Ulearn 09 Day One

Well it's underway. A morning of paradox.

Anne Tolley extolling the wonders of the govts generosity of 1.5 billion 0f OUR money going to laying cable all over the country. Get everyone in your school's neighbourhood to drop their passwords on their wireless and log on!!! Be cheaper eh?

Gary Stager an excellent keynote speaker. Seems a bit grim up North... in the USofA education system. Fighting the bureaucracy and ignorance.

Software is the key to 10 things to do with your computer

1. Write a novel

2. Share knowledge

3. Tougher questions via primary sources

4. Make sense of real data

5. Design a video game

6. Build a killer robot

7. Lose weight (PE/nutrition and tech)

8. Direct a blockbuster ("video should be shorter"- "edit it one more time.)

9. Compose a symphony

10. Change the world.

Easy eh? Well some of it. Now where's that software budget...

Stanley Bay School showed two excellent projects (defined as -"Something to share with others"- G Stager). Publishing a book to raise money for charity and creating a school newspaper. Yr 6 stuff that shows how an inquiry approach, well constructed group frameworks and brilliant use of the experts in the community can result in some creative, reflective and purposeful learning.

Alot like what Room 1 are doing with the wrybill but with alot more outcomes. I'll be curious to see how the crew reflect on their learning on this one.

Child security was another interesting point made by Gary. "Parents and teachers are the best filters of the content that children view." Indeed.

He also feels a need to lower the antagonism between adults and children/teenagers. Giving them access to technology will aid this. He compared it to days of old and chemistry sets. The kind that you could create gunpowder with, or melt the kitchen sink. Now days, if you can find them, they come with packaging stating no fire, no acid. What's the point. That's what chemistry is all about isn't it?

Then there's computers. You can have it but only to do.... Get the idea.

And the National Standards and all this. Well bah-humbug. "Who demanded these? Schools? Parents? ("Did you have a fun day at school dear?(not an above the national average in achievement day!!).

Any parents reading this can you contact me re your feelings on what info you get from your school, or what you like to hear or see what's going on. And national standards and testing, what do you think?

In defense of them, I do believe they have excellent exemplars and I see the challenge for us teachers is to set up challenging and relevant programmes where we can show children achieving.

And that's where the video, podcasting, audio, et al comes in...

Looking forward to tomorrow.