December 2, 2008
… it’s a computer - equivalent in computing power to a year 2000 PowerBook or an XBox or a PlayStation2. It’s a fine example of ubiquitous computing and convergence (a global positioning system plus wireless access to the web as well as a phone).
I’ve been out walking with Nathan and Baxter the dog. We took Nathan’s iPhone and activated the RunnKeeper iPhone application, which Nathan had previously downloaded from the iTunes App Store. On our walk, RunKeeper takes the data from the iPhone’s GPS, which marks the route and time, and sends it to the RunKeeper web application.
When we get back home, we check out www.runkeeper.com, which has received our data and displays the start and end time and distance of our walk, accesses maps to record elevation and present the route, and calculates the elapsed time, average pace and average speed. It also displays a graph plotting elevation and speed against distance. We can map multiple walks and runs over time to chart our progress and reach our fitness goals. Do we need all this data? Well, we’re finding that the increased distances that we are walking and running is motivating.
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November 30, 2008
I’ve been travelling a bit as November comes to a close - visiting schools in Christchurch and Auckland, talking with teachers at the Digital Technologies Symposium, and meeting with e-learning advisers at the departments of education at the universities. The focus of these discussions has been on shifts in practice, transformation in schools and the implementation of the curriculum.
Some trends have emerged for me, and I’ve listed them below as a pick ‘n’ mix of reflections and observations (in no particular order). I’d be keen to get your thoughts - the things you’d ditch, add or tick on this list.
5 highlights
- The New Zealand Curriculum has provided guidance on and reinforced the significance of e-learning by positioning it as part of effective pedagogy. (I do wonder if the paragraphs on e-learning could have referred to all six teacher actions that promote student learning, rather than just four of the six …).
- The document has also provided a common language and approach to ‘teaching as inquiry’. An evidence-based approach is increasingly underpinning the use of ICT in the classroom.
- The shift in focus from ICT to e-learning continues. ICT is most successful when embedded in the context of a learning area (… the definition of e-learning). Although disciplines drive e-learning practices (particularly in secondary school, where generic e-learning practices can be especially difficult to identify), technologies introduce their own requirements which teachers can address through deliberate teaching and scaffolding of learners.
- The ways in which we as educators work and learn and live online are intimately connected with our capability to use e-learning effectively in the classroom. For teachers new to e-learning, adopting ICT as part of their own professional learning and practice can be a valuable starting point.
- Social software (web 2.0) remains a focus. Innovative teachers are exploring the distinctions between socialising and collaborating, sharing and reflecting, and publishing and contributing constructively.
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November 21, 2008
I’m excited (and exhausted, now that I’ve completed my presentation) to be at the Digital Technologies Symposium in Auckland. The symposium is on digital technology teaching and learning, with industry and tertiary organisations joining teachers from schools piloting the Digital Technologies Guidelines.
The DTG is a ‘planning environment’ for teachers to design and deliver programmes of work for years 11-13 that give context, coherence and relevance to its related areas of knowledge, with rich pathways including digital society, business technology, digital media, electronics, and software development and programming.
So, what’s being discussed? Tracy Bowker from Cognition Consulting (contracted by the Ministry to lead the project) spoke about the importance of relevance - teachers designing relevant courses that lead to assessment, rather than assessment driving courses - and also collaboration - within departments, across learning areas, between schools, and with tertiary and business - to support these relevant programmes of learning.
Her message about the need to communicate career opportunities to students was picked up by Janina Voigt from Canterbury University. Janina is a 21-year-old computer science graduate, embarking on post-graduate studies next year. She says computer science couldn’t have been further from her mind when she juggled science versus languages at the end of secondary school and went into journalsim becuase she could ’see a job in it’.
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November 14, 2008
To continue a theme in recent posts on culture and heritage, you may have noticed a smart new widget in the right-hand column of this blog.
To mark Armistice Day on 11 November, the Digital New Zealand project, led by the National Library, has released two new internet tools that connect New Zealanders with digital content about our country at the end of the First World War.
The widget on Lunch Box - the ‘Coming Home’ search widget - lets users search digital content held by a range of museums, galleries and archives (the widget aggregates metadata - the items themselves are still hosted by the individual content partners). It’s being tested by DigitalNZ’s content partners, and Lunch Box is stoked to be one of the test sites (see the list of other test websites).
Even better - you can embed this search widget in your school’s website, wiki, intranet or blog by grabbing the code from the DigitalNZ website. (If you can’t add the search widget to your site, then you can link directly to a hosted version of the search.) What I love about this is that DigitalNZ has recognised that providing services on their website is one thing, but letting users add the tools to their own spaces and places on the web is even better.
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November 13, 2008
NZMuseums is another new website launched recently (back in September).
It’s a directory of 400 museums (with locations, opening hours etc) and it showcases the collections of 50 of these. NZMuseums also includes photos from 120 museums and thousands of objects of all collection types.
One of the site’s aims is to make accessible content previously unavailable on the Internet and to provide a web presence and electronic catalogue for many of our smaller, volunteer-run museums.
The site promises other things in time - events, virtual exhibitions and more collections. Good to see the museums sector thinking about catering to online visitors as well as physical ones. The attention generated by the live webcam footage of the dissection of a colossal squid at Te Papa has hopefully proved the value and reach of online audiences to our cultural institutions.
And good on National Services Te Paerangi, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for initiating this website, providing practical support for and increasing the visibility of our museums, whare taonga, art galleries, science and exhibition centres, and historic places.
image cc by shortie66
… it’s a computer - equivalent in computing power to a year 2000 PowerBook or an XBox or a PlayStation2. It’s a fine example of ubiquitous computing and convergence (a global positioning system plus wireless access to the web as well as a phone).
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