Knowledge Bank Online Events

Hi there! Our site has moved.

Click here to visit the new DEECD Virtual Conference Centre website

Please update your bookmarks.

Connecting Innovators

Presenters: Gabby Plunkett (Healesville High School) and Becky Marley (Healesville Primary School)

Geocaching is a new and exciting world-wide treasure hunt using GPS technologies. Healesville High School adopted this innovative program so as to challenge students to create a geocache that would attract tourists to the region. It promoted collaborative learning, team-building and student innovation resulting in improved overall learning outcomes. It also created an avenue for students and teachers to build valuable community links. In this session, you will gain an understanding of geocaching and discover how Gabby has integrated it into the curriculum, meeting a range of VELS criteria.

SuperClubsPlus is a social networking site, which has been designed to allow students to interact with peers from all over Australia and beyond. It offers a moderated online environment in which they can publish their stories, drawings, poems and personal feelings, without the pressure of having ‘face-to-face’ discussions over their work. It challenges high-achieving students and engages those generally unwilling to participate in classroom activities. At Healesville Primary School, buddy activities with a local school and interschool peer-training sessions where students taught peers how to use SuperClubs has also enriched their learning. In this session, Becky will demonstrate how social networking can promote independent learning and allow your students to see themselves as being a provider of knowledge not just a recipient of it.

Date: Thursday 29 October

Time: 4.00pm – 5.00pm

Where: Online in Elluminate – registered participants will be sent a link via email

Click here to sign up

For more information, email: innovation@edumail.vic.gov.au

When:  Wednesday 7 October 2009, 4pm.

Where:  Online in Elluminate.

Who: Shawn Callahan is the founding director of Anecdote, a company that harnesses the natural power of stories to bring strategies, big or small, to life.

What: Innovation is a vital ingredient in high performing learning environments but it’s hard to sustain.  Research is telling us that the use of narratives, ie telling stories about innovation is a very effective way to invigorate and stimulate innovative practice.

In this online conversation Shawn Callahan will show how sharing real-life experiences can initiate conversation and inspire innovation. By sharing stories of innovation in action, Shawn will start the conversation and asks everyone to consider four questions: What’s most significant about this story? Has anything like this happened in our school? Does this give us any ideas for things to do at our school? What’s our next action and who is energised to make it happen?

The conversation will be enlightening, enjoyable and inspire new ideas.

This event is free but you will need to sign up here

Connecting Innovators

Hear how two teachers use a variety of online environments to connect students in rural and remote schools with experienced educators.

When: Thursday 20 August

Watch the recording of the event

Who:

Gary Schultz is a teacher of 25 years. With a career path through Physical Education, Science, Information Technology and Work Education, to developing Dimboola Memorial Secondary College teachers integration of ICT into classroom practice. Gary was awarded the 2008 Most Outstanding Secondary Teacher of the year for his work in changing the ICT culture of the college. He is currently working at the Horsham Regional Office in the position of Wimmera Virtual School Project Officer.

The Wimmera Virtual School project is a pilot project that encompasses eleven secondary colleges around the Wimmera area in the North West of Victoria. The project is attempting to address disadvantage in rural and remote schools by developing a Blended Learning model of provision. Currently there are eight VCE subjects being provided that include the use of video conferencing, online content, digital recorded content and also face-to-face teaching.

and

Adrian Camm is the Head of Mathematics at McGuire College and has responsibility for senior Mathematics and Physics. He is now taking a leadership role in promoting effective use of emerging technologies across all faculty areas. Adrian is also a member of the Powerful Learning Practice International Cohort where he engages with international educators on 21st century learning.

Adrian has created a VCE Physics Unit 3&4 Virtual Learning Community that links students across the state of Victoria to experienced educators and textbook authors. Come and learn how the initiative created opportunities for students to interact with each other, educators and knowledgeable adults in authentic learning experiences.

For more information email knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au

When: Monday 31st August 2009, 4pm.

Watch the recording of this event

Who: Mitzi Goldman has spent 25 years as a film maker and educator in the Australian film industry. She has directed and produced over ten documentaries for television including international co-productions. Mitzi was Head of Documentary at the Australian Film and Television School for six years and is now executive director of the Documentary Australia Foundation. Mitzi is now focussing on sharing her educational vision of students as documentary makers.

What: In this online conference with Mitzi Goldman, teachers were shown how media is a deeply engaging tool when students use it to express their learning about the real world. Participants were engaged in a discussion about the educational and social benefits of using media to produce documentaries. Teachers were taught the basics of documentary making and how to put it to action in their classrooms. Mitzi also discussed how media can be used as a tool to express the learning that takes place when students are given the tools to deconstruct, analyse and understand the information they encounter all around them.

For more information email knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au

When: Thursday 20 August at 1.15pm

Watch the recording of the event

What:
There’s no other award in Australia that reflects what teenagers want to read, rather than what we tell them to read. The Inkys are international awards for teenage literature, voted for online by the readers of insideadog.com.au. There are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book; the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose.

The launch of the 2009 Inkys and the announced the longlist and featured special guests, including authors and some of our teenage judges.

Connecting Innovators

In this session listen to two inspiring teachers who are using different types of technology to engage students in the classroom.

Where: Online in Elluminate. You don’t need to leave your desk – the program comes to you. This session was recorded – click here to listen to the recording

Who:

Jenny Ashby is an ICT specialist at Epsom PS and has implemented innovative technologies in the

classroom. These innovations started out with laptops and wireless networks then moving onto iPod nanos and the Nike sensor sport kits for fitness, Podcasting and local history, digital portfolios and now the iPod Touch.
Listen to this session to find out about how Epsom PS trialled the use of the iPod Touch.

In this session participants will view examples of their use in the literacy and numeracy block.
You will see how visual literacy was enhanced through the use of movie clips and video instruction created by teachers for inclusion on the iPods.

and

Anne Mirtschin is the ICT Coordinator at Hawkesdale P12 College. Anne teaches in virtual classrooms and her passion for project-based learning resulted in her receiving the Victorian secondary Kahootz teacher award in 2006 and winning the Microsoft Innovative Teacher’s award in 2008. Anne’s other awards include ICTEV Leader of the Year 2009, Bailleu Myer Schollarship winner and finalist in DEECD Innovative Curriculum Award.
Learn how to connect, collaborate and create outside the classroom with staff and students from all cultures, nationalities and languages. See how teachers and students extend their communication and e-skills: netiquette, digital citizenship skills, cyber safety, using web 2.0 tools, collaborating and working in a virtual team, risk-taking, scheduling, project management and creative effective products for a global audience.
This is a taste of the hottest 21^st-century learning.

For more information email knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au

9.30am Friday 19 June: This session was recorded. Click here to listen to the recording

Notschool.net – Providing online learning when school doesn’t fit
Jean will tell the story of Notschool.net, why it was started, what is it and what it can achieve. How can an online environment re-engage learners or provide alternatives for students not flourishing in schools? Participants will take away important learning about what works and what doesn’t in virtual learning spaces.

Since 2000 Jean has led Notschool.net research project working in the field of social inclusion for disadvantaged youth, focusing particularly in the creative and innovative use of multimedia to develop learning.

Notschool.net is an international online learning community offering an alternative to traditional education for young people who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to engage with school or other complementary provisions such as home tutoring or specialist units.

Notschool.net is a last resort for young people disengaged from classroom learning because of illness or phobia, pregnancy, bullying or disaffection, reluctance to learn, travel or exclusion.

The Notschool.net project has worked with over 5000 young people and their families since 2000 in the UK and across the world to re-engage them in learning.

Who: Jean is recognised internationally for her passion and commitment to social inclusion for disadvantaged youth. Jean has worked in the education field for twenty five years, beginning her career in East London schools working with difficult and disaffected teenagers.

Click here to listen to the recording

For more information email innovation@edumail.vic.gov.au

When: 

Thursday 28th May  3.00 – 4.00pm – Click here to listen to the recording

Where: Online in Elluminate. You don’t need to leave your desk – the program comes to you. 

Stepping Into the Virtual Classroom is a one hour session offering some ways-in to educators who are interested in starting to use Virtual Classrooms in their own teaching and learning settings.  During the session we will show examples of different uses of virtual classrooms including school-led conferences, student focused events, and major conferences.  In each of these we will discuss how the virtual classroom was used, for what purpose, and some of the different facilitation styles and skills used in different sessions.  This will be followed by a facilitated discussion about how you might use this technology in your own classroom or professional setting and the steps you would need to take to do this.

For: This program is for Victorian teachers and educators (government and non-government schools), education policy officers and researchers with some experience of using and/or participating in virtual classrooms who are interested in talking about next-steps.

Who: Carole McCulloch will run the Stepping Into the Virtual Classroom sessions.  Carole is a skilled virtual moderator e-coach and e-mentor who has been involved in education throughout her working life.  Carole has worked as a secondary school teacher, a lecturer and coordinator in TAFE (community colleges), then as an instructional designer, flexible learning manager and senior project officer for TAFE frontiers in Melbourne.  Since 2005 she has worked as an independent e-learning consultant working on national and state based e-learning projects.

Past sessions:

Thursday 23rd  April 3.00 – 4.00pm – Click here to listen to a recording of the session

Thursday 26th February 3.00 – 4.00pm -  Click here to listen to a recording of the session

Thursday 26th March  3.00 – 4.00pm – Click here to listen to a recording of the session

 For more information contact knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au or coachcarole2007@gmail.com

Connecting Innovators: 2009 Innovation Showcase Online
15 May 2009 – six online sessions

If you missed out on attending the ‘Tell Me’ sessions at the Innovation Showcase. You can listen to the recordings here:

Anne Mirtschin - Flat Classroom Walls: click here to listen to the recording

Anne Mirtschin is an award winning, experienced teacher at a small rural school in country Victoria. Her interest in project based learning in virtual classrooms has led to outstanding results for her students and a true understanding of the potential of the global classroom.  Hear Anne’s ‘Tell Me’ presentation about how Hawkesdale P12 College works outside the classroom walls through projects like flatclassroom.   

Silverton Primary School - 21st Century Classrooms: click here to listen to the recording

Silverton Primary School demonstrates an outstanding use of its flexible learning spaces with a pedagogy that focuses on Discovery, Authentic and Inquiry approaches to learning. ICT is deeply embedded in the delivery of the curriculum. Over 500 visitors from overseas, interstate and local schools visited the school in the past six months alone and left amazed at what is achievable with the right philosophy and environment.

Ajax McKerral - Ping Online Music Education Project: click here to listen to the recording 

The Ping online music education project uses a blended learning model. Using a blog as the central hub and online video conferences, students learn about music with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra  musicians. There’s a Song Room teaching artist in the classroom to assist students and teachers create compositions using samples recorded by MSO musicians. Students share their compositions on the blog. Learn how to bring the music masters to your classroom.

Wimmera Virtual School - Blended Curriculum Provision: click here to listen to the recording

Wimmera Virtual Schools (WVS) Eleven Wimmera Government schools have launched a new era of curriculum provision delivering Physics, Psychology, Mathematical Methods, Chemistry and Physical Education via newly installed video conferencing infrastructure. WVS is one component of a pilot about rural curriculum provision across Loddon Campaspe and Grampians regions. This innovative Blended Curriculum Provision model includes face to face instruction, digitised (recorded) audio and video instructional material, video conference lessons, special purpose podcasts and vodcasts, an Online Learning Management System using the Moodle software package for 24/7 access, and personal conferencing technologies. A key feature of the success so far of WVS is its collaborative protocol, and focus on building the capacity of students and teachers to embrace the new technology. An extension of the project is exploration of the blended provision across the P – 10 years.

Jarrod Robinson - Rethinking Homework: click here to listen to the recording

Jarrod Robinson is a Physical Education & Outdoor Education teacher at Boort Secondary College, a small country school 100km for Bendigo. He delights in keeping his students active while blending ICT use across his subject areas to engage and improve learning outcomes. Imagine your students carrying around their homework and due date in their pockets 24/7… too good to be true? This session will focus on how the tired old process of homework can be refurbished and repackaged for the 21st century. It takes account of the fact that most students are already carrying truly extraordinary computers in their pockets in the form of mobile phones.  Jarrod has a vast repertoire of teaching and learning uses for mobile phones and other hand held devices. 

John Doherty, Clete Page and David Roycroft – The Wider Workforce: click here to listen to the recording

John Doherty, Clete Paige and David Roycroft are principals who have taken innovative approaches to staffing in their schools.   The workforce reform agenda is about attracting, recruiting and supporting the right people to do their jobs as effectively as possible in schools.  One of the key initiatives of the Blueprint is to trial innovative approaches to work organization and explore models for teachers to work with other professionals.  The drive to improve the workforce in schools and early childhood services, reduce teacher workload and improve student outcomes provides opportunities for schools to explore models for teachers to work with other professionals in schools. These principals already have models to share with others.

What’s it about:
The Innovation Showcase brought together education innovators from all over Victoria to share their amazing practice. This year, for the first time, six outstanding sessions from the Showcase were offered simultaneously online. The event also enabled people to connect up to an active community of innovators in the Showcase Ning to keep you up to date throughout 2009 with Connecting Innovators - a series of online events, facilitated and open conversations, collaboration stories, and networks focused on education innovation.

Connecting Innovators Series – after May 15: After the Showcase we will be offering a series of facilitated online conversations, innovation stories, and collaboration activities, organised in the Showcase Ning.

For more information please contact knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au or innovation@edumail.vic.gov.au or visit knowledgebank.globalteacher.org.au.

Read the rest of this entry »