Introductions

OERNZ- 4^th Online Workshop
(19 May to 2 June 2010)

A New Zealand national Learning4Content workshop

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Discussion

Please introduce yourself the wiki. This is a wiki workshop and wikis are about experimentation -- be bold, hit the edit tab above, and have a go at introducing yourself below. Tell us a little about yourself, for example: Where you are from? What you do professionally? Why did you sign up and what you expect to gain from this online workshop for WikiEducator? Anything which may be of interest to our group

Wayne Mackintosh

I had the privilege of starting the WikiEducator project in February 2006 from a small desktop server based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Today WikiEducator is one of the world's fastest growing and most productive wikis in the formal education sector. It's great to see teachers around the world collaborating and sharing knowledge in this way. I have to say that WikiEducator has been the most rewarding project of my working life as a teacher. If you want to find out a little more about my work in WikiEducator, feel free to visit my userpage. Otago Daily Times has published a short summary of WikiEducator. It's humbling to know that this global initiative is head quartered out of little Dunedin, New Zealand. I'll CU in the wiki. --Wayne Mackintosh 00:53, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Steph Campbell

I am a teacher in Lower Hutt, Wellington. I have been passionate about using technology to enhance teaching and learning and I guess very addicted to it really. I also have to admit that my knowledge of wikis is minimal. I tried to remedy my lack of knoweledge by registering my school for a wikitaster session that happened last week. I am curious how this can help me and my kids and am keen to explore it to its full capacity. BUT time every day is tough with a busy job and 2 young children so I will endeavour to do my best. Visit our class blog if you get a moment. see: savvy7

(: Hi Steph, very pleased to meet you virtually. We've just started the Wiki-taster approach and it is proving to be quite popular. A great way to get started. For the benefit of other participants -- please note that any school may request a Wikitaster session and we will arrange for a facilitator to visit your school. I'm very impressed with your blog -- clearly you're a passionate and skilled educator! Yeah -- its very hard to find time in a busy schedule, but rest assured we are very flexible with these workshops. Visit us when you've got a gap. --Wayne Mackintosh 22:05, 18 May 2010 (UTC))

Tanya Greig

Kia Ora I am Deputy Principal of Irongate School in Flaxmere, Hastings. The DP position is a new one for me as this is my first position out of the classroom full time. I am passionate about integrating ICT into Education and have previously been an Interactive Whiteboard Mentor for four Primary Schools in our area. I have run wikis in my own classroom but am looking for a way to get others to integrate them into their own. This is to good an opportunity to miss!

(: Hi Tanya. I share your passion for integrating ICTs into the classroom -- you've come to the right place. Keen to learn more about what you've done with wiki's in the classroom -- I'm sure we can learn from your experience. Why not invite a few colleagues from Flaxmere to join you in the workshop -- its great to have one or two folk based at your school to share experiences. This approach has worked very well for Warrington School and Albany Senior High School -- they're building local capacity and are an inspiration for us all. Perhaps Irongate will join this group of OER pioneers in New Zealand. Let us know how we can help :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 22:11, 18 May 2010 (UTC))

Tanya Thorogood

Kia ora tatou. Another Tanya in the group! I am a classroom teacher of English and Head of Literacy at Rutherford College in Te Atatu, Auckland, with a specific interest in gifted students with dyslexia. I believe in ICT with a passion, as it is the interface to the developing world we all live and learn in. However to date, my experience has been limited to adding hyperlinks in departmental schemes and creating virtual classrooms in Nicenet, Bebo and Facebook (yes Facebook!) I see wikis as a valuable tool for students and staff alike. There is so much information available that can be enabled and accessed through this process. I am particularly keen to see how it may be used by staff in professional development topics. My DP is incredibly supportive of me doing this course...I can feel a school-wide approach coming on...maybe even a cluster:)

(: Kia ora Tanya (No. 2) --- Bring on the professional development opportunities for your staff in using wikis and the cluster as well! Seriously, the OERNZ project is here to help you, and as I mentioned earlier you can invite as many staff as you like from your school to join us in this workshop -- there is still time :-). We will also be scheduling workshops like this one in the future -- watch this space. Feel free to request a face-to-face Wikitaster session for your school -- we have facilitators based in Auckland with thanks to funding support from the Ministry to make this happen. Speaking of clusters -- the Aorakinet and Cantatech here in the deep South are collaborating and using WikiEducator as a hub to co-ordinate their activities. So feel free to do the same up North ;-) --Wayne Mackintosh 02:49, 19 May 2010 (UTC))

Keith Rickard

Hi all. I am Assistant Principal at Tawa Intermediate School in Wellington. One of my responsibilities at school is to work as part of an ICT lead team. My area of responsibility focuses on the use of Google Apps and Web2.0 tools within the school. Specifically, looking at how blogging can be used to provide authentic audiences for student work, using Web2.0 tools as a way of students creating tutorials to share their learning, and exploring how Google Docs can be used as a collaborative tool within the classroom. I can see the possibilities of working in wikieducator as a collaborative tool and am looking forward to finding out more.

(: Hi Keith. Welcome aboard! Google Docs is a great technology -- I particularly like the ability to download files on odt format (an open standard) because I prefer not to use non-free ("proprietary" software). Google Docs is great for collaborating with a few folk -- however, the technology doesn't scale well when there are large numbers of unknown potential users who would like to collaborate on the same document. Later in the workshop, we'll demonstrate prototypes for converting documents created in other environments for sharing in WIkiEducator. I look forward to learning from your experience, expertise and insights regarding how we can improve our OERNZ project :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 05:55, 19 May 2010 (UTC))

Brad Williamson

Hi everyone. I am ICT Lead Teacher at Aotea College. I have always had an interest in teaching and learning and student centred learning. After being offered the job as ICT Lead Teacher this year I have had lots of PD and intense learning about the new tools in education. I have not used much beyond wikis in wetpaint before now. We will implement Moodle at Aotea this year or next. I am now trying to fit it in with the other tools available. I have started using Myportfolio for recording and reflecting on my professional learning and teaching practice. I am collaborating with colleagues on Google docs and using a moodle sandpit for a group of teachers I am working with. I am registering in courses such as this one and attempting to make a plan on how to tie this all together into a package that works for our college. At the same time I am trying to work out how prepare the staff so they are ready to utilise a range of new tools effectively. I am to become familiar with ICTs so that I can see how they can help with learning in our classes. Daunting and exciting.

(: Hi Brad. Moodle is a great open source LMS technology. Arguably one of the best learning management systems around. Working together with the Ministry of Education we are exploring ways to integrate WikiEducator content with the approved LMZ vendors. Very exciting indeed. I suspect that there are opportunities for schools using Moodle to share PD resources through WikiEducator and we're exploring these avenues. Welcome to our WikiEducator family and a pleasure to meet you virtually! --Wayne Mackintosh 09:25, 19 May 2010 (UTC))

Lisa Cuttriss

I am a primary school teacher in Auckland.  I have two young children, and am currently on maternity leave, but aim to be back in the classroom next term.  I am interested in learning more about wikis, how they work, how they can be used within a classroom and within the wider community.  I can definitely see the potential, and look forward to exploring more possibilities for sharing and learning.  

(: Hi Lisa. Great to meet you in WikiEducator --- having raised three children myself, I'm pleased that I'm passed the young children phase -- but enjoyed every moment! You know what they say -- small children, small problems ... big children ..... <Just kidding>. You've come to the right place to explore wikis. WikiEducator is one of the worlds fastest growing wikis in the formal education sector. Welcome --- I'm sure you'll enjoy the journey. --Wayne Mackintosh 09:25, 19 May 2010 (UTC))

Conor Bolton

Hi, I am the ePrincipal of the Volcanics eLearning Community. I completely support the idea of open educational resources and am here wanting to find out more about Wikieducator. I am based at Tauhara College in Taupo, but work with 9 other schools in our learning community, one of which includes Ruapehu College. I teach L3 and L2 Economics through video conferencing and therefore my students are dotted all around the country. I have also taken on a group of Gifted and Talented students this year, meeting with them once a week through VC. As part of my role involves ICT PD and collaboration, it is important that I have some PD on Wikieducator so that I am in a position to share with my colleagues and also keep myself up with developments in education

(: Hi Conor -- always a pleasure to meet another advocate for open education resources :-) Do let us know if we can help and support you in extending PD in open education resources with your colleagues -- all our training materials and resources are freely available for reuse -- perhaps you will become a Wiki-facilitator for OERNZ in the near future. --Wayne Mackintosh 03:51, 20 May 2010 (UTC))

Gerard Keightley

I am a teacher of mathematics at Albany Senior High School on Auckland's North Shore. I love the idea of shared resources and have a few very keen participants at my school! I teach level 1 and 2 mathematics with an interest in statistics rather than calculus. I am interested in finding out more about the use of wikieducator in mathematics and how we can make maths more fun for students - especially disaffected Year 11s. I used to be a teacher, then a lawyer and am now a teacher again. Sorry for the late start but I have been frantically busy at school. I am now on a catch up mission!

(: Hi Gerard -- no worries with the late start -- we all have real working lives and schedules to attend to. Judging by your pre-workshop edits -- you should have no problems catching up -- an hour or so will have you up to speed. -- I'm pretty chuffed to have a Math teacher on this workshop. I keen to explore the extent that we could reuse and remix video from the Kahn Academy] -- all licensed under CC-BY-SA for reuse in WikiEducator. I've been experimenting with a lesson template -- which also includes feedback from a ASHS video -- Not sure -- but were you involved with this feedback video which I've included as a worked example. If so -- would love to have a chat about a potential bounty to develop a few math exemplars ;-). --Wayne Mackintosh 10:03, 24 May 2010 (UTC))

(: Wayne - that was something Mark did with my HOD Richard Mackrory. I have had a look at quite a few of the Khan Academy videos and have even cut one up to show a piece to a class. I too think there is potential here. I plan to have a really good crack over the holidays at getting together a range of either original or Khan cut-ups for one of the topics for next term. I will keep you posted (Mark probably will too!). - Gerard Keightley 20:37, 25 May 2010)

(: Gerard --Sweet -- why not consider a bounty or three for Khan video remixes with mapping to the NZ curriculum? OERNZ would welcome a bounty along these lines and I'd be keen to brainstorm and help with tweaking the best way to achieve this in the wiki. --Wayne Mackintosh 08:54, 25 May 2010 (UTC))