U Learn 2010 Reflection Cont.

Steve Wheeler- Key Note Speaker

• Digital Natives need:

1. Digital Literacy- They need to be able to evaluate & cross check all information
2. To be engaged & enjoy what they are doing
3. Personalised learning

Lane Clark- Key Note Speaker
http://www.laneclark-ideasys.com/index_new.htm

• I really enjoyed listening to Lane speak
• The message that was continuously repeating by all speakers "Are we preparing our children for their future or our past?"
• She had a good point... “when was the last time you graphed eye colours as an adult?” There is a difference at the moment with in school learning and real life learning.
• Interest and relevant are very different, just because the child is interested in something doesn’t necessarily make it relevant to them
• The more you know, the more you know you don’t know - that is why children ask more complex questions further into an inquiry unit
  
• Questioning involves complex thinking
• IDEA wondering wall colour code questions each week to see their children’s understanding deepen
  
• In the real world you know the "so what" & relevance before you start learning

Kirsten Beggs- Using literacy to life

• I was disappointed with this breakout as it was very much a beginners guided to using key note.
• This session showed how Key Note can be used to create your own talking stories
• I have many children in my class that would enjoy creating these for others

Barbara Zee & Dave Winter- Get going with Google Docs

• Learnt how to shorted URL addresses- simply paste your long URL on the http://bit.ly/
  site. It automatically gives you a shorten URL making it easier to share with others. I had no idea these sort of sites existed! Which goes to show the more you know, the more you know you don't know!
• Can definitely see the benefit of using a collaborative tool like Google Docs. I could see it saving a lot of time during team planning etc.
• You can go back to see history- so nothing is ever lost for good. All changes are record & by whom
• Found out, however that iWork can do the same using Share- iWork.com. I want to look into this more
• Google Docs is all about collaboration with very basic presentation tools. I would be rapt if Pages could do the same collaboration work as Google docs
• The Forms part on Google Docs is very exciting! You can create your own online forms, quizzes, multi choice test, etc. Once set up you simply paste your URL or shortened URL (using bit.ly) onto your blog. Every time it is filled out the information goes directly into a spread sheet.
• Google docs in plain English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA
  

Lynne Kilmartin- Create digital story books

• This was another beginner's guide to key note
• Great to have props for creating scenes- action men, barbies, cars etc. to use as the image for story books

Kirsten Beggs - New iMovie

• I was thinking this was going to be another beginner's guide... however I was pleasantly mistaken!
• I felt sorry for anyone who hadn't used iMovie because it was advanced, super fast and covered lots of new tricks- I LOVED IT!
• Did you know that iMovie has the advance features turned off?!!! You have to go into system preferences and turn them on... then WOW
• You can have a picture in a picture! instant green screening & lots more
• I learnt how to easily select a section of a clip & how use the precision editor to trim clips more specifically
• When filming ensure you have a 5 second 'handle' on each end of the clip- this is necessary when using transitions to ensure you don't loose the key part of your clip
• When adding transitions- ask yourself "what value does this add to the movie?"
• We HAVE to get Chroma green walls painted in as many classes as we can. It is AMAZING how professionally iMovie cuts out the green & superimposes it on a new background. WOW I can't wait to try this out (I think I might just have to paint a wall in my room...)
• Teach your children the order for creating movies- editing, transitions, titles and then audio last.
• WARNING: You can not use ANY music without permission outside of the school e.g. DVD and blog. New Zealand schools have been done for $10,000. Encourage your children to create their own using garage band.
• A bit of a loop hole- (I like loop holes) Just like a book you can use up to 10% of a song as long as you acknowledge the source
• Normalise clips button- makes all audio a consistent volume
• I never knew how to create chapters within a movie! We'll now I do. There's a little orange tab that you drag where you want it & then you can name all the chapters

So over all:

• Ashhurst School has come a long way in the last 12 months
• We are on the right track with engaging our students
• I think we are doing our best to prepare our children for their futures and not our pasts
• We are teaching the importance of critical & creative thinking

My Goals:

1. Use digipaths to create learning paths ways for each maths group (then move onto other curriculum areas)
2. Use as many of the iMovie features as I can to ensure I remember them all
3. Explore iWork.com
   
4. Have IT experts with lanyard ID labels showing what they specialise in

What a busy, yet exciting term ahead of us.