Ed+Sector

Eg. http://coalface.wikispaces.com [|http://coalface.posterous.com] media type="custom" key="9513082"
 * **National Goal 5. ** |||| **The sector ** by sharing online professional reflections to inform colleagues of the challenges and opportunities afforded by e-learning* ||
 * **Cluster goals ** |||| **Success Indicators for National and Cluster Goals ** ||
 * * Schools will make regular contributions to professional online community sites including Coalface wiki, Cluster blog and the VLN |||| * Each school is reflecting and sharing: in syndicate areas, and as incidental comments in cluster online sites.
 * The cluster is both sharing their own stories re: their development and practice, and reading others at //http://www.vln.school.nz/// ||

We only wish we had more TIME to get into online sites and read what others are doing. WE do it in Facebook !!! Hopefully the VLN will provide opportunities to find the good stuff easily. We aim to get everybody on staff registered and actively participating in the VLN. Some staff have signed up to the VLN to do online learning with Te Manawa Pou is an online te reo Māori professional learning and development programme. We use the Coalface wiki to find out what's going on eg. Workshops and links for PD etc. Most teachers are finding useful links to creative opportunities ie. Web 2 tools in TheToolBox and some are sharing finds in the edresources wiki and adding to the collection of teacher resources. A few of us have lurked in the posterous blog but have not yet had the confidence to post.This is something we'll ask Donna to work with us on.
 * @ Kimihia**
 * Jo and Nicole (@ Kimihia - May 2011)**

**Rob @ Tahuna** As Willy Wonka said "So much time and so little to do...no wait, reverse that, so little time and so much to do". There is a real need for 'sandpit time" as it's known. The 'more able' teachers or 'techy passionate' are taking mini sessions with the other staff - and it's rubbing off. At the start of this year a wikispaces for the middle and junior school was established. The senior class had had one for over a year and a half. It took a little convincing to make it clear there would be a purpose for such a thing in the classroom. Help was given to set up the wikispaces. It was not smooth running either and their were glitches to problem solve. The middle school wiki started out as private to members but has recently been opened up to public protected. The Year 3 and 4 children quickly established a small social network happening and would leave small messages to each other, mainly ' wot u doin?'. They were playing, experimenting and found it exciting particularly when the teacher replied to an e-mail sent out to all. One boy didn't realise he sent his message out to all the class about bringing equipment for camping. LOL :)

There would not be a day that passes without the children accessing their wikispace for some reason. It has become the portal to links to maths and literacy activities for learning. Teachers growing in skill and confidence with wiki use and are starting to explore other ways to keep the interaction going with and between students. We are seeing children use wallwisher - creating a wall on their own page which asks for others opinion about an issue / survey. We have a child creating a video game and posting it on his page for others to try and critique (cuddle/kick/cuddle method as we call it). Year 5 / 6 's are becoming increasingly familiar with the thinking tool of the extent barometer in which they analyse bits of an issue or opinion. I was fortunate to receive an iPod Touch 4th Gen 8GB for my b'day. I'm exploring the applications and their potential in the classroom. A nifty app is 'SPLICE' which makes mini movies by blending titles, transitions, photos and movie clips taken on the iPod and crafted inside the device (no connecting the device to your computer). Then easily uploaded to You Tube and from there embedded in wikis. Has anyone else been using iPods in classrooms? My next step is to find out how to use the school wifi as Safari is being blocked. I've heard that Berkley Intermediate is using them and Kaiapoi Borough School Chch. With Ultra Fast Rural Broadband on the horizon I'm hoping the whole buffering of UTube clips will be a thing of the past. We are finding the children tend to move around the room with the laptops now and utilise the wireless connection. With 10 laptops in the room the bandwidth is now struggling so the next step is going to be increasing the wireless strength throughout the school. Has anyone gone through this process recently? - if so - I'd like to know the ins and outs.

Something we are trying out is a separate link on the class home page which takes the clicker to the child's own wiki site. This will be their e-portfolio. We used to craft Powerpoints, write these to disk and send home with the children. We rarely gained any feedback and weren't even sure if the disks worked on home computer systems. Late in 2010 we held student led conferences - gee did the students lead their own conference!!! We had 100% parent attendance and so we still want to build on this success again by inviting them in again to the classroom with the children leading the discussions around their wikispace page and e-portfolio. An integral part will be the parents can type in a comment to or utilise the webcam for feedback. A chance to tutor parents. As mentioned, access is password protected with the purpose as a wiki for reporting to parents. The children's pages on the class wiki are more of a sandpit place to share and express ideas. Their own wiki will be restricted to those who are stakeholders in terms of overall achievement - TPJ's - standardised info, assessment info - evidence from the children that are applicable ('artifacts' as we shall call them) and student reflections. Getting students to reflect on their learning in a clear and coherent way can be like pulling teeth. We are keen to hear of others who have a method for getting deeper reflections from children about their learning. The right questions to ask are the starting point. W.I.P. ROB - Tahuna - post Queens Birthday Weekend 2011 Our class wiki links: If you dare to take a peek! www.discoveryroom.wikispaces.com www.resolutionroom.wikispaces.com www.endeavouroom.wikispaces.com