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20 April 2008
April 08 Newsletter
Dear MirandaNetters,
We have come to the conclusion that the newsletter is getting too long. We have, therefore, decided to send out short bulletins with interesting information at regular intervals and, once a month, a newsletter with Members' news and new membership information. We shall be pleased to receive items from our members all over the world for this shorter newsletter.
We hope you find the new format easier to manage.
Christina Preston
Planning for Miranda's future
Easter seems to have been very long and very quiet this year. Now you are back we have a question to ask you all about increasing the MirandaNet services.
Many of you know much about raising money through the web, for example permitting advertising or charging for access to resources. We do not want to be overrun with inappropriate adverts or charge teachers' large sums of money - but can you think of a way in which the resources that you contribute can work better to provide funds?
Should we have some closed areas on the site that those who are not members have to pay for? We need, for example, to develop the website more, hold more free seminars and workshops that are podcast, and give bursaries to teachers in challenging circumstances internationally. We have members in Africa, for example, who would love to join in one of our workshops and make valuable links with members, but funds are needed to do this.
Here are the facts. The MirandaNet Fellowship, a not-for-profit organisation for members who use ICT to solve existing challenges in classroom and communities is now over 560 strong in over 50 countries worldwide. We do not charge you a membership fee because your contribution to the debates and the E-journals keep the organisation at the leading edge. These resources are very valuable and we wonder if we should be so free with them?
Over the last year it has become clear that many of the new members of MirandaNet are involved in some kind of post-graduate programme about digital technologies. There is clearly a need for this service.
One of the attractions to members as well as other teachers all over the world is the chance to read colleagues case studies in the E-journals. You might be surprised to know that numbers reading your publications have increased substantially. The MirandaNet website has an average of 6,000 page requests per day, representing roughly 4,000 separate visitors (of which around 20% are web indexers). The Forum, the members' Profiles and Case Studies, and downloaded documents represent a large proportion of the web traffic.
I shall start a debate on MirandaLink this week about any ideas you have for increasing the income from the web in order to improve our services. Please contribute. This is your organisation and we need your ideas for our future growth.
Members' News
InterCultural Awareness
Crystal, a group who are colleagues of Fellow Margaret Danby, is currently a partner in a two year multilateral GRUNDTVIG Project called INTERACT with five other EU partners. The project is all about Intercultural Communication (ICC). One of Crystal's tasks has been to develop an online questionnaire which aims to identify the current level of ICC awareness in EU countries and to identify what is required to develop and improve ICC skills.
The project website is hosted in Latvia and the Interact questionnaire we have produced is accessible from the menu on the left of the Home page. Alternatively go directly here.
MirandaNetters are invited to complete the questionnaire. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and you are under no pressure to identify yourself if you don't wish to! The database will build over time and you will be able to visit at a later date, using your password, to compare your responses with those of respondents in other EU countries.
The WACC Photographic Competition 2008
This competition, in its fifth year, it is being run on Flickr for the third time! It closes on May 1st and has cash prizes!
Entries are invited interpreting the theme of: WOMEN AND COMMUNICATION
Photographs that capture women communicating; women's communication rights in action or photographs illustrating how women use communication to empower themselves.
There will be one first prize and five commendations
- First prize $500
- Each commendation $200
The prizes will be paid by bank transfer or by Paypal.
The competition is open to all women, men and children, of all ages and from all countries. Entries from amateurs and professionals are welcome. There is no limit to the number of photographs that a person may enter, but no entrant may win more than one prize in the contest.
Format for entries
- Images must be loaded to this group
- Entries must be licensed under "Creative Commons" license. This can easily be added under "Additional Information" next to each photograph.
- Entries should have a short description of what the image shows and why it is relevant.
The closing date is 1 May 2008. The competition winners will be announced on World Communication Day, 8 May. A selection of entries will be exhibited in Toronto and will be used in the WACC publications such as the website and the journal "Media Development"
A panel of judges will select the winners. All decisions by the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into. All winners will be contacted immediately after the results of the competition have been announced.
Mechelle De Craene's website recommendations
Thought I'd pass along this article. I really like how it talks about Learning to Be, apprenticeship, and lifelong learning.
Also, I posted a video of Barbara Morgan a teacher teaching from space.
Here's an article on digital storytelling that one of my former Art professors wrote.
Mechelle De Craene
New Fellows
John Wasteney
Use of contemporary digital resources in the classroom
Dr Katya Toneva (Senior)
For her paper on Developing High Quality Interaction and Reflection
Developing High Quality Interaction and Reflection through On-Line Forums
Ahmed Al Koofi
King Hamad's School's of Future
New Scholars
Kirsty Alderton
I have over 25 years of ICT and Business experience within the commercial world. During this time, I have had many roles such as systems analyst, trainer, technical support manager, client service director, to even running my own education consultancy business. However, the most rewarding roles have always been based around the educational aspects; where I have had the opportunity to globally teach leading edge technology and vocational skills e.g. Presentation skills to a wide range of students with different levels of ability.
My career has always been very challenging and exciting, but I felt that I wanted to disseminate some of my technical knowledge and experience and give something back to society. I recently took the plunge and moved into full time teaching, where I am presently teaching ICT to secondary pupils.
Historically, ICT has been perceived as just personal computers and basic ‘office' applications, where in fact it is a wealth of physical devices and supporting software that can all communicate together. I believe that by utilising all aspects of ICT, such as MP3 players, cameras, touch sensitive technology, ICT can be used as a multi-sensory tool to aid and support learning across the whole education curriculum.
Jan Blake
With a degree in languages, I began my career as a Primary school teacher; that career has since taken several turns and sometimes surprising directions. My interest in ICT and Education began when my children were young, and I was persuaded by a friend to enrol on a local programming course. I soon realised that I would never become an enthusiastic programmer but I was instantly motivated to explore how ICT could be applied to develop, enhance and extend children's learning. Since then, my key role working for both Local Authority and other organisations has been to support schools in their use of ICT. My focus has been on improving teaching and learning, and I have been involved in a wide range of national ICT initiatives and professional development programmes. I confess that I get excited by new technologies! However, I am specifically interested in evaluating the impact ICT can have on children's learning, in exploring different models of teachers' professional development and in the application of ICT to develop creativity and to communicate. I would like to see more action-based research in schools, more whole-school developments, and to persuade teachers to have the confidence to share their best practice using ICT.
Barry Burns
Following my retirement from the fire service I started attending IT classes. Five years and a computing degree later I am now preparing to embark on a career teaching computing. To make this possible I am at present attending a PGCE course at Coleg Sir Gar.
Ching Chang
I would like to know more about how the whiteboard can help my teaching in the classroom and make my students become more active learners.
Mabel Encinas
I am interested in human development in social contexts. In these social contexts, I am particularly interested in how human engage in the use of artefacts, not only cognitively, but also affectively and at participating in social practices. In this way, the diverse fields in which I have developed (ICT, teacher development, Gestalt psychotherapy, poetry writing and live art) come together.
Jennifer Fayer
I'm a final year student at Edge Hill University and as part of my BA (Hons) Primary Education QTS degree. I have chosen to research the impact of Interactive Whiteboards in the primary school. The research will explore how Interactive Whiteboards can enhance and support teaching and learning across the subjects of the National Curriculum and how they develop ICT as a subject in its own right. I hope that by becoming a member I might increase my personal subject knowledge and inform the research I am currently undertaking as well as my teaching practices in the future.
João Freitas
I have been interested in ICT in Education for the past 20 years. Working in Portugal, I have been privileged enough to be part of the National initiatives in this area. I am currently working on the development of on-line teaching and learning communities, particularly using on-line technological systems (Moodle, Ning, Joomla,...). I teach Educational Technology at the University in initial teacher training and am also an in-service teacher-trainer.
Tamara Gatrost
I am a high school Language Arts instructor in Missouri Valley, IA, USA. It is a rural community, and the district consists of the elementary, middle, and high schools. We service around 300 students at the high school on a yearly basis. This is my seventh year as a teacher, all of which have been at Missouri Valley. I recently completed my Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instructional Technology at Iowa State University.
Before entering the Master's program, I had great interest in technology and its use in the educational setting and I was able to explore that interest through the distance learning program at ISU. While completing the degree I was exposed to numerous technologies of which I had not previously been aware, and realized that the field of instructional technology is vast and ever-expanding. I am looking forward to continuing to learn about IT and lead its usage in our district.
I feel that it is vital to the success of our students that the number of ways in which they're using technologies increases, but more importantly, that there be meaningfulness in the usage of technology in the classroom. I feel that this can be accomplished through collaboration with other teachers in my school, district, state, and even teachers in other nations.
Melanie Gusman
My interest in ICT across curriculum came as I am a teacher in Malta teaching ICT in secondary schools. At the moment i am doing a master degree on what motivates teachers to use more ICT across curriculum as in Malta few teachers use ICT across the curriculum.
Ivonne Guzman
I am an Industrial Engineer with a vocation for teaching; I have been teaching math for 9 years now. I enjoy implementing new resources in my classes.
Your articles are great, but I would love to be a member of your fellowship.
I live in Dominican Republic, located in the Caribbean; we share our island with Haiti.
Mark Hellen
I am interested in the creative and relationship-building side of ICT as well as curriculum development. As a primary ICT specialist with many years experience I am interested in how children can become more creative using new media, and investigating how this can be developed using related conventions and techniques from 'old' media. I am also interested in how children communicate online and participate in communities of interest as well as the Internet's affordances of providing an audience for children's creative work. Additionally I am interested in investigating the potential for primary school children to create computer games as part of their creative, cognitive, social and educational development. I have also recently been looking at how elements of PSHE, history, science and study skills can be enhanced by cross-curricular work around branching databases, and how literacy can be improved by creating hypertexts.
Pedro Hernández-Ramos
I've been involved in educational technology since the early 1990s, when I worked for Apple Computer as Education Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. My career at Apple culminated as the Research Manager for the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) international program.
I have been at Santa Clara University since 2001, in a joint appointment shared by the Department of Education and the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. In Education I oversee the educational technology "piece" of our teacher preparation program, and I also direct a Masters program in "Teaching and Learning with Technology." I have published articles in a variety of topics, including the use of blogs and online discussions to promote reflective practice, teachers' use of technology in Silicon Valley, and the use of online environments to engage informal communities. Other areas of interest where I hope to have publications soon are: the use of technology-assisted project-based learning (PBL) to enhance history learning, concept mapping as a teaching and learning tool, and the design of web-based spaces to promote communication and collaboration among widely distributed "communities of practice."
My philosophical preference is for constructivist theory, and I am constantly working to enhance my classroom practice to reflect constructivist principles. I will be happy to share my course syllabi with anyone who is interested. In this area, I am starting to work on the design of a new Masters level course on technology integration in the design and execution of project-based learning experiences.
Nadezhda Ivanova
I am an English teacher. I have been teaching it for about 20 years. To motivate students for better language learning I introduced ICT into the classroom. I do it in various ways. some students enjoy prefer doing their written works using the IT. Many students involve IT in project making and project presentation process. We like doing internet projects, e. g. involving e-mail. At the lesson I use different multimedia resources to make language learning fun and effective. Various educational computer-based programmes help me develop students' language skills like listening, writing and speaking. Frequently I make Power Point Presentations myself or with my students' help to introduce and drill grammar and topic vocabulary. I teach my students to surf the internet and use the information available. My plans are to approbate new Information Technologies like blogs, video conferences and others. I am open to cooperation, co-teaching and sharing and communication.
Jeong-ryeol Kim
Dr. Jeong-ryeol Kim is interested in teaching and learning English as a foreign language with a particular focus on technology enhanced language learning. He's written a wide range of papers and books on ICT mediated language learning and led Korean MOE projects ranging from ICT mediated English achievement standards within the national curriculum to teacher training for ICT mediated English classes. He's also leading a project with the effects study for the Promethean-Ungjin Interactive White Boards Initiative Project in Korea.
Nasser Mansour
In recent years there has undoubtedly been an increase in the availability of computer hardware and software in schools. However, teachers have a vital role in developing purposeful and effective use of technology in the classroom through their attitudes, skills and vision and to develop classroom climates that can promote the achievement of benefits of technology use. Successful integration into the curriculum depends on teachers being convinced of the relevance of ICT as a means of providing access to a richer range of resources for themselves and pupils. The crucial component in the use of ICT in learning and teaching is the teacher and their pedagogical approaches. Teachers' beliefs about primary teaching and schooling, their attitudes toward ICT and their understanding of the value and purpose of ICT are determining influences in whether they use ICT or not.
I am interested in studying teachers' skills and knowledge about the use of ICT in the science classroom and their willingness of science teachers to embrace new approaches to subject teaching and learning using ICT. Also, I am interested in exploring teachers' perceptions of their needs and challenges in relation to ICT development and to explore the perceived constraints upon the process of integrating ICT, and their own reservations about this. Also, part of my interest is networked learning and how social cultural-contexts can influence the networked learning.
Anne Moloney
I am interested in the potential of ICT in classroom pedagogy. I am also interested in the role of ICT in supporting teacher adoption of curriculum innovation, particularly active learning approaches. I am currently exploring the development of ICT enabled teacher networks for professional development, which is why I am interested in MirandaNet.
Carole Newton
I am a Teaching and Learning ICT Consultant. I taught for 6 years in a primary school and have always been passionate about using ICT to raise achievement, embed inclusion as a culture, supporting the assessment process, putting the ‘fun' back into learning apart from motivating and engaging young people. I am particularly interested in Action Research and would like to investigate using LRS's and measure their impact on AfL. I'm also very interested in Gaming and its impact on Learning and Teaching and would love to find support for developing a project exploring the impact of a particular game on 4 key stages in the same curriculum area eg Maths or English.
Anyone who would like my support or could support me in any of my aims is welcome to contact this enthusiastic, hardworking champion of ICT as a tool that enhances Learning and Teaching.
David Townsend
I qualified as a Business and Economics Education teacher at the Institute of Education, University of London, at the age of 50 in 2000, after entering teaching as a mature student. Having had both a military career, and a career in British industry, I entered education already with an interest in ICT. In addition to my duties as the Teaching and Learning Leader (Law) in a rural secondary school, and as a Staff Governor, I also enjoy the role as an ICT Innovation Champion in which I have the pleasure, and sometimes challenge, of helping my colleagues come to grips with new digital technology as it is introduced into my school.
I am also involved in piloting a trial involving thin client technology, which appears to deliver a reduction in the computer's carbon footprint by 80%, and the introduction of an online personalised learning environment to improve the learning of our students. In my own subject, ‘A' level law, I have recently introduced online learning resources, which are kept more up to date than printed textbooks.
I would hope that my membership of MirandaNet will lead to discovering new methodologies, innovations, and the support of like-minded educationalists.
Anne Westoby
My current role is Data and Learning Technology Resource Manager in a primary EBSD (emotional, behavioural and social difficulty) school. The remit of the role is to develop the use of ICT and other learning technologies in the school and to provide or source appropriate training programs for staff in the use of these learning technologies. To investigate current research into how to get teachers to incorporate ICT effectively into their teaching practice, what support they need and look at the available literature to investigate theories about what motivates teachers to use ICT in their teaching and what factors are thought to affect the development of effective teaching skills using ICT and then see how this compares with evidence gathered by me whilst working with the teachers in the school since September 2006. This information and evidence will be used to inform future developments in the school in relation to professional development and practice. I am currently studying for an MSc in Education (ICT).
Thomas Winkler
Establishing pedagogical models and technological tools to use for the acquirement of digital media literacy. The aim is to encourage holistic, project-orientated and transdisciplinary learning through creative use of body and space related interactive media.
In this process, the appropriate training of teacher/paedagogists plays an essential role.
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