Tandberg Content Server

A group of ePrincipals has been meeting to discuss Protocols around the use of the Tandberg Content Server. (TCS) the TCS records video conferencing sessions, stores them on a server, where they can be edited and made available for others to view. We talked about it's purposes for use and the management of this tool. It could be used for:

• capturing generic lessons such as demonstrations, practicals, interviews with experts;
• students can use it to catch up on missed lessons;
  
• eteachers can use it in their appraisal process; capturing sessions for teacher pd;
• authenticating student work such as oral language presentations, & practicals that can be performed in front of VC
  

Issues surrounding its use and management were to do with how long to keep the content, archiving & deletion. Access to logons & passwords - only ePrincipals have access at the moment, booking recording time with Asnet who currently manage the TCS, recording with the knowledge & authorisation of all those in a VC, how to allow access to the intended audience without logons & passwords. (This one was solved pretty easily by Trevor who discovered that individual recordings can be passworded - thereby all you need is to provide your audience with the URL & the password to view)
I think this is a great tool for our online learning toolbox but still a little ahead of our time for seamless operation with our still limited bandwidth. The biggest barrier is the huge files sizes - a 2min clip is about 35 mb. A typical VC is likely to be an hour.... you do the math.
Asnet will copy recordings to DVD & post out to schools but to realise the full potential we should be able to stream or download quickly on demand - still away off for us who in the rural remote areas (which is most of the VLN schools) are a long way off joining any high speed loops anytime soon.

SMS Roadshow

I took myself along to the MOE SMS Roadshow to get up to speed on what is happening with developing initiatives.

The day focused on enrol, electronic attendance, early notification, lms/sms interoperability & e-asTTle. The MOE has set up yahoo user groups for each sms so that feedback & discussion can take place around the performance & the development of these SMS.

I was particularly interested in hearing more about the lms/sms interoperability as many of our schools are ready to go into an lms . I don't think we have anymore conclusive information to help in choosing lms than we did when i wrote about this last year. One thing i was able to determine was that the interoperability development was following open standards, meaning that eventually any lms should work with any sms. For example if you have MUSAC for your sms then you won't be tied into using KnowledgeNet. So i guess my advise for schools choosing an lms now would be just go ahead and make a choice (regardless of your sms) eventually all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle will fit together.

Links from the roadshow

Te Reo Online

Back at Opunake today to spend a PD day with Rangiroa. Our main focus today was the development of his course for putting onto his class website on Interact. We discussed the challenges of teaching his L1 Te Reo class of mixed abilities & ages - year 9 through to 12. There are students who are thinking this is too hard and others way too easy. We talked about how best to meet the needs of Maori students learning at a distance. There is an initiative running in all our cluster schools on raising Maori achievement so what about our maori students who are distance learners? We have talked about organising a VC hui for Maori teachers to discuss these questions. There is some interest from other teachers in the VLN schools but have not found someone with the depth of experience to lead and mentor this group of teachers.
A little googling shows me that there has been some research in this area but in the area of higher education. Maybe some of the answers can be found from the KAWM schools.
If you are or have been a distance learning Maori educator and would like to share your expertise with our teachers please contact me.

ELearning @ Waitara

A short visit this morning to Waitara. I met a number of estudents and most seem to be well underway just one needing a rocket to encourage him to do more work when i produced an assessment for him to work on & he was a little unprepared... But students are well supported in this school largely through the efforts of Marilyn who is doing a wonderful job. My only concern is the sustainability of the extra workload put on one member of staff. Still early days at Waitara as this is their first year with any VC students and as a school they have more VC students than others in our cluster. They would be an excellent case study - questions being asked already relate to resource & funding of VC students, from the time it takes to supervise their study, to the setting up of practical lessons for physics, to the costs of providing new texts. It all adds up when you don't even have a budget allocation for any of it.

Coastal Maunga

A view of Taranaki from the Coastal side - not a speck of snow anywhere - an awesome day all around the maunga.

I had my first visit this year to Coastal School today. Coastal is unique as it is an area school with students from New Entrants right through to Year 13 (K1 - 12). It is great to be in a school where i may have a chance to work with the younger students again.

I met with Coastal VC students, a group of four Y11 taking Accounting, another taking Chemistry L2 & another Chemistry L3. They seem to have gotten off to a great start they couldn't tell me of any concerns they had. So just to make sure they were prepared for any eventualities i ran them through a few 'what if' scenarios to do see what they would do... All of these students say that having a class website with all their course work, notes & activities is really helpful especially when they may miss a VC from time to time. It is something that some of our own eteachers need to develop more fully and we also need to provide a better webspace for them to do that.
Joel our Coastal eteacher has developed his own website to deliver his own course content. A lot of work has gone into this site to prepare resources in a range of formats Keynote, PowerPoints, Flash & Podcasts and he is really happy to share these with anyone who visits his site. One thing i would say about this site is that it is static - a repository for the delivery of material, though there is a feedback form. There are no features for interaction here, such as bulletin boards, chat, IM. Having said that interaction around this class takes place in other forms - the weekly VC, emails, phone calls, & skype. We spent some time today looking at getting skype to work at school - we had the right settings from Telecom SchoolZone FAQs, i could get it working on my own computer but noone else could. Has anyone else had problems working skype through their school network - what are we not doing right?
I spent some time with Hamish, Coastal elearning lead teacher. Hamish gets a days release each week to lead elearning initiatives within the school and to work with teachers integrating ICTs in the classroom. Wahoo that would be a good thing for all our lead teachers :-) I am looking forward to my return visit so we can plan how i can best support him in this role.

Adobe Connect

I did a little PD session today on using the meeting feature of Adobe Connect (formerly Breeze). It was hosted by the Adobe Connect User Group Asia Pacific.
ELearning schools have the opportunity to use Breeze to support the delivery of their online classes. Just ask Eddie.
I can really see the potential of this for our classes - VC is not the only technology we can be using. I would also like to use it for facilitating PD sessions with our teachers.
You don't need any special software just a web browser and a fast connection and your away!
This PD session was recorded and can be viewed here.

Inglewood eLearners

OK not the best pic but just trying out my new cellphone ;-)
I met with students at Inglewood to see that they are all settled into their online classes well. They are a switched on group of young people & if they put the effort in are sure to do well this year. Students at Inglewood are studying Accounting, Te Reo & Art History.
I also met with Ross who is eTeaching (Ag/Hort). We looked at optimising images in online presentations to reduce file size & therefore upload & download time. We explored using SchoolZone mydesktop home web space for storing large files for students to access (Interact has a limit on file sizes). We talked about using copyright resources such as dvd, how to access video online (teacher tube & youtube) & sharing it with students. Ross is confident & interested in using technology to support his teaching so perhaps could be a good person to try out things like AdobeConnect, tandberg content server & exe editor tools.
I had some time with Michael who is currently on efellowship. I wanted to work with him on setting up a Moodle site for TaraNet. I look forward to having more time to catch up with him next time I'm at Inglewood.

Teaching Under the Microscope

Another session with Rangiroa at Opunake today. His VC class has really highlighted to me the demands we place on our eteachers as they 'teach under the microscope'. Everyday class dynamics such as mixed abilities, student & whanau expectations, even behavioural management are all amplified in an elearning environment. Teachers have to be quick to adapt to new technologies, extend and adapt their learning resources & teaching strategies, and be on the ball with communication with a widely dispersed group of people. It is not an easy feat to balance with the face to face demands of a busy school life. I guess what would make this challenge worthwhile is that we can make a difference for our students who would not otherwise have this learning opportunity and that along the way we are developing as teaching professionals to the benefit of all our students.

It was good to see Mark having a go at developing a Protopage site to showcase student work in the technology faculty. Check it out.

Clusters Collaborating

A new month, another VC meeting with the VLN cluster ePrincipals. Being part of the elearning cluster leadership group supported by the MOE has given this group a bit more momentum I think than it had in the past. We all share a similar direction (& also have the same accountabilities particularly in regard to funding - action plans, milestones etc) but we are all working through similar issues and have a lot to share and contribute that will be to the benefit of all our students not just our own schools.
The main focus of today's meeting was about the research that will be undertaken in support of this project. Eddie introduced Helen, elearning team research analyst, (sorry terrible pic taken on the phone). As a group we discussed what should our research questions be? What is important to know in our conversations with teachers, students, parents & the wider community?

• Analysis & comparison of NCEA results - compared within schools, vc/non vc & nationally (student achievement)
• Student engagement - what skills do they develop as elearners that they carry over into other areas (& vice versa - what skills are our students bringing to the elearning environmnet?)
• Case study analysis of cluster demographics - what makes a successful cluster?
• Student voice - their experiencee of a complex blended environment
• Equity of access to online learning - often it is only the 'good' students who have access
• ETeacher development - making the transition from a traditional to an elearning environment.
• Teacher efficacy & enjoyment

It will be interesting to have some authoritative data to support our practice in schools instead of only working on what we believe to be true from anecdotal experience & a mish mash of available but mostly unavailable (or really difficult to access) achievement data.

VC Underway @ St Mary's

There's been a few hiccups with missed communication, changed timetables, & access to emails for students here but i think we are getting on top of it now. One of our students hooks up with her class for the first time, a little bit overwhelmed with the thought of catching up on missed work but buzzing with the new learning environment she has found herself in.

Opunake Kuia Talk Tech - Cellphones

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Originally uploaded by rache65

Having a cuppa with Val & Rona @ Opunake. They were talking about what wonderful things cellphones were. Just to agree with them i showed them how wonderful they are at getting pics straight up onto the internet from anywhere through your phone. As well as being really useful for ringing ahead on school camps to order $300 of fish & chips ;-) One of our eteachers asked about the possibility of txt alerts to our students straight from our lms - thats a great idea but i'm pretty sure Interact doesn't have that capability. I have most of my students numbers & even tho i know they're not supposed to have phones at school i will still contact them that way if i need them in a hurry.
Any ideas about txt alert services through lms or maybe some other site. Something to find out more about...

Sweet Home Opunake

Its always great to get back to Opunake my old school. The place is looking great, colourful & comfortable with new paint work & carpet in all the classrooms - as an Opunake alumni & visitor i think it makes a big difference. Do the students feel that too? I wonder.

Today i met with Rangiroa our eteacher there and Cody who has just enrolled in a Computing VC class. As this was my first school visit this year most of our time was spent dealing with getting equipment up & running and for Cody learning how to use it as well. I also had time to chat with Mark - elearning leader & discussed his role as lead teacher - conversation centred on issues of workload & time management - something all lead teachers have concerns about i know. It was great also to talk to Mark (Principal) one of my mentors.
The VC gear at Opunake is situated inside a locked cupboard. This is good as it means the room can be utilised for other classes when no VCs are scheduled & it stops the students playing with the settings & the teachers pinching bits from it ;-) Though it is a hassle when the gears not working properly and you want to get in behind & work through all the cables & switches.

TaraNet eHui

Many of our TaraNet students, eteachers and vc coordinators met at Waitara High School today to prepare themselves for the year ahead. Students from Waitara, Inglewood and Coastal VCed with Year 12 students Rowan & Jacob from Roxborough Area School to hear from these seasoned elearners about the positive & challenging experiences of VC learning. Our students were pretty shy about asking questions even though we had spent some time earlier discussing through a PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) their ideas about what elearning was all about. The Roxborough boys made lively discussion as they spun out the conversation to avoid returning to their classes, this social encounter really helped make our students feel more at ease with the technology & ‘being on TV’. I had originally scheduled for one of our own past students, Douglas (I managed to track him down through his Bebo site), to VC in from the MOE office in Wellington but unfortunately the timing of the Vic University orientation programme clashed.
Two of our students spent some face to face time with their Te Reo teacher Matua Rangiroa and VCed with the rest of their class of CoroNet students from Whangamata, Mercury Bay & Te Aroha. The Level 1 Te Reo class is our largest with 11 students ranging from Year 9 through to Year 12. We also spent time making sure that everyone was using their school zone email, looking at our cluster website and accessing their classes on other websites.
We currently have 59 enrolments through the TaraNet campus – 37 Taranaki students and 22 from other parts of New Zealand. Only 4 Taranaki students have Taranaki teachers. This trend is similar to last year’s and shows a higher degree of collaboration happening with other clusters particularly for us the North Island clusters of Volcanics, CoroNet, Welcom & FarNet. We are also getting more efficient at ‘horse trading’ between clusters (getting students into classes) and classes are starting a lot more promptly at the beginning of the year as by Week 3 almost all of our students had already had their first class & met their teachers.
We have a great group of students all keen and excited to have the opportunity to learn in the different ways that elearning brings. I know that with support of their schools & whanau they will do really well this year.

ePrincipals Hui – Rotorua

An ePrincipals’ Workshop day was held in Rotorua ahead of the annual Learning@Schools conference. Thank you Cam & Eddie for facilitating this day for us - it was a great opportunity to further develop the connections between all of us working within the New Zealand Schools Video Conferencing network. Some old friends and new as more clusters have join the eLearning network - some supported through ICTPD, some with EHSAS, many with interim funding for eLearning Cluster Leadership and some independent but all together for the same reason to collaborate together to improve opportunities and learning outcomes for our students.

There were ePrincipals from all elearning clusters: OtagoNet, FarNet, AorakiNet, Volcanics, Baylink, Cantatech, SILC, WELCom, TaraNet, CentreNet, CoroNet & WestNet; representatives from Paerangi, Westmount School, Southern Regional Health School, the Correspondence School, Kavanagh College, Aotea College & Manawatu College. Also off and on throughout the day were most of the team from the MOE eLearning team as well as Marg from Core-Ed. A group of mentor Principals from elearning schools participated in the workshop day and helped lead small group discussion.

The agenda for the day was around the nuts & bolts things like programmes & processes around the Virtual Learning Network and the enrolment of students; the requirements of leading an elearning cluster such as action plans, objectives, reporting & review including a research component. There was discussion about the role of the ePrincipal, cluster expectations, & leadership development and PD to support that. Although many of us VC together once a month we have never had such a complete turn out of personnel as we have today and our VC meetings tend to focus more on the management side of things than areas of professional learning such as working on developing our own leadership capabilities.

This was a really valuable day for me with lots to move me forward with in developing the TaraNet cluster:

• Finding out what our contract is so we can develop this into an Action Plan 2008
• Developing a PD programme drawing on the experience of other clusters
• Exploring a new lms for TaraNet & our cluster schools – probably Moodle
• Working with our eteachers to use Tandberg content server to record & save lessons, explore LAMs & exe editor for developing sequenced learning activities, Adobe Connect – how can we use this
• Setting up my own VC connection from home so I can access all of my schools and connect with the wider network more readily
• Working further with schools in our region who are looking at beginning with Video Conferencing
• Developing relationships with our local tertiary (WITT) & community education
• Further developing our lead teacher group and getting more support for them from school Principals – they are the ones who will really drive things in their own schools
• Working with the wider community to further improve the broadband network in our region by investigating how we can develop a ‘loop’ that will in the future hook into national networks such as the proposed National Education Network (NEN) – look to Otago as they are developing this themselves now.

Many of these things have been sitting in my ‘must do some work on’ basket for some time but now with a full time position I feel like I can begin to make some headway with them.

Blog Free Zone

Yes it has been a blogfreezone for some time!
The Bard has been busy over the summer - a trip around the South Island & back to the Chathams, a house move, a job change and spending lots of time with my Ricky in real time now instead of skype & msn - yahoo. My laptop has been shut for a very long time. But back to work now & here i am back at the kitchen table office getting ready to begin as full time ePrincipal for the TaraNet elearning cluster.
I'll still be using this blog to write about whats happening in schools but i guess it will have a changing flavour from where i have been before - watch this space.

Teacher Free Zone

This morning at St Joseph's the children from Room 5 worked with the Room 2 children to tutor them in using 2Create a Story. It really was a teacher free zone as the children worked together to explore the features of the software & create their stories. The Room 2 kids will now go on to work independently using the laptops during their writing time. Perhaps a little teacher intervention to make sure their work is saved & as they all save to the same place not to overwrite each others work.
Diane the teachers' aide was so amazed at the engagement of the students particularly the ones she always thinks of as a 'handful'. I think apart from the fact they find the technology so engaging, these kids were really hooked in because they were the ones in the drivers seat in control of their own creativity & learning.

Digital Photography 4 Beginners

I workshopped with St Joseph's teachers after school to look at the basics of using their digital cameras.
We explored the different features and settings on their cameras and worked out how to download pictures to their laptops. We got as far as resizing images and then it was too much for one session. Time to stop & book another workshop for Part 2. To provide a reference for what they had learnt i whipped together a tutorial & notes for them to go back to. I wrote up step by step notes with screen shots but find that making a short video of the procedure is so much easier & less time consuming.
We used the Microsoft Power Toy Image Resizer

Wine Not Network @ Eltham Primary School

Another great Wine Not Network was held at Eltham Primary School. It was great to see so many teachers from the old Bard Wired ICTPD cluster attending :-)
It was great to visit Eltham Primary School as i haven't been there all year! The school is looking fantastic with all its renovations completed.
Schools shared examples of what was happening back in their own classrooms and the topics ranged: photography, interact LMS, smarnet servers, IWB, skype, blogs and feedback from the ULearn attendees.
I discovered a number of new blogs that have popped up amongst our schools (largely due to the ULearn influence). Check them out and leave some encouraging comments:
http://room1tokoschool.blogspot.com/
http://room6-sps.blogspot.com/
http://room3tokotaranaki.blogspot.com/
http://room5toko.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokoschool
There was some discussion that ensued after this meeting about internet safety and appropriate use with blogging in the classroom. Rather than join this discussion (again as i know it comes up every time a new school blog is born) I directed those schools to previous discussions and links.

(Paul demonstrates how he uses Interwrite software and tablet)

E-Learning Options

I had a busy day attending Options meetings with senior students and their families at Waitara this afternoon and then again at Opunake.
Two quite different formats. Waitara was set up like a 'trade fair' with subject areas set up around the hall for people to visit and discuss what was on offer. There was a good turn out and I had lots of interesting conversations with students and their parents who wanted to know more about elearning opportunities.
Opunake was more of a presentation from the front style with time for families to discuss further afterwards. Though you did manage to say things only once instead over and over again to different people, I think I didn't have the depth of conversation and inquiry as earlier.
I had some interesting requests for options that I had to go back and find out about: Drama, Business Studies, Computer Programming and even Religious Education.

I think we are getting to a point in the VC network that schools are beginning to look at the VLN as a supermarket of option choices. They are looking for just the right 'off the shelf' course to enrol in. In some ways it is good that there are so many choices out there (though enrolment restrictions can mean you can't always get in or have to wait to hear if you can enrol). But I also think that schools and clusters need to collaborate in more constructive ways to provide tailored learning for our students. The difficulty in this I guess is coordinating student need, teacher availability & schools resourcing to fulfill this beyond what they are already contributing.

It was good to hear directly from students about what they were interested in and helping them look for pathways to lead them there. It was a good opportunity to promote VC elearning as something quite different from what many parents & some students saw as 'Correspondence'. As a result I am looking at setting up some opportunities for students & parents to observe a VC lesson first hand by hooking into a VC lesson in progress.

(Ceri - eTeacher - Art History)

NIE Quiz Practise

St Joseph's students are practicing for the Newspapers in Education (NIE) Quiz this week. These links are made for them to sharpen up their current events knowledge & see if they have been reading the paper & watching the news on TV :-)

National News

International News

Sports

Entertainment

We will also be looking at and discussing cartoons and finding where in the world our headline news is coming from.

More practice quizzes can be found on the NIE site.