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31 March 2009

MirandaNet Newsletter March 2009

The Etopian project: a student perspective on the G20 summit

MirandaNet organised a most exciting online event last week: World Ecitizens students from Czech Republic, China, Australia, England and South Africa talked about working together to solve the global crisis that affects us all.

This new phase in the World Ecitizens Etopia project, started at Barnfield South Academy in Luton on March 26th where a debate about the G20 summit was hosted between students and teachers. We decided that the best time to hold this was 10:30 (GMT) in England, 12:30 in South Africa, 18:30 in China and 00:30 in Australia. Well done to Eva Dakich for looking wide-awake!

The questions for young people that had been posed by the Ministers attending the G20 summit were:

How has the global financial crisis changed your life? In particular:

The answers by the young people were thoughtful and detailed. In summary, they agreed that the global financial situation is getting tougher and that there are already signs in their own lives of challenges to come. As World Ecitizens they agreed to do what they could to tackle the issues locally, but they also wanted their politicians to pull together globally instead of falling back into protectionism.

The English and South African students who met together at Barnfield South Academy also made a video that will be sent to the G20 summit with our report. This Etopia team will also be represented at discussions about the issues with ministers by Zuhal Cetinkaya from Ravensbourne School, Bromley, England.
Some of the students who are participating in the Etopia project are:

Barnfield
Year 10
Molly McGibbon
Lily Knowles
Kerem Caglar
Oliver Galvin
Tembeni Matenga,

Ravensbourne
Zuhal Cetinkaya

Reteife School South Africa
Lintle Makhalanyane
Kabelo Teepa
South African staff:
Abrie Beukes - Head teacher
Thys Odendaal
Sanel Swart
Thabo Mosea

Beijing School 50
Nick (Nan Tianxu)
Rita (LiFengyi)
Cheryl
Litong
Niu Ya Qi
Suwen
Tina (Tuoyuan)
Anqi
Sally (Hantingting)
Vicky(ZhangXin)

After the video conference one of the Chinese students, Vicky (Zhang Xin) remarked:
It is good to talk to you and exchange our feelings and thoughts, I have had a lesson that cannot learn from books.

Eva Dakich, one of the teachers from Melbourne in Australia said:The meeting was fantastic, it is great to be involved in a project that has such a potential to change the ways we think about democracy, social action and global connectedness. Best wishes and looking forward to working with you again in the future.

Mr Denver Charm, a teacher at Beijing School 50, said:

I am still very excited about last night's meeting. The students are still immersed in the meeting last night as well. The teachers and leaders are very happy to see the two sides, teachers and students, meet online.

The Chinese students sent more comments after the conference that you find on the websites mentioned below.

Congratulations to all the young people who spoke so well, to all the technical people who achieved this digital miracle, and to Barnfield Academy South for their excellent terrestrial hospitality.

Here you will find the BBC website entry and more expressions of interest from the Chinese students who did not all have the chance to speak in the online debate on Flash Meeting. A longer report from the Etopia team as well as the video of the meeting and the students' video will be on the World Ecitizens website under ‘braided learning'.

The mind map interface for this website has been developed in Inspiration software.

MirandaNet Continuing Professional Development (2009/2010)

From September 2009 we are planning two kinds of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes. Please get in touch with me if you are interested as soon as possible.

• Online debates and activities for students

The first CPD offering will be online and face-to-face Etopia debates and activities for students at primary, secondary and further education level based on existing international collaborations with schools in China, South Africa, Australia, Czech Republic and UK. If your school would like to participate in the programme for 2009/2010 or suggest and host a debate please email me. Non-profit making costs will depend on the numbers involved. Special arrangements for those who can only join on-line.

• CPD programmes for teachers and assistants

MirandaNet is planning to run some courses in 2009/2010 including Visual (or Multimodal) Learning, International Collaboration and Making the Most of Learning Platforms.

David Fuller, Thomas Deacon Academy, who has been involved with our programmes in the past says, " MirandaNet are trying hard to help teachers carry out CPD without too much pain. MirandaNet have developed courses based on action research i.e. accrediting what you already do in school. The course is delivered without the need to attend regular lectures, but digital technologies are exploited and most participants attend two workshops in the year".

The courses are open to any staff in the school. Opportunities are offered to those who want to move onto Masters level after the first year. Non- profit making costs will depend on the numbers involved. Special arrangements for those who can only join on-line.

Seeing the Meaning - a new resource

Multi-modal resource on Visual Learning for academics, students, schools and teachers

'Seeing the meaning' is a WLE project by MirandaNet - John Cuthell and Christina Preston - which develops an online resource relating to the policy, theory and practice of Visual Learning. This multi-modal resource is hosted by MirandaNet and provides a growing knowledge base for academics, students, schools and teachers. It draws together the key issues of visual learning, its technologies and its pedagogies for the profession. 'Seeing the Meaning' provides free access to all those wishing to use findings and information on the subject of Visual Learning and its technologies to further their own professional development, or to implement it in the workplace.

World Ecitizens Mosaic Workshop

Children from Westborough Primary School, Lancaster Special School and the local Mosque class in Southend-on-Sea proudly display the mosaics they created for the children's ward in Southend-on-Sea Hospital. The workshop was organised by MirandaNetter Mara Chrystie.

This can also be viewed on the Etopia site.

IWB resources

Mal Lee, a colleague from Australia, has sent details of this resource:

Hi folk

Have all you 'old' IWB users had a look at the interaction on the IWB revolution NING we have created?

Has been amazing to see the rapid uptake, the practicality and strong teaching focus and the contributions from across the globe.

Just checkout the source of the contributions.

ICT Inside the Black Box

Mary Webb and Margaret Cox

Following on from the ground-breaking research outlined in Inside the Black
Box (1998) and Working Inside the Black Box (2002), this booklet forms part of a new series offering concise and easy-to-implement advice on how to promote assessment for learning within secondary classrooms.

Brief, concise and easily digestible, this booklet is essential reading for all secondary ICT teachers looking to improve their teaching practice and embed formative assessment into their classrooms.
ISBN-10: 0-7807-1763-2
ISBN-13: 9-7807-0871763-9
Price: £4.25

Other titles in the series currently include English, Maths, Science and Geography.
See here for more information.

Some more MirandaNet Bloggers

The bloggers were all men last time but now we have some female bloggers - any more MirandaNet bloggers to add to our growing list?

Nedim DELİKARA-Turkey
I have written some information about our visit to Poland for our 2nd project meeting. Please have a look. You may find it exciting. My blog is here.

Mechelle M. De Craene Ed.S.
Special Ed./Gifted Ed. Teacher
I blog when I can.  See here.

We would like to feature more MirandaNet bloggers. Let us know if you blog too.

Win for UK story-telling website

A small British company is named Best in Show at the South by Southwest Web Awards, in Austin, Texas.

New Fellowships

Toby Holman

Well done to Toby Holman for his study in the Teachers as Researchers Ejournal.

‘The impact of an Internet-based learning resource on pupil attainment in Vocational Business Studies.'

Mark Ellis

Congratulation, a Fellowship is awarded to Mark for the case study he prepared for BECTA/NATE "Blogging for a Sense of Audience in English National Curriculum".

Please let us know if you can write an article that will be useful to other teachers. All articles contributed to the newsletter result in a Fellowship for our members.

New Scholars

Kim Caspar

My name is Kim Caspar and I am a media teacher in a junior college in Oslo, Norway. I have a professional background from media production, journalism and art. The last 10 years I have also been a teacher, first part time and now full time. My interests are many, but mostly I am concerned with using web-tools in my work as a teacher. I am presently developing an ELGG-based social forum called "MKO" (More Knowledgeable Other). MKO is currently at Alfa-stage but a planned release is the spring 09. I collaborate with programmers in the Ukraine and designers in the US. My aim is that MKO will offer new ways of exchanging and sharing knowledge, and we try to use some new and interesting software that enables my kids to get answers better, sooner and faster.

Also, I am fascinated by the fact that my kids becomes strongly motivated by publishing their work, and I always try to create an audience for them write for, be that other kids, parents or a newspaper or a magazine. Indeed, "writing for an audience" in a basic element in all my work with kids. Thus, the pedagogical foundation of MKO is also based on the same basic idea about motivation, increased productivity and dialectic strategies.

Also, I admit to be a Mac fan, having used Macs since 1987. Other interest are nature walks, cool jazz, old boats, Russian literature and Japanese cooking.

Hopefully, I will enjoy being a part of MirandaNet and look forward to sharing & learning about new ways of using web-tools, and extend my international network.

Terri Donnelly

I have been teaching full time since last September. I am currently in my second year of the certificate of education. I have an interest in using ICT on a personal level as well as on a professional level as I teach ICT, Literacy and Numeracy from Entry Level One to Level two to adult learners. On a personal level I spend literally more hours on the computer in my own home than I do at work. As is always the case I am always standing looking over somebody's shoulder simply educating them. I am interested in reflective practice and tend to look for ideas that I can take into the classroom.

Alison Egan

Involved for over six years in using IT in an educational context, ensuring students and staff engage with VLE's using a variety of multimedia. Especially interested in user generated content and its impact on engagement with communities of practice.

Mark Ellis

My first 'portable' weighed about forty pounds and would have crushed your lap! A carpenter made the wooden jacket it lived in. Happy days! I liked the way a primitive Options application gave us the power to process the actual choices of students rather than give them a fixed menu. We couldn't possibly do it by hand, because we couldn't try the permutations the computer could. We weren't automating what we already did, we were exploiting the new possibilities to do better.

This is what we all look for today. This is what excites me; that ICT can open new collaborative routes, new possibilities, and empower us all. I have been inspired by the perception and presentational skill of many. This is an exciting time to be in education. We are all learning from each other and supporting each other as we could never do before.

My personal interest at the moment is in Moodle and the development of the school's VLE. I am privileged to work with people who have passion, and a common vision. It doesn't get better than this.

Julie Erdmann

I am interested in education because I enjoy helping young pupils achieve their goals of obtaining qualifications and improving their life chances. I have worked mainly in improving schools and have been assigned difficult classes, so as an educator my work is more of a challenge. I am currently teaching ICT and have developed a real interest in the development of the subject.

John Galloway

I have been using ICT for teaching and learning since I first qualified 25 years ago. Over the last decade or so I have moved to specialise in the use of ICT to improve curriculum access for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). This term covers a very broad area, from those who have physical or sensory impairments, such as cerebral palsy or blindness, to those with particular conditions, such as autism or Downs Syndrome, to those with learning difficulties of some sort - and often a combination of these barriers to learning. I believe that it is in this field that the impact of ICT in offering independence in, and control of, learning is most evident.

My work involves the assessment of pupils and implementation of tailored resources. I also have a broad training brief as it is really through spreading good practice in this area that a long term impact can be made. As well as 'basic' courses in general ICT and specific software I am an NVQ assessor and have written and taught post-graduate modules, including online courses.

Another part of my work involves curriculum development, working alongside specialists from other areas, such as Speech and Language teachers, or Teachers of the Deaf, I run groups to explore ways of broadening and enriching the curriculum for pupils in mainstream schools. These are often at our CLC, but I have also worked in secondary schools with their staff to develop practice with particular cohorts of pupils.

I have written widely for the education press, taking a particular interest in the use of mobile technology, and in games in education. These areas, I believe, both provide opportunities to broaden and enrich the curriculum, thereby including more pupils in engaging learning experiences more of the time.

We are at a point where we can choose to work with the fast moving tide of technology, embracing the opportunities and new horizons it offers. Or Canute like attempt to staunch it. I, for one, am happy to get my feet wet.

John Jennings

I am a 3rd level lecturer of subjects such as JavaScript, Content Management, and XML Technologies on our Creative Multimedia programme in Tipperary Institute. I also manage our Moodle installation and deliver internal and external training and consultancy on the adoption of learning technologies.

Japheth Kemboi

I have been employed as an Assistant Project Manager for Digital Links Tanzania for several years now, where I have gained a wealth of practical experience as well as insights into ICT challenges in developing countries environment, in particular in rural areas. I have undertaken ranging tasks from delivering ICT projects in areas where there is inadequate infrastructure, limited funding, and a lack of familiarity with and training in ICT. I have also seen the growth in skills, confidence, motivation and capacity among beneficiaries that result from successful projects. More broadly, I have useful understanding of the key role of ICT in most aspects of development whether in education, health or other areas, and in particular its potential to open social and economic opportunities. I am currently undertaking MSc studies in Strategic Business Information Technology which have also helped me understand how the fusion of business skills and IT knowledge can promote social and economic development, and I am now passionate about ICT as a whole.

Brian Lockwood

I have been involved in ICT at Egglescliffe School for most of my career.

As sophisticated networks have developed in school I have been interested in how networks can be used to help teachers in the difficult job they have to do. Teachers and learners are increasingly demanding and knoweldgable clients for network services.

In my current post I am in the position of managing the delivery of IT services to teachers as well as being a teacher myself. I think that having a classsroom practitioner driving ICT policy within a school is a good way of ensuring that the technical IT departments keep focussed on the fact that they are delivering a service to teachers in the form of processor power and storage. The teacher then shapes how they use these tools in their practice.

In this vein I am very interested in the phenomenon of software as a service and the use of Open Source software in education. The Open source phenomenon is particularly interesting in the sense of how it helps software evolve into a more and more useful product.

Current or recent projects are the provision of pure Internet Kiosks for students. (Diskless workstation that are purely a web browser and nothing else). A simlar project to deliver school wide Video notice boards, the use of class sets of micro-notebooks in the science department and the use of dynamic website technology to disseminate responsibility for our web site to a larger set of administrators in order to help keep it up to date.

Richard NeSmith

My interest in Information and Communications Technology and Education are a natural marriage for a science educator. I taught secondary education as a science teacher and sought to make as much uses as I could to help students learn. This did not change when I entered higher education as a teacher-educator. I have, for the last 8 years always taught some kind of "technology integration" course for graduate and undergraduate students. Presently, I am moonlighting teaching several courses online and I LOVE IT. I will be leaving my present post soon to venture into teaching online full time.

I believe the key to being an effective teacher is to utilize all kinds of strategies so that all kinds of students can learn from all kinds of learning styles.

Sarah-Jane Saravani

As manager of an academic library and associated learning support area, I have a strong interest in the way in which technologies can be harnessed to improve traditional services and resources and to engage staff and students in new and relevant ways. There was a time when the advent of the World Wide Web was regarded as sounding the death knell for libraries, several years on it is simply another tool in the arsenal of information delivery. This trend will continue with a widening of possibilities as the huge potential of emerging technologies are explored and trialled in exciting ways.

Neil Turner

My name is Neil Turner, I taught in Special schools for 18 years having a variety of roles that included CAL, ICT, INSET Co-ordinator, Deputy Head and Acting Head. I was appointed to the Bedfordshire ICT team with the brief of implementing the internet (later NGfL and now ICT in schools/Harnessing Technology) into Bedfordshire schools as well as supporting SEN ICT in 1997. I have been a NOF trainer and materials writer, and currently deliver courses supporting ICT across the curriculum. Recently I have been responsible for E2BN Virtual Learning Environment launch to Bedfordshire schools, I have been a part time Secondary Strategy ICT consultant, and currently am responsible for Learning Platform implementation.

Dee Vyas

Dee is the Senior Information Systems Officer in the Education Department at Manchester Metropolitan University.

New Members

John Pallister

A life-long learner and enthusiast for the ePortfolio process and Functional Skills

Oladapo Rotiimi

My company holds it as a right to build up the ICT competence of teachers in its country up to the level of Newly Qualified Teachers as obtained in progressive nations.
Chief Instructor
Educational Media Resources and Research Center (emrrc)

Jonathan Sim

Life is for learning, for trying things out, for the experience... therefore I am a teacher. I teach ICT and I love it. I love the energy of young people and the thirst for life... especially the thirst for technology and collaborative learning.

Yan Zhu

I am interested in pre service teacher study.

 

 

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