Learning+at+School+2010+feedback

Please place your feedback from the 2010 Learning @ School ICT Conference at Rotorua.
13 staff from Hillcrest High and Girls High attended the 2010 learning at school conference in Rotorua this year.

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 * Official conference Webpage:**


 * Simon Ward - Hillcrest High School**

I really enjoyed the conference and gained a lot from the experience. I have provided some feedback and resources for people to check out below:

**Keynote speakers**
For me Stuart was the pick of the keynote speakers and a great way to kick off the conference. He had a lot of insightful comments, and educated his audience well with small chunks of NZ history. But don’t take my word for it you can watch his presentation in full on [|edtalks].
 * Stuart Middleton - School Looks Good But Is It Engaging?**

Alan shared a good range of ideas relating to enhancing educational outcomes with ICT’s. For me this sessions didn’t come off well as the technology really failed. The whole session was done through a Skype video conference which dropped off regularly and was hard to follow. I am sure Alan had some great points, but for me this was an example of “when technology goes wrong”
 * Alan November - The Emerging Culture of Teaching and Learning**

This was a very interesting presentation on leadership and his take on pulling it off successfully. He talked about ownership of decisions. “Me Decisions”, or “Everyone decisions”. He talked about the difference between excellence and perfection, and when to aim for each. An interesting end to the conference and a good presentation for Principals.
 * Dr Thomas R Hoerr - Leading From Behind**

**Breakouts**
Here is a link to all the breakout material - This was the supporting material that presenters used. There is a lot of great resources and info on this page: Breakout Links


 * Notable Breakouts:**

This was a spotlight session and an excellent insight into some of the trends Core-Ed see as playing a bigger roles in education in 2010 and moving forward. Great stuff. You can watch the Slideshare of his presentation using this link: Derek's Blog
 * Derek Wenmoth - Ten trends for 2010**

Responding To Change Thinking About The Classroom
 * Tony Ryan's Resources:**


 * Cheryl Doig - Making Change Stick:** [|Cheryl's site]


 * Jacque Allen -** [|Using Web 2.0 Tools to Create Engaging Environments]


 * //Mervyn Cook's feedbac//**//**k**// from the 2010 Learning @ School ICT Conference.

I found three of the breakout sessions to be particularly instructive and informative. The first breakout was taken by Pam Hook and Julie Mills.  **Spotlight on SOLO Taxonomy. Structured Overview of Learning Outcomes.**

**Breakout 1** / Presenters: **Pam Hook**, **Julie Mills** / Strand: **Vision & Leadership** / Theme: **Vision & Leadership** / Target Level: **All**
This spotlight focuses on using SOLO Taxonomy as a model of learning to A 'how to' session with practical answers to questions about What am I doing? How well am I doing it? What should I do next? The Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy, (Biggs and Collis 1982).
 * Help students 'learn to learn well' and 'learn to live well'
 * Improve the quality of your teaching and your assessment of learning outcomes.
 * Build a school-based curriculum consistent with the New Zealand Curriculum/Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

The SOLO Taxonomy describes a continuum of learning which forms the basis of a coded rubric to be able to assess students against the key competencies. I feel I have a better understanding of how to approach assessing learning in my class. By creating rubrics for Assessment and Unit Standards I will have more detailed information to use when compiling reports and grading students works. Below are links to the websites you can investigate further. [] []

**ICT as a Service - the future shape of ICT provision in schools** ===**Breakout 5** / Presenters: **Charles Newton**, **Geoff Scrimgeour** / Strand: **Vision & Leadership** / Theme: **Vision & Leadership** / Target Level:**All**=== There are significant changes ahead in how schools will support the ICT needs of teachers and learners. Key developments are shaping this including the Government's commitment to fibre-based ultrafast broadband to all schools, the Network Upgrade programme, the extension of the KAREN Trial and the scoping of a National Education Network. Of equal significance are the impressive developments in technologies such as VoIP, multicasting and virtualisation along with the rapid rise in web-hosted applications and services, and the increasing sophistication of applications and resources available. Together, these developments herald the emerging IT-as-a-service paradigm that will completely change the way we manage ICT in schools.

I found the **ICT as a Service** breakout to be fascinating. The presenters are on the cutting edge of the process of delivering high speed broadband to NZ schools. The presenters gave demonstrations of the speed difference between copper and fibre optic cables - the delivery speed of fibre optic is amazing, for example a movie such as Avatar can be downloaded in 54 seconds as opposed to 11 days over dialup copper. We were asked to make a list of our 5 top recommendations of ICT needs to pass on to the Minister of Education - I hope they are listened to!

**Breakout 6** / Presenters: **Jane Nicholls**, **Dave Young** / Strand: **Teaching & Learning** / Theme: **Teaching & Learning** / Target Level: **All**
Creative Commons licensing provides users with different rights to use music and images. There is no excuse to use copyright music and images in your online spaces anymore. In this workshop you will be exposed to many ways of finding or creating your own music and images, providing richer and deeper learning opportunities for students, and setting the groundwork for always referencing and attributing work.

This breakout was important for me as a music teacher as I use music and video in my classroom on a regular basis. The question of copyright is a gray area and being able to use media that I know is authorized for use is comforting. The difference between Copyright and Creative Commons is that Copyright says you cannot use a particular piece of media where as Creative Commons says you can use the media subject to certain restrictions. Below are links to sites which will give you more information. When you go to the ictucan wiki if you click on the creative commons link on the left hand side of the page you will gain access to a number of music and picture sites as well as web hosted music production software you can use for free. [|http://creativecommons.org/] http://ictucan.wikispaces.com/

Overall I found the conference to be very good with a number of other breakouts I would have attended if I had of had the time. The experience was a fruitful one.

This was the third time I have attended the conference and what was significant to me was that I still thoroughly enjoyed every muinute of it and found the programme stimulating, thought-provoking and most imformative.
 * //Kathy Paterson's//** feedback


 * Stewart Middleton** was so inspiring we have managed to secure him to open our teacher only day in April. **Alan November** was "beamed in" from America and even though at times the presentation the was stilted his message about reliability of websites and how to check then was brought home when he showed us a "Civil Rights" site that was developed by white supremists. **Thomas Hoerr** appeared in person from USA and gave a very solid presentation on Leading schools and shared some of his personal experiences. If note he said "make new mistakes" "am I practising the balance I preach?" He talked about "excellence v perfection" and even quoted one of my favourite Educational writers Roland Bath - "If students are to grow adn learn then adults must grow and learn too".

Each of the **breakouts** I attended left me enthused and highly motivated with new things to consider. Resistors to changes - Knowledge. skills, aspirations and disposition for students. What Might a National Education Network Mean for You and Ultra-fast Broadbrand and Next Generation Networks - how it will affect schools - this was a very useful set of presentations on the advances being made with the infrastructure in NZ schools. Charles Newton and Douglas Harre were excellent and most informative especially with HGHS now on fibre.
 * Facilitating Highly Effective Professional Learning** (David Anderson) Interesting quotes "never die wondering" "no such thing as a dumb question" - this quote has followed me throughout my teaching as I insist to all may classes over many years that often the "dumbest" of questions unlocks knowledge and allows a student to grow and learn. he mentioned Khulisa - A child must grow. David used an interestind pinwheel process to get us mixing in groups which I had not seen before and would like to use. We all rotated during the session and shared a variety of things with a variety of people.
 * School loooks good but is it engaging** - This was a follow up session by Stewart Middleton and was most provocative and very stimulating as we challenged wach other in the workshop about what "engaging" really was. he talked about Disengagement on three levels - Physical (not there), virtual (present but not listening) adn non-intended.
 * eportfolios** - Nick Rate. I attended this workshop as a lot has been talked about eportfolios and I was particularly interested in using them to record my thinking and learning with the professional readings I do as part of our critical inquiry programme at school. Nick was an efellow in 2008 and spoke passionately about eportfolios. He was a DP in a primary school and they had used them for a long time in a variety of ways. [|http://nickrate.com] is Nick's website and the powerpoint presentation from conference is available along with many other useful resources. I will be sharing some of this work at our teacher only day in April.


 * Karen Mills -** I really enjoyed this confrence and like Kathy I found Stuart to be highly motivating and entertaining. I attended several different breakouts ranging from Cybersafety, Bubbermation, Creating Records of Learning using Movie Maker and my personal favourite which was Making PowerPoint Presentations Memorable. If you ever get a chance to go to this conference I am sure you will learn as much as I did and come back inspired to adapt and tweak your teaching methods.

Here are a couple of websites that may help you with your PowerPoint presentations [|http://www.presentationzen.com] - Garr Reynolds method of minimalist powerpoint presentations. [|http://www.sxc.hu] - Free Stock Photography


 * Dave Malloch.** This is my second year for this conference. I found the breakouts very good and well attended. Learnt heaps, though its very hard to replicate all that I attended. Highly motivated by the keynote speakers. Wish I had a lot of spare time just to research the contentious issues that we see as the new century facilitators and learners.

I attended the final day of the conference. Thomas Hoerr was the final keynote and I very much enjoyed hearing his ideas, experience and learning about leadership. In particular I took away the idea of striving for excellence rather than perfection!!! The final day allows for an 'unconference' type session and I appreciated the opportunity to sit down with a group of people from schools around the country and share thinking, ideas and debate around implementing ICT in the classroom - led by Derek Wenmoth. It was wonderful to be able to sit down and have a real conversation with people who I otherwise may not have met and learnt from.
 * Toni Twiss;**