Our Presentation

Robin was the main presenter on Friday re the Te Reo Project.
There were 25 attendees from tertiary to schooling and one New Zealander Mark Brown form Massey Uni.
The presentation went really well and there were plenty of questions especially from schools with Aboriginal children about the thinking behind full immersion schools.
I presented the work around the VLN and how it could be a vehicle for coordination, brokerage, information etc for New Zealand schools in giving an environment for the where to from here after the ICT skills etc are developing in schools and the scaling of the expertise.

I think it was very useful in developing thinking in Australia about the coordination and logical movement from skills to moving work outside of the classroom walls.

After the presentation we were invited to a meeting at the Innovation Centre where we talked about some work going on around the Ronald MacDonald houses and the roll out of Video conferencing and Electronic boards across NSW.

Rest of LAMS Conference

Thursday and Friday

The workshop on Thursday was invaluable in seeing what new functionality is available in LAMS.

My Computer went belly up Thursday and Friday, Blue screen scary stuff.
Not sure why but seems to be working OK today, will keep fingers crossed

The Workshops I attended to be honest were underwhelming and I don't think worth reporting.

I will however relate the useful people and conversations I had as well as our own presentation.

The first Key note was really discussing the fact that a lot of tertiary people do not have a teaching training background and therefore have a number of gaps in the way they communicate in an educational setting. The key note was about what systems and arguments can be given to change this fact. Not really relevant for what we are doing. LAMS was of course said to be one of the most sophisticated tools that will help change some of these issues.

The second Keynote involved two teacher educators and their teacher trainees and their use of LAMS.
It was useful to see the process they went through as part of the program to see how they had developed their sequences.
However there was one flaw. They had not actually used this in a teaching context with students.
The sequences appeared to long to me and the advantage in making them shorter with more reflective breaks would have been great.
The very first breakout was probably the best:
Debbie Evans from the innovation Centre at Macquarie University’s E-Learning Centre Of Excellence. The NSW LAMS server had as of that day
103 groups and 3223 users. As explained some were heavy users and others weren't.
Debbie outlined the support they gave at the centre and also in the schools.
They are employees of the NSW Govt but have three year renewable contracts to offer innovation and PD.
To be frank I am not even going to mention the other breakouts as they were not really what I was looking for in showing in depth support an developments of LAMS sequences.

It was good to hear in casual conversations that people were using LAMS to reevaluate their own teaching practices and re think their teaching practices.

Stuff we were covering that is of interest:
I am writing random thoughts as they arise during the workshop

• Competencies can now be created in LAMS and mapped onto activities nice. What are the SMS implications here?
• There is a who is online feature as well in LAMS
• Each Sequence has a specific URL now but you need to be logged in as LAMS keeps a record of your learning
• In monitoring teacher can enter any chat live and get it back on track
• Dim Dim is another feature but it has 2 versions one open source which has questionable functionality and a pay for one so discussions with other people will continue.
• There is a who is online feature as well in LAMS
• Each Sequence has a specific URL now but you need to be logged in as LAMS keeps a record of your learning.
  
• In monitoring teacher can enter any chat live and get it back on track.
• A new feature called conditions makes it possible to customise the sequences for specific outcomes. A very nice feature that would need a bit of use to get your head around it.
• Google maps
• Wiki

All the new features of 2.2 LAMS can be found here
http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lams/LAMS+2.2+Feature+List#LAMS2.2FeatureList-NewFeatures

More detailed info that you may be interested in about LAMS can be found at
http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lams/Home

Lams Community has loads of shared sequences at this link
http://www.lamscommunity.org/register/?return_url=%2fdotlrn%2findex
You will need a user name and password to get there

http://moodle.lamscommunity.org/moodle/index.php
here is my link for log in to the moodle lams integration site

Talked to James who has been working with Ernie from (Moodle)
Over the next year All Moodle tools will be available in LAMS and vice versa so what to do? Call it LAMSMOODLE?

As well as a number of other applications like Google maps will have a drag and drop interface and be made available in the LAMS environment.

What would I would suggest now goodness this is possible to do either all in Moodle or all in LAMS?
I think the interface of LAMS suites our schooling sector.
So I would suggest we have both options but being well aware of the two environments and using what is best for their needs. But real consideration for the pedagogical impacts and how they address PD and Learning Deisgn.

A new overlay being developed will have templates that will help and the link to this demonstration is at this link. A very smart development.
http://saturn.melcoe.mq.edu.au/jly/Ped_planner.htm

Wow what a long time since I have been doing this will try to do better
In Sydney at the LAMS advanced workshop will be talking to James about scalability options and the work that is happening between LAMS and Moodle.
http://moodle.lamscommunity.org/moodle/

There are 19 people here and three from different Departments of Ed in Aussie.
Will catch up with them if I get a chance.

The integration of the drop and drag functionality will be awesome if it happens.

Will be talking to James at lunch and at the end of the day as to where they are up too with this.

http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org this link is too all the documentation you will need
You will need to create a user name and password. Well worth a look here

Update

I have been flat out at work so I am going to take some time out to comment tonight.
We spent a couple of days more planning around the development of the VLN.

We will migrate from Interact to another platform over the next year or so and we are developing some papers for internal sign off at he MoE. When we get a clearer pathway I will publish it here.

These things really do take time.

I am going to a reunion at Bishop Viard College in Porirua where I used to teach many years ao this weekend. I don't usually go to these things but I am really looking forward to this one?
Must be getting old.

The business I have been working on with an old student of mine, a really nice young man has taken a giant leap forward last week. We have got initial backing from a large company to run a pilot with them as the partners. All exciting stuff.
This I hope will give me more flexible options for my future.

I will fill you in about this when we go live.

Am off to fly aces high http://www.hitechcreations.com/frindex.html I love this online game. If you are into flying world war 2 planes etc in an online environment I recommend this so much fun.
See ya

Me and Cam hard at work

Eddie Profile and update

I thought I would fill you in on some of the work that I do for the MoE in New Zealand. Iwas asked to write a bit for a cluster news lettter and thought that this summed it up well.
WHAT JOB DO YOU DO?:
I am the Ministry of Education
contact person for Hive, VLN, Adobe Connect, Moodle, LAMS, Video/Audio Conferencing Bridge,
and the Tandberg Content Server. I manage the contracts for these products on behalf of the MoE. You can find out more at http://www.v6.breezeserver.co.nz/moe
covering technical connectivity issues as well as the implementation of these services for schools and the business arm of the MoE. I have a strong pedagogical focus in the work that I do and the
services for schools and MoE are directly related to better outcomes for children through Ka- Hikitia - Managing for Success as well as 'Enabling the 21st Century Learner' - this is The e-Learning Action Plan for Schools 2006-2010, and outlines the key outcomes and actions for e-learning in the New Zealand school sector for 2006- 2010. It describes the goals for elearning
in schools and the projects, tools, and resources that are being developed to address those
outcomes.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO ELEARNING?:
I discovered computers in the early part of the 1990's and started creating web sites etc. I was then employed part time by The Correspondence School based in Wellington. In the latter part of the 1990's I went full-time at The Correspondence School and was involved in the Esection headed up by Derek Wenmoth. That was where my teaching passion was turned into a passion for technology and the convergence of the face to face teacher with the classroom teacher.
Making it possible for students of all ages to access learning when, where and how they liked either in the face to face environment or the online environment or a mixture of both.
WHAT VISION DO YOU HAVE FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING IN NZ?:
The vision I hold was stated before in a little way and that was "Making it possible for students of all ages to access learning when, where and how they liked either in the face to face environment or the online environment or a mixture of both." This philosophy will I believe
address a number of issues like: equity, teacher shortages, preparing students for the 21st century and beyond, flexibility in learning choices and a whole heap of other issues that need to be addressed in our education system
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITE?:
I could say the VLN of course http://virtuallearning.school.nz but I guess I like a lot of them out there such as, Trade Me, Snapfiles.com, YouTube and a number of others. I tend to get caught up in on line forums about different products etc. that are good for education for example I am exploring Wiz iQ http://www.wiziq.com/ so I am going to get involved with WiZiQ's Meeting Place on Ning "Anyone can teach and learn live, online!" to see what is going on internationally
and whether it is worth pursuing.
eddie.reisch@minedu.govt.nz
I guess that sums me up I will psot more work on the VLN upgrade as things develop. Thee is a fair bit of work going on behind the scenes at the moment.

The Virtual Learning Network

At present the VLN is located in Interact and consists of a number of areas like:
Enrollments, Timetables, Scheduling, Communities of Practice, Professional development etc. Some of these areas need addressing, It needs to migrate out of this environment to another and the thinking at the moment is Moodle.

The image shows some of the areas already covered by the VLN but also some future thinking.
What needs to be done?

1. Develop Business case and action plan. Outputs would be
1. Business case 1 week 40 hours
2. Technical specs 40 + 60 hours
3. Action plan 20 hours total 160
   
2. Migration and build 12 months
   
3. Develop and implement community ownership model three options around being
1. Community owned funded partially by MoE
2. Stay where it is at MoE and worked for and by the community
3. Completely owned by the community with funding options from the community as well as possible contributions and support from time to time from the MoE

I will have another think and add another post

Day Three of conference

Had a workshop with professor Stepehn Heppell and then his keynote.
Was a frank and open discussion on some of the work he is doing like notschool etc.
Talked a wee bit about the future of the VLN
Headed of to Jasper after the last key note.
What an awesome journey

And then onto Edmonton to meet up with Cathy King. Will fill in details of visit with Cathy later.
I have had a chance to talk about and think about the future of the VLN with CAM on this trip which has been very useful

Where to from here?

Out of the conference there are a few things I will follow up on:

1. Develop the relationship with Darren and Keewaytinook Internet High School Balmertown, Ontario,
2. Develop the relationship with Linda Wright and Michelle Eady from Northern Onterio Sioux-Hudson Literacy Council
3. Develop a relationship with Randy LaBonte and Tim Winklmans Ministry of Education in British Colombia Distance Learning

Now the conference is over I have had time to talk and reflect with and do some in depth talking to a range of people re the VLN I now want to start to develop the VLN into a world class brokerage site.

Day 2

Traveled from Jasper to Edmonton today to meet with Cathy King VC RLN Provincial Coordinator for Alberta.
Looking forward to this meeting will let you know how it goes.
What an awesome trip through the Canadian Rockies wow breathtaking.
Day 2 of the conference was as good as the first day in Bannf.
One quote I liked was
"If technology doesn't work for people it doesn't work" Simple but true.
I went to two sessions on 2nd life and how it is being used with tertiary organisations as well as the journey they went through.
In summary it was the fact they tried to recreate the physical world of their organisation into the virtual world and it didn't work.
I guess the lesson here is create a dynamic environment that grows around sustainability.
As I have mentioned before I am redeveloping the VLN (Virtual Learning Network) sitee intial stages and has moved beyond this to other technologies.
I will go into this in another post with my ideas.
The other valuable part of this conference was meeting and talking to Prof Stephen Heppell what a cool guy.
I meet an talked to Randy LaBonte and Tim Winklmans from the
So far it had focus on Video Conferencing in the Ministry of Education in British Colombia, A valuable conversation as they are going through some of the same issues we are. They are offering courses that have no start or finish time. Excellent. You can find an outline and a lot of policy docs etc on their site Distance Learning
The other guy I meet up with were Darren Potter the Principal from Keewaytinook Internet High School Balmertown, Ontario, Excellent exchange of ideas and thoughts. Darren works with 1st Nation children in Balmertown, Ontario

The other guy I met was from Niagara Falls he is involved with ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) I will talk about him later.
Where to from here will be in my next posting.

1st Day at Conference

I am working backwards but there ya go who cares. The first day of the conference was cool.
I went to 3 sessions
Session one was the best of the day for me as I listened to Linda Wright and Michelle Eady from Northern Onterio talk about their project teaching with 1st Nation children with the use of synchronous and asynchronous technologies, fascinating stuff. I was approached afterwards to talk about possibilities ōf connecting with NZ kids. I really look forward to hearing from Michelle about this. You can find out more about their excellent project at:
Sioux-Hudson Literacy Council

The second session was about C.I.D.E.R the Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research while interesting it was not really my cup of tea. I will mention it to a friend of mine at work Helen who may be able to use the links to C.I.D.E.R coordinated at Athabasca University

The third session was with Adobe Connect sales team. We have been having some issues since the upgrade to adobe 6 so i wanted to see and here about adobe 7 but this has not been released yet. An alright session.

The fourth was Cam and I presenting on the VLN . The Virtual Learning Network is one of my foci's of work and has been for the last 5 years. We had about 40 people attended and a number of excellent comments were made . Very nice. A few areas of interest came out of this and I will detail these later.
We drove from Bannf to Jasper today through the Canadian Rockies what a very awesome trip.
Ī forgot to bring the cable to download the pics will post some later.
Well goodnight tired now

CNIE conference in Banff, Alberta Canada

At a session with Professor Stephen Heppell on the last day talking about Communities.
The first community was in the early 90's and was children centred part of the things to look at email returns and identify what age group wrote what emails and of course they got it all wrong.

notschool started with the first 100 worst kids in Britain and is still running at a 98% engagement rate (Excellent) . This is an excellent project that is still going on.
It is all asynchronous for good reasons. Go read about why?
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/socialinclusion/youngpeople/notschoolpractice.html Ultraversity http://cohort4.ultraversity.net/ Another interesting project please go and have a look, Degrees were built around the users and most never meet. Studied and worked full time for 3 years. Go read about this as well.

Talking heads was the 3rd project a community of head teachers online 21,000
http://www.ncsl.org.uk/aboutus/pressreleases/pr-121107.cfm

Communities of practice have to run on strict rules eg if set up for notschool, head teachers etc it has to be strictly by for them by them don’t let outsiders come in.
Content is not King
http://rubble.heppell.net/talking_heads/aboutth/index.htm
Excellent session thanks Stephen

Conference

I am at the CNIE conference in Banff, Alberta Canada.
First International Conference of the new Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE)

http://www.athabascau.ca/CNIE-RCIE/english/


It is the second day and a friend of mine professor Stephen Heppell has encouraged me to start a blog so here I am his blog is at http://www.heppell.net/weblog/stephen/

It has been interesting so far. I think will do a new posting for each bit I want to talk about.

I am in the process of re inventing the Virtual Learning Network that I manage for MoE (Ministry of Education in New Zealand it is hosted at http://virtuallearning.school.nz/
My next posting will start with day one of the conference and then day two and then I will launch into my work at the MoE and then into the redevelopment of the vln