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1 April 2010
MirandaNet Newsletter New Members March 2010
March New Members
I'm catching up with new members following my trip to the US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. More on that in the next newsletter.
Joining us we again have scholars and members with an interesting range of talents and interests. Susie Andretta is an academic who has written several books about information literacy and transliteracy and she edits the Journal of Information Literacy (http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/index). Niall Mac Uidhilin who works for the National University of Ireland, Galway, has a similar challenge teaching ICT topics through the medium of Irish in an outreach centre in Connemara which is the strongest Irish-speaking region in Ireland. Mauri Kaipainen is professor of media technology at Södertörn University (Sweden). Derek Glover is also now an academic but he says “My heart is still in the classroom and I enjoy my weekly visit to our local primary which makes superb use of technology”.
Matthew Bean, a teacher, has a background in art and design and wants to talk to people with an interest in visual literacy. Katherine McCormack is a primary school teacher in the Northern suburbs of Sydney with enthusiasm for IWBs. Nick Tester has migrated to Western Australia from being an ICT coordinator in the UK and is now planning to train firefighters using ICT not only to all geographical areas within an area close to the size of Europe, but also in remote indigenous communities.
We are also delighted to welcome many members from the Beacon House School System (www.beaconhouse.edu.pk). They are particularly welcome in terms of World Ecitizenship (wec.mirandanet.org.uk). We hope they will contribute to this website and that we can consider some joint projects.
Please get in touch directly with these new scholars and members if you have a particular interest to share.
Christina Preston
Scholars
Susie's research interests are information literacy and transliteracy. Her publication profile includes a book on Information literacy: a practitioner's guide (2005) which promotes this practice as a foundation of independent and lifelong learning, and explores its empowering effect on the facilitator and the learner. In 2007 she has edited a book on Change and challenge: Information literacy for the 21st Century which covers the implementation of information literacy education from a range of UK-based and international perspectives. Susie is currently working as the editor of the Journal of Information Literacy (http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/index). Her interest about Transliteracy, or the ability to create and communicate information using a variety of media, stems from her work on the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on participative learning. Additional research interests include the impact of visual information literacy (e.g. concept mapping) on the process of knowledge construction and dissemination.
I have a background in art and design. I became interested in the role of (new) technologies in creating novel forms of expression through explorations of the work of Moholy Nagy with art students. This eventually led to the use of digital technologies to make film and sound installations. I now seek to integrate traditional studio media with these digital technologies, understanding all tools as valid and available to artists and crafts workers of all kinds. Recognition of this work resulted in taking on the role of Head of ICT (in addition to remaining Head of Art) at Bedford High School for Girls. This position allows me to explore notions concerning collaborative practice through online communities, wikis and blogs and recognise that digital technologies may help teachers create, together with their students, the conditions under which critical consciousness is developed that enables students to become transformers of the world - the world that they create for themselves. I recognise the importance of the visual in navigating the digital world and wonder whether my profile/background is dis/similar to others holding similar school positions?
I have been involved in interactive whiteboard research since 1997 as one of the Keel IWB research team. I am also associated with Warwick University and the London Institute of Education in a number of research projects and in distance learning programmes. By training a geographer and economist, I was head of Burford School Oxfordshire for 20 years and then moved into higher education. My heart is still in the classroom and I enjoy my weekly visit to our local primary which makes superb use of technology.
My background and passion is innovating in education...rethinking, reinventing and redesigning how children learn, particularly by leveraging innovative technologies. I am currently a Fulbright Scholar researching at Futurelab on the barriers to innovation in education and how we can structure-in innovation and innovating into our education systems and practices.
Mauri Kaipainen is professor of media technology at Södertörn University (Sweden). He studied education, musicology and cognitive science at the University of Helsinki and earned his PhD in 1994 on a computational model of music cognition. His current research agenda focuses on the concept of explorable multi-perspective media, based on ontospaces, spatially defined ontologies. The ontospace conceptualization has a range of applications in media art, community and collaborative media applications, generative narrative systems and learning environments with collaborative knowledge building.
My name is Katherine McCormack and I am a primary school teacher in the Northern suburbs of Sydney. I work closely with the staff at my school in developing resources to integrate technology into the classroom and I am a point of contact for technical support. I am currently studying a Masters in Education - ICT Education. My current project for my Masters is about studying the role of interactive whiteboards in education with a focus on teacher perception and the need for further professional development. It is through this study that I came upon MirandaNet.
Following an IT career I entered teaching as a mature graduate, becoming ICT coordinator at a secondary school. In 1998 I joined an EAZ as IT subject specialist and e-learning manager. I specialised in the support and development of interactive electronic whiteboards across the curriculum, one of the first major implementations of IWs at that time. The success of the EAZ e-learning program prompted many of our schools to purchase additional boards. In addition I supported many ICT programs including laptops in schools and video cameras. On completion of our (extended) EAZ program I migrated to Western Australia in 2003 and tutored (ICT) adults with intellectual disabilities. The aims were to develop basic IT and life skills, socialisation and preparation for re-entry to the work force. All the time I was learning new methodologies and approaches to ICT development in adult education.
Moving on I became curriculum developer for the WA Fire service (FESA), developing specialised training courses for firefighters, (shortly after moving to WA I became a volunteer firefighter with a local bushfire brigade). I researched adult training methods and started the process of moving our training delivery to a blended model, combining class-room, e-learning, distance learning, mentoring and new ideas for content presentation. Introducing such changes within a Government organisation steeped in tradition was not easy.
I am now the Manager of Emergency Management Training and Development within FESA, and now have the authority to really introduce new ideas. I am currently reviewing and rewriting all of our courses and curriculum, and will be able to push forward with using technology and new methodologies to deliver training throughout the State. It is difficult, even if you live here, to gauge the scale of WA, and we need to deliver training not only to all geographical areas within an area close to the size of Europe, in addition to training local government officers and emergency service providers, we also train in remote indigenous communities. This raises issues of completely new training approaches and physical training materials; I look forward to increasing the use of ICT in all areas of our training and development activities.
I work for the National University of Ireland, Galway teaching ICT topics through the medium of Irish in an outreach centre in Connemara which is the strongest Irish-speaking region in Ireland. I am working on my PhD looking at innovative ways to use ICT to support learning through the medium of Irish. The Irish-speaking regions of Ireland are geographically dispersed and I believe that the formation of online communities of learners could help reinforce a unique cultural and linguistic heritage that is in grave danger of being lost.
Members
I have been learning to use ICT to achieve my learning objectives and encourage greater student autonomy for the past three years.
I join teaching with ICT as it covers almost every area of learning and teaching.
I am Pireha Mushtaq Ali from Pakistan. I am into teaching profession from 9 years. Teaching for me is one kind of a job in which I am able to see progression in my own teaching and pupils' learning. With the use of ICT, I am able to achieve those objectives which I am not able to achieve in a traditional classroom. ICT makes my classroom interactive and could see beyond the four walls of the classroom.
I am a Science teacher in Beaconhouse School System. I am teaching six and seven graders.
I want to share good practices of ICT integration. It can help me to develop professionally.
I am interested in your website as I am a teacher myself and am interested in learning through others' experiences and would like to share my own which might interest you.
My general interests are in ICT and Web 2.0 technologies. I'm particularly interested in these technologies and their use and impact on space, teachers, students and community.
I am working as an English teacher and want to explore ways to use ICT tools effectively.
Presently teaching history to secondary level classes. I need to have professional development in teaching with ICT. I would like to share my experiences and having an access to other's experiences in teaching with ICT.
I would like to share my professional experiences with a larger community.
I am Syeda Hassan. I have been in the teaching profession for the last 10 years. I am an ICT coordinator for my school and interested to know more about ICT integrated teaching / learning. I also want to share my own teaching / learning experiences using ICT.
ICT and education are interlinked. Although for teaching subject knowledge matters but it is enhanced with the help of ICT. ICT is compulsory to compete with the world and it gives in-depth knowledge to our students. It helps to clarify their thoughts.
I am interested in the use of mobile phones for mainstream schooling and other mobile learning related topics.
I want to develop my ICT skills and want to integrate ICT with other subjects.
I am a Primary school teacher, who would like to share her professional experiences with a wider world.
I want to share good teaching practice regarding ICT.
I have enhanced my ICT teaching and learning through training sessions and further more by implementing it in the class.
ICT has enhanced my own teaching skills to a great extent. It also facilitated my students to be independent and more confident learners.
It provides a vast range of tools to help pupils learn to be independent learners.
I would like to learn and share my own practices through this network.
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