll down to the comments) are The Problem Finders: Design Thinking for Genuine Epic-Scale Problem-Based Learning (Ewan McIntosh), The life of PII (Public Interest Index) – Harnessing the Tiger (Government), and One thought to rule them all: The most powerful force in the world.

Recommended videos

From the ever growing repository of videos (710 in total – thanks as always to John S Oliver for his contributions), these are a just few of the highlights:

• This video features Lane Clark, who unveiled her new thinking at the International Conference on Thinking in Wellington in January:  The 12 dimensions of thinking infusion.
• The world needs all kinds of minds: Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to ‘think in pictures’, which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss”.
• In this RSA Animate video, psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our ‘divided brain’ has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society.
• Sue Sutcliffe participates in a television interview (Rogers Daytime) and discussion about netiquette and what can happen when it breaks down.
• Education on Demand at Virtual High School ”allows students from around the world to schedule classes at their convenience in subjects not offered at their local school”.
• This video was shared by Chrissie Butler. The Theory of Multiple Mentors captures, I feel, the notion that working with someone as a developmental mentor is not something you do from an intellectual stance, but way more from one of empathy and care. If this is of interest to you, you may also want to watch  Modern Mentoring: The Good, The Bad and The Better.
• Our loss of wisdom: ”Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for ‘practical wisdom, as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy”
• From a rich selection of ‘how to…’ videos shared by John S Oliver here is a highlight: How to Make the World’s Simplest Motor.

Resources

• Twitter basics at a glance + part 2 for more advanced users: Really liked the clarity and simplicity of these attractive resources, which the Daring Librarian describes as follows: “An at a glance cheat sheet, feel free to pass along, use, post all under Creative Commons – Share Alike!”.
• How to improve your presentations: The description on the site reads: “Watch examples of two presentations, one much better than the other. See how making just a couple of small changes can make a huge improvement to a presentation”.
• If you are involved in any form of design for eLearning, you may find the following resources useful. The resources on this page are a collection of approaches, discussions, ideas, and toolkits from which you can ‘cherry pick’ based on the descriptions of each resource.
• Learning to teach online, shared by Rachel Roberts, has a variety of vides that feature “teachers talking about everything from engaging & motivating students to facilitating effective online discussion, as well as many case study examples”. You might also want to check out A Day in the Life of an Online Teacher
• Setting up or facilitating an online community of practice/learning? You are likely to find some valuable guidelines, examples, and suggestions here in the Creating virtual PD communities group (please feel free to join and contribute :-p).
• The Six Thinking Hats 2012 explained: A clear, simple animation of de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats.

Events

Lots of other things happening (online courses, conferences and other opportunities) – have a look at the events listing for more details.

A couple of events to look out for in particular are:

• Shared by Allison Miller, consider attending this blended professional development option: Workshop and Webinar Program: Designing Learning in the Digital Age
• New Zealand Moodle Moot 2013 (22nd-24th April 2013). As usual the wonderful team at HRDNZ (Moodle Partner) headed up by Stuart Mealor is organising the event, which will be at The University of Waikato in Hamilton. (If you have been to an NZ Moodle Moot event before, have a wee watch of this video.)
• EDULEARN13 (5th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies) (July 1-3 2013). This event will be held in Barcelona (Spain), although you can also choose a virtual registration. It is an excellent opportunity to share your experiences and projects with educators and researchers from all parts of the world.
• iPads & iTunesU: Series of 3 FREE webinars (starting Feb 28 2013)

Please feel free to add events to share them, or just let me know and I’ll add them :-)

Many thanks once again to Diana, Madelyn, Merryn, Pascale, Cynthia, John S. Oliver, Allison, Rachel Roberts, Rachel Panckhurst, Lane, and Rustica.

Please keep your posts (including cross-posts), comments and recommendations coming :-)

Warm regards

Hazel

A Newsletter For All Members Of Ethos Online Community January 2013

An item from Monday’s inbox for my Kiwi colleagues…

Ethos Online Community Newsletter

Kia ora, everyone,

A belated Happy New Year! As the holidays begin to wind down, and your focus shifts to plans and goal setting for 2013, it’s a great pleasure to be able to share a bumper edition of the Ethos Online Community newsletter. There have been some thought-provoking contributions and conversations, some of which are included below, but many of which you may need to hunt out.

It seemed that in 2012 you couldn’t escape the flurry of Massive open online courses (MOOCs) (free on the whole, although many provided with a for-profit model seemingly in mind further down the track). Some learners report that their experience of MOOCs has had a powerful impact on their learning and professional practice. On the other hand, MOOCs tend to have a high drop-out rate (George Siemens estimates that about 10% of registrants in his MOOCs complete the course), partly because of the perception of a highly unstructured approach. These points highlight what some people see as benefits of MOOCs and others, as drawbacks – in part it depends on your expectations, background and skills as a learner. At the end of the day the whole conversation, I feel, needs to focus back on the fundamentals…learning – and as equitable access as possible to education for all. Formative, diagnostic, and self- and peer-assessment are likely to be part of the learning process…but, do we need to re-frame, or re-think, formative assessments? Is all learning, after all, related to the needs of (future) employers, or is it for something more? It is interesting that the initial MOOCs, after all, did not have summative assessments built in to them. Would be good to hear what you think, so please jump in with comments :-p MOOCs – returning to questions of assessment and why we learn…

 

(A heads up – if you are already blogging in another environment then please DO cross-post some of your provocative/interesting postings into the Ethos Community space. Go on – you know you want to! :-))

Highlights Ethos Community space from December 2012/January 2013

The Ethos community now has 181 members, and I hope you’ll extend a warm welcome and kia ora to:

• Andrisha Kambaran is a Strategic Advisor, who is interested in enhancing learning in not-for-profit organisations. She is based in Wellinton, New Zealand.
• David Martí, a technical secretariat / congress, is a strong advocate for ICT skills and competencies among teachers. He is based in Valencia, Spain.
• Jacqui Thornley is working in learning and teaching and is keen to explore further, the effective use of technology, web 2 tools and Learning Management systems to enhance the learning environment for staff and students. Jacqui is based in Auckland, New Zealand
• James Smith, who is based in Jersey, UK, is a teacher who enjoys reading blogs. He has also developed, collected, collated and annotated some amazing resources for teaching French, so if you are a teacher of French, do go and explore (you can find the link to the site on James’s profile).
• Kern Kelley is a teacher, who coordinates a super initiative where his students offer weekly tech support sessions. You can find the link on Kern’s site, and he has kindly agreed to be a guest blogger in March when he will tell us more about his students’ work. Kern is based in Hampden, ME, United States.
• Suzi Vaughan, situated in Queensland, Australia, is an academic with a general interest in ICT enhanced learning and teaching.
• Tony Trigwell-Jones, is a teacher, director, and actor. He is involved in community theatre, where he works with young adults to help them harness their creativity and develop confidence. He has numerous interests, and is based in Newbury, UK.

If you know of anyone who might like to be involved in the Ethos online community – or to contribute a guest post, please feel free to invite them using this link:
http://bit.ly/Ww6XEN
.

Guest Posts and discussions

There are as always a large number of posts, resources, and discussions, and I hope you’ll find something of interest. In this newsletter we have two guest posts – one from December and one from January, both of which have attracted a large number of views and some comments. Please jump into the conversations.

• December’s guest blogger, Suzie Vesper, has combined a practical guide, with excellent examples of how students have used, primary sources. In Working with digital primary sources, Suzie outlines the importance of primary sources – “items [that are] created around or during a specific event, place or time….[and] are a record of a person’s perspective or experience”. She provides tips around how to locate primary sources, and what to do with them when you do.
• And to start 2013 Leigh Hynes takes, from a cultural stance, a new look at Huripoki – Flipping New Zealand Style! (a post that has already had 163 views, and 7 comments). It is an excellent read, and a great way to re-frame flipped classrooms.
• John S. Oliver has shared some creative thought pieces around a range of topics, including Ultimate Race, Winter Silhouette, and X on My Calendar.
• Creating quite a lot of interest in December was Diana Ayling’s Taking charge of your own learning. The post highlights a shift from organisation-led ‘formal’ PD, to a way more self-directed approach where we need to take far more responsibility for our ongoing learning and upskilling – including developing our own ePortfolios. If this is of interest to you, you might also want to have a read of Anticipating the future, participating in change: A paradigm shift for professional development, and Performance inquiry: Performance management and appraisal.
• Leadership is important at all times, and paramount during periods of change. In his post outlining the key features and responsibilities of leadership, John S. Oliver provides what Diana Ayling described as a “thoughtful explanation of leadership”.
• A witty post with a twist (and more than a pinch of truth): Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes. John recommends that you also watch this video at the same time: What Teachers Make.

Recommended blog posts / Discussions

There were a mammoth 33 blog posts in December/January that cover a wide range of topics. Some of those that you might like to dip into include:

• Online communities, whether they are to share common interests, or to support learning at an institution, are an organically developing notion with a growing set of guidelines, research, and ideas around benefits, usage and implementation. If this is an area you are exploring you may like to follow up on 10 Tips For Aspiring online community facilitators…; The power of the crowd: Online communities that help save you time; and Developing relationships – the key to fostering online professional communities.
• In November, just before the Christmas madness, Tess Pajaron dropped me an email to share an article that focuses on how people learn. Although I may be a little tentative about some of the points and approaches covered, there are some possible gems in there - 30 Surprising (possibly controversial) research findings about how young people learn.
• “Skills have become the currency of 21st century economies” (Andreas Schieicher), and the ability to change and learn new skills will be a fundamental influence on global change” – to find out more about how Simon Breakspear frames this, read Radical Innovation for Learning.
•  Human architecture of the brain and cognitive load theory – so what? – a brief overview of Human cognitive architecture and Cognitive load theory and their relation to learning.
• The Problem Finders: Design Thinking for Genuine Epic-Scale Problem-Based Learning - “Project-based learning has been let down in too many instances with ‘fake’, academic, theoretical problems that need solving. Find out more in this post.
• Peter Newell asserts that 90% of what we teach is a “waste of time” – so 90% of what we teach – the nuggets of knowledge – will never be used. As such, we need to teach in a way where students look for wide scope: Designing learning that matters? How might shift in understanding be captured?.
• Alejarndra Martinez is a psychologist has been working with teachers, initially in rural Chile. She is interested in how teachers view themselves as learners: Teachers’ metacognition: the influence of changes from a deficit to a developmental approach to assessment.
• It is really different to convince people that thinking is important. Thinking needs to be practical rather than political, and focussed on ‘what’s next’ rather than what has been: Think before it’s too late (Edward de Bono).

Recommended videos

From the ever growing repository of videos (6681 in total – thanks as always to John S Oliver for his contributions), these are a just few of the highlights:

• If you don’t grade, how do you do summative assessment? Some useful, practical advice, and I very much enjoyed the empowerment of the students, and the conversation around the assessments that continued the learning.
• This video was shared by Wayne Godfrey, and it offers a vision of how we might interact and collaborate, locally and globally, should this type of technology be developed: A Day Made of Glass: A vision of the future. And if you are keen to find out more about how other folk see the future, you might also want to watch Year 2060: Education Predictions.
• A nicely framed overview of inquiry learning, where a range of concerns that some learners, teachers, and parents may have when thinking about the inquiry learning approach: Inquiry learning.
• Which Child Will be Left Behind - A refreshing look at technology where it is not seen as a ‘cure all’, but rather as a way of opening up more opportunities for more students.
• Making the most of online learning – some suggestions about how to extend the reach of professional learning beyond the walls of the staffroom.
• This simple presentation provides some practical ideas about how to change behaviour – your own, and other folks’ :-p Top 10 Mistakes in Behavior Change…with suggestions how to avoid them.
• What Makes Great Teachers Great?: Interesting that, in this video, all the participants speak of the relationships that they build with the students and the empathy they have with those learners – above and beyond the subject or specialty.
• John S Oliver has discovered and shared a wealth of great ‘how to…’ and concept videos. A small selection includes: How-to Become a Master Instructional Designer; and Ways to stay connected in an increasingly mobile world.

Resources

• Are you a fan of Google forms? If you are, dip into Something practical for Christmas: 22 Google form templates.
• Fear and violence are negative in many ways, and yet they form part of many people’s lives. As emotions they are barriers to happiness and to learning, so anyone who is working with learners is likely to, at some point, need support and resources to help them face the challenge. A couple of resources that have been shared including: Talking to children about violence and death; and It’s Time to Stop Letting Fear Interfere With Youth Online Freedom.
• Teachers need to be continually learning inside and outside their field, and John S. Oliver shares this valuable Gold Mind for Life Long Learners.
• Latest version of Distance Education Association of NZ Magazine (DEANZ) is now available (Jan 2013) - includes news about the DEANZ webinar programme, as well as some interesting articles about Web 2.0 uptake in tertiary education, and Bring Your Own Device policies in schools.
• If you are looking for an accessible overview of Learning Analytics, then this infographic might fit the bill: Learning Analytics 101: Leveraging Education Data.
• A blended learning scenario: Felicity McKinnion – Studying for the NZCert Real Estate: provides some ideas of how a student in a vocational course might work within a blended learning environment.
• Sustainable learning through formative assessment: Using quizzes to maintain engagement - a way of providing really strong support for scaffolding students who are used to a teacher-centred, rote learning environment.

Events

Lots of other things happening (online courses, conferences and other opportunities) – have a look at the events listing for more details.

A couple of events to look out for in particular are:

• New Zealand Moodle Moot 2013 (22nd-24th April 2013). As usual the wonderful team at HRDNZ (Moodle Partner) headed up by Stuart Mealor is organising the event, which will be at The University of Waikato in Hamilton. (If you have been to an NZ Moodle Moot event before, have a wee watch of this video.)
• EDULEARN13 (5th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies) (July 1-3 2013). This event will be held in Barcelona (Spain), although you can also choose a virtual registration. It is an excellent opportunity to share your experiences and projects with educators and researchers from all parts of the world.

Please feel free to add events to share them, or just let me know and I’ll add them :-)

Many thanks once again to Leigh, Suzie, Pascale, Diana, Cynthia, John S. Oliver, and Wayne.

Please keep your posts (including cross-posts), comments and recommendations coming :-)

Warm regards