Blitto’s Edjukashun & Komputa Blog

ADE Camp Sydney page 3

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:30:53 +0800

Got to tell you about Saturday night!
We strolled through Darlinghurst to arrive at the Ivy Bar complex. Lift to 4th floor. Here we were met by host and hostess at a trendy club and given a vodka martini to cleanse our palette. Then a tablet to dissolve on our tongue. Hey man! Takes me back to Woodstock! All above board apparently. The tablet was supposed to play with our sense of taste, reversing sweet and sour etc.
Then came a margarita - and the salt did taste sweet. Then came pieces of grapefruit (also sweet) strawberries, grapes etc. Next was a Guinness Sorbet. Yes you heard right! Half a glass of Guinness with a blob of sorbet floating in it. At this stage they were starting to lose me. My God! I’m too old and too lacking in culture for this!
We had a few wines after that, but by 9:30 the distinct lack of food drove a few of us boring old farts to head home and find food and bed.

Some more thoughts about Challenge Based Learning:
• CBL provides a great framework for disengaged kids
• There are real learning Challenge opportunities on the front page of the newspaper most days.

What has the greatest influence on student learning? (taken from Geoff Petty’s article)
Professor John Hattie’s average effect sizes.
Effect sizes above 0.4 are above the bold line. These are above the average for educational research. The ‘number of effects’ column gives the number of effect sizes of this type that have been averaged to create the ‘effect size’ in the next column.
Mean effect-sizes from over 500 meta-analyses of various influences to achievement. Professor John Hattie

Influence Effect-Size
Feedback 1.13
Students’ prior cognitive ability 1.04
Instructional quality 1.00
Instructional quantity .84
Direct instruction .82
Acceleration .72
Home factors .67
Remediation/feedback .65
Students disposition to learn .61
Class environment .56
Challenge of Goals .52
Bilingual programs .51
Peer tutoring .50
Mastery learning .50
Teacher in-service education .49
Parent involvement .46
Homework .43
Questioning .41
OVERALL EFFECTS 500,000+ samples .40
Peers .38
Advance organizers .37
Simulation & games .34
Computer-assisted instruction .31
Instructional media .30
Testing .30
Aims & policy of the school .24
Affective attributes of students .24
Calculators .24
Physical attributes of students .21
Learning hierarchies .19
Programmed instruction .18
Audio-visual aids .16
Individualisation .14
Finances/money .12
Behavioural objectives .12
Team teaching .06
Ability grouping/Streaming .05
Physical attributes of the school -.05
Mass media -.12
Retention -.15

We spent a fair number of hours working in groups simulating a Challenge-Based Learning activity. I was fortunate enough to find myself with the intelligent and intellectually stimulating Ian McKay, Gawain Duncan, Brett Clarke and Ross Sutherland.
We talked about Switching On Disengaged Students
Our project was based around The Yearn 2 Learn - a concept Brett Clarke will be taking further.
I spent a fair bit of time reflecting on some of my school’s disengaged students.
We created a Wiki.
Here is my part of the Wiki:

i have a one to one Laptop class (yr8) They are going really well most of the time.

The Legendary Balcatta SHS One To One Laptop Class

There are 4 other yr8 classes that are much less on task. In fact one or two of them are bloody hard work (having had a relief lesson or two with them). When the subject of "Engaging Leaners" came up at the Apple conference it made me contemplate these other classes at my school (and maybe the odd student in my class that wasn't doing as well as I expected)

What can we do to better engage these disengaged students??
Thoughts:
• To have a productive learning environment you need a Relationship with each student.
• You need to take the time to get to know each student
• You need to connect with each student
• You need to acknowledge that each student is a real (and in some way) valuable person
• Give each student an opportunity to "belong" to a group
• Show each student that you are interested in them
• Trusting respectful relationships are the key to positive learning environments
• Take the time to have a conversation with each student
• Success breeds success
To Think About
• Do you teach STUDENTS or SUBJECTS?
• Do you TEACH or do your students LEARN?
• Are you a teacher or a COLLABORATOR IN LEARNING?
Barriers to Engaged Learning
• Outside constraints
• Home circumstances
• Lack of positive reinforcement
• the feeling that "no one is interested in me"
• the lack of opportunities to experience success
• the lack of opportunities to make the student feel valued
• Excessive focus on Content
• Excessive time restraints caused by Content
What Can We Do To Break The Cycle Of Disengagement?
• Forget about Content for a week or two
• Focus on getting to know the students
• Focus on building relationships with the students
• Goal setting?
• Why am I here?
• Where am I going?
• Group activities
• Team building

Final Thoughts
Thank you Apple for organizing and funding such a fantastic productive educational experience. Yes I was surprised we didn’t play with lots of “geeky” computer stuff. The focus was well and truly on Teaching & Learning. Location, Accommodation, Conference Venue, Guest Speaker (Max), Program etc - FIRST CLASS.
Suggestion - In 3 days maybe you could squeeze in an hour or two of Komputa, learn some software,?
I have already commenced work on trialling some Challenge Based Learning activities with my One To One class as a result of the conference.
I was unable to secure any Professional Development Funding from my school, but didn’t mind the $600 it cost me personally to attend.
I am in awe of the accomplishments, knowledge and talents of my fellow ADEs and feel a bit inferior in comparison.
Wonderful people as well.
Thanks!
Blitto
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ADE Camp Sydney page 2

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:29:19 +0800

Ahhh! .... Amazing what a good sleep does for a Grumpy Old Man.
It’s the weekend, but we had to front up and start work at 8:00am!!!

I really enjoyed the dynamic Max Judd who led us through an in-depth look at Engaging Learners, 21st Century knowledge/skills and what the 21st Century employer was looking for. A summary follows (apologies for any errors):
• in 2006 there was 161 exabytes of data created - compared to three million times the information in all the books ever written.
• Textbooks are dying
• No longer do employers want kids who have memorised facts, just kids who KNOW HOW TO FIND facts when needed.
• Obama asked Apple about providing digital educational content in case Swine Flu closed all schools.
• Mobile phones, iPods, Youtube, Twitter etc will have a place in learning
• Culture eats strategy every day of the week
• Be the CEO of your personal brand - be careful what you post on Facebook etc
• Kids have more technology in their bedrooms than they do at school.
• Reverse Mentors - Sam Saper
• ACOT2
• Elements of 21st century learning = work ethic, collaboration, social responsibility, and critical thinking and problem-solving. Employers also see creativity and innovation as being increasingly important in the future.
•
21st Century Skills and Outcomes: (taken from the ACOT2 website)
Relevant and Applied Curriculum
Offers an innovative vision of what the learning environment should become by applying what we know about how people learn and adapting the best pedagogy to meet the needs of this generation of learners. Students should be engaged in relevant and contextual problem- and project-based learning designed to develop 21st century skills and provided using a multi-disciplinary approach. Curriculum should apply to students’ current and future lives and leverage the power of Web 2.0 and ubiquitous technologies. Learn more »
Informative Assessment
Identifies the types and systems of assessments schools need to develop to fully capture the varied dimensions of 21st century learning as well as the independent role students need to take on in monitoring and adjusting their own learning. Assessments used in the classroom should increase relevant feedback to students, teachers, parents, and decision-makers and should be designed to continuously improve student learning and inform the learning environment. Learn more »
A Culture of Innovation and Creativity
Acknowledges the fuel that drives today’s global economy and, in turn, its importance in both student learning and the school environment. As a result, schools should create a culture that supports and reinforces innovation for student learning and leverages the creativity and ingenuity of every adult and student to solve their unique problems. Additionally, the teaching and learning environment should generate the continuous development of these skills. Learn more »
Social and Emotional Connections with Students
Gives appropriate recognition to the personal, professional, and familial relationships that determine the health, growth, and cognitive development of a child within the family, school, and community. Specifically, each student should have a clear and purposeful connection to the social environment in school, with at least one adult who is purposefully in tune with the student’s learning preferences, learning interests, and social connections. Learn more »
Ubiquitous Access to Technology
Underscores the essential role technology plays in 21st century life and work and, consequently, the role that it must play in learning. Students and educators need 24 by 7 access to information, resources, and technologies that engage and empower them to do background research, information and resource gathering, and data analysis, to publish with multiple media types to wide and varied audiences, to communicate with peers and experts, and to gain experience and expertise in collaborative work.

• Challenge Based Learning - a framework to engage learning.
• Elements of Challenge Based Learning:
Big Idea
Essential Question
The Challenge
Guiding Questions
Guiding Activities and Resources
Solutions
reflection, assessment, and publishing

ADE09 Camp Sydney page 1

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:43:35 +0800

It was my daughter’s Yr12 Graduation night on Thursday so I jumped on the Midnight Red-Eye flight. By 7:30am I was at the Marriot Hotel. I didn’t need to be at the Conference until 10:30am so I figured I could get a good two hours sleep in a proper bed. Apple had emailed me saying they had (thoughtfully) booked my room from the Thursday night to allow me to get a rest and freshen up before the conference.
So... I was less than impressed that the hotel Concierge said my room would not be available for 2 hours!!! I went and sulked in Hyde Park for an hour and a half until I finally got into my room. Bad start to conference!
Spectacular hotel, beautiful room, and only about a hundred metres from our Conference venue at the Sydney Museum.

Now, if you thought the hotel was nice, wait til you see the Conference venue! On the 4th floor of the Sydney Museum with a perfectly sized lecture room with large rear-projection screen and sound system (perhaps set up by Apple). The long ante room leading up to the Lecture room was spread with tables and bean bags. The entire north wall was glass with a spectacular outlook over St Mary’s Cathedral, with a balcony outside.

Friday 23 October Conference
The “MC” of the Conference was the wonderful Max Judd (Director of the world-wide Apple Distinguished Educator program). Apple had flown Max and Ivy out from USA especially for the conference.
We kicked off with some team building activities.
We were encouraged to “celebrate failure” because “without dropping balls there would be no juggling”. From that point on we were heard to cheer loudly every time someone said they had made a mistake.
We all proudly wore our “Yes AND...” badges which were in contrast to the “Yes BUT...” that you usually heard at Staff Meetings.
Just as I was itching to do geeky stuff with computers we were told to put our laptops down and go out into the street collecting evidence about the key focus of our Conference - LEARNING.
What does learning mean?
What does Learning look like?

Some of the lads in my team wanted to interview some girls who were stripped down to their bikinis and sunning themselves in Hyde Park. I (OF COURSE) pointed out that we shouldn’t demean these women by treating them as sex-objects!

We worked in groups through the afternoon working on presentations that looked at what learning meant.

A little bit of technology crept in - Keith’s trendy Flip Video camera and a dozen brand new iPod Nanos which were used to shoot great quality video by several groups.

So... What DOES Learning look like?

• Engaged
• On Task
• Thinking
• Collaborative
• Thoughtful
• Mind switched on
• Motivated
• Involved

What is Learning?
• acquire knowledge
• acquire skills
• change behaviour
• increase life experiences
• changing behaviour to adapt to your environment
• happens anywhere anytime

ITSC Conference T Shirt

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:48:55 +0800

What a great idea!!
An Apple Logo on the T Shirt!!!

:)

ITSC Perth 09 Social Event

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:02:07 +0800

At 5:15 pm after a productive day we strolled down to Claremont jetty and jumped on the boat. As the sun set we cruised down the beautiful Swan River sipping wine, drinking beer and snacking on sushi and other yummy food.
We docked in Freo and walked over to the magnificent Maritime Museum. I got quite a buzz standing under Australia 2 and touching that famed winged keel.
Dinner was great - excellent service, nice food, wine etc.
Very cleverly organised, successful evening!

ITSC Perth 09 Day 1

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:16:50 +0800

Christ Church Grammar is a great facility!
A well organised conference, (we’ll talk about the t shirts later Steve!)
Our Keynote was Kym Nadebaum and he was refreshingly interesting, relevant and inspiring. The key to his talk was a 3 letter word - “WHY?”
So you want to integrate technology into your teaching, so you want to get your kids using iMovie, so you want to get your kids doing podcasts.
WHY?
Look at the Learning Outcomes before the technology.

Our kids of today are different. Digital Media has made them different.
Screen Culture, constant connectedness.
Generation C -Content Creators, Collaborators, Communicators
Average kid spends 40 hours per week in front of digital media including TV.
• Digital Media makes kids different
• Embrace Technology
• Be clear about the outcomes
• Teach digital & media Literacy
• Co-construct high quality Learning tasks
• Provide access
• Go beyond your comfort zone

ITSC Day 3

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:02:35 +0900

We finished off our 3 day workshops then did a show and tell where everyone shared what they did. Some great efforts. A lot of Web 2.0 and great multimedia.
A few links and things worth checking:
• www.larkin.net.au - Web 2.0 in the classroom
• http://pamk.wikispaces.com
• www.ning.com
• http://itsc.ning.com
• http://itsc07.wikispaces.com
• www.mogopop.com - a great web application for doing really cool things for iPods

The Keynote was a very energetic speaker from the business world called Peter Sheahan.
He held us enthralled for an hour. Some of his messages were:
• chalk & talk = Jug To Mug. Pouring the knowledge into empty vessels. Doesn’t work.
• Why don’t teachers take up more ICT? Fear of losing control.
• But no amount of technology will make up for a bad learning facilitator (teacher)
• Collaborative Learning. Freedom within boundaries.
• The secret to successful businesses today is Mindset Flexibility - the ability to adapt.
• A teacher should be a Facilitator not a Dictator.
• Multiple learning mediums. Highly visual and participatory learning.

ITSC 07 Day 2

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:27:39 +0900

Day One ended with a trip to The Kingpin Bowling Centre.
As soon as I walked in I said to myself - “I’m 30 years too old to be here - it looks like a disco!”. Of course using the word “disco immediately reinforced my agedness!
Anyway - the beer was cold! Had a beer with Wes and Meagan, Steve D, Martin our leader, some ladies from Perth, Mark Dixon. It was fun.

Getting back to some serious stuff.
It is very sad that our the fantastic SLICT (Schools Learning With ICT) Program seems to have been virtually axed with most/all? of the fantastic Central Office staff running it being sent back to schools to fill the growing list of vacancies in this crisis of teacher undersupply. Where do you think these people can have the most effect? In a classroom in front of 30 students OR leading and inspiring a hundred teachers who go back and inspire a thousand teachers who then take that knowledge and inspiration into a classroom where 30 thousand students benefit??? Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Anyway - Back to the Conference:
Martin Levins has taken us through some of the Collaborative Learning Tools available in Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) and especially in Leopard Server (which my school is installing in January).
Martin focussed on Collaborative Knowledge Creation -where students can work in groups and as individuals to build knowledge. He spoke of “flexible, autonomous, Innovative and collaborative learning”.
Using the Directory Utility you can set up a suite of Collaborative Services - wiki, blog, calendar and web mail. You can also create groups and assign people (students) to groups. Not having had any experience in these fields before (except Blogs), I was quite taken with the ease of use/administration. From my limited understanding I plan to experiment in the following ways next year:
Create a Group for my Year 8 Science Class and add all the students to it. Create a wiki for each of the “units” of work we will be covering. I worked on a prototype over the 3 day workshop. The wiki branches off into individual pages for each of the sections of the unit eg:
• Characteristics of Living Things
• Cells
• Respiration & Photosynthesis
• Animal Classification Groups
• Plant Classification Groups
On each of these pages I have listed a set of questions for the students to consider, page references in their textbook, URLs to good webpages and URLs to good YouTube and TeacherTube videos (yes - I know their are bandwidth issues, but that’s letting the tail wag the dog) along with some good images (from Creative Commons).
I hope to experiment with my students and maybe let them loose on the Wiki for a few weeks and see what happens.

Martin Levins spoke to us a lot about handing over a lot of the “control” to the kids, encouraging collaborative and flexible learning. Many of the tolos he has been showing us allow just that. Perhaps his most interesting quote came from one of his students who spoke of Martin and his co-teacher:
“the teachers don’t teach us any more.
All they do is just walk around helping us learn stuff”

So on reflection, Martin’s workshop has not just been about the wonderful new collaborative tools available in Leopard (Mac OS 10.5), but it has been about the Pedagogy.
Thanks Martin!

ITSC 07 Day 1

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:08:54 +0900

The Steve Doyle Show Part Two swung into action today. 400 participants at ITSC 07 - wow! Stephanie Hamilton from Apple USA was our first Keynote again this year. She talke a lot about what the kids of today need to be successful in our changing world. She called them “the Instant On Generation”. Everything is immediatey available for them. They are constantly multi-tasking. Why can’t the kids of today sit still? Are they ADHD or just multi-tasking? Medicate or Educate? Our kids today are the Instant-On, Personalize It, Have It My Way generation
Creativity is the key to success in the 21st century. A big shift from left-brained to”whole-brained”. Employers are now looking for creativity, Engineering students now have to take Arts units,
• She was a bit horrified at the inequitable access to Broadband in Australia
• Teachers can no loner rely on just imparting facts/knowledge
• It is estimated that by 2020 the amount of information/knowledge will double every 15 minutes
• Apple are working on a section of the iTunes Store called iTunes U which they hope will become a giant free repository of learning information and educational content
• Business is looking for Collaboration and Creativity, yet our school systems often stifle both.
• Collaboration is often called “cheating”
• For our kids Email is “so yesterday” , too slow. Now its SMS & Instant Messaging.
• We must encourage more risk-taking in schools.
• Have a look at a TeacherTube video called “Did You Know”
• Emerging technologies in Education - Virtual Worlds, Mashup,Folksonomy - tagging your content eg Del.iciou.us Flickr
• Growth of free educational Podcasts in iTunes store 2005=3,000, 2007=1.25 million
• Business now want “whole-brained” workers rather than “Left-brained”
• We must build Creativity and Innovation into our curriculum
• Kids view our schools as a Qantas Flight. “Sit down, face forward, strap yourself in, turn off your electronic devices” and be bored for several hours. If you are lucky the trip will be relevant, if not you can resume your life in 4 or 5 hours.
• Unfortunately, too often the bean counters are designing our educational infrastructures. Business Infrastructure vs Learning Design infrastructure.
• FORGET Total Cost of Ownership,
• How about Total Opportunity of Ownership?
• I don’t want 100,000 identical boxes sitting on desks. How does that cater to creativity, collaboration and risk-taking????
• Technology needs to be IN THE CLASSROOM not in a lab.
• How do we create an engaging learning environment for the Instant On Generation?
• Fix the bandwidth issue in Australia
• The Web 2.0, Constant On, User Generated Content Generation

ITSC 07 Day 0

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:00:33 +0900

Up at 3:50am. On the road to the Airport by 4:30am. The 5:45 am flight left about 30 minutes late. Arrived in a windy and cloudy Sydney and was in my hotel before 2pm.
A familiar looking bloke sitting opposite me on the train from the Airport turned out to be Roger Haley from SSAS Branch at DET!
Later I bumped into Paul Reid in the lift!

STOP PRESS!
Just heard a rumour (not from Paul or Roger) that DET slashed a heap of Central Office and District Office staff last Friday. Heaps being sent back to schools. Sad that some great programs may be badly affected as a result. But maybe I will start a different Blog Post on this later.

My Workshop Presenter, Martin Levins, emailed this description of our 3 day workshop:
(looking forward to learning heaps!)

Tuesday session 1: Workshop outline, logging on: blogging Stephanie Hamilton's keynote, getting into the whole reflective practice thing, overview of new stuff in Leopard

Tuesday session 2: wiki and podcast producer management. Blog what we've done. Add to wiki.

Tuesday session 3: shared calendars and teams directory management (organising teams access to stuff) Blog what we've done, add to wiki

Wednesday gets a bit more open as we should have a good idea of the tools.

Wed session 1: Recovery from Tuesday night. Going over Tuesday's sessions. Questions and answers and discussions. Rinse and repeat. Storyboard a project, individually or with another. This is where an idea of a project that you'd like to teach and some electronic resources will come in handy if you've brought them.

I expect the balance of Wednesday will be working to complete an online unit structure, perhaps trying it out on one another in the group. I'd like to spend some time this day looking at one another's plans so that we can offer some useful criticism

Thursday session 1: panic - show and tell is only hours away

Thursday session 2: restful contemplation and reflection (or panic - your call)

Thursday 1430: showing the world (well, bits of it anyway)

Teacher Salaries in WA

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 07:30:01 +0900

This salary information was provided on the WA Science Teachers email list.
See the two graphs.

ITSC06 - Signing Off

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 20:07:00 +0900

Well here I am, back in Perth 24 hours later.

A few final reflections -
Don Henderson talked more about creativity and how there is a lot of employment and wealth in the Creative Industries.
One in three Australian under 40 year old multi-millionaires are in the creative industries.
High Schools kill off the right brain. 100% of pre-schoolers say they can draw. A fair percent of grade sixes say they can draw, few high school kids say they can draw - are we killing creativity in Secondary schools? What is lost in the transition from Primary to Secondary?

In summary, many parts of the Conference were very well organised.
The Keynotes were fantastic.
The range of workshops seemed excellent.
The one-day idea seemed very well supported.
The two evenings were well organised.
The onsite catering was good (although crowded).
The conference seemed well attended and there were many “significant” apple educators there.
There was a large presence of Apple Staff at the conference (although it was disappointing to find those who claimed they really wanted to sit down and discuss some important issues, just didn’t seem get around to it).
Conference “handouts” were a bit light on. No Conference bag or pen. Only a lanyard which cleverly held a small version of the timetable.
A big disappointment (for me at least) was the Conference T Shirt. Apple really blew it here. A crew neck, black T Shirt with “ITSC06 Excellence In Education” printed in white was a lost advertising opportunity for Apple. No Apple logo! Astounding! Normally the Conference T Shirt is polo-shirt style (with collar). Whack the Apple logo on a nice polo shirt and give it to three or four hundred progressive educators and you’ve got some powerful advertising for Apple. These educators parade this free Apple advertising at their schools and districts. Well Apple - you blew it (as far as advertising goes) this year. I can’t wear a plain black crew neck t shirt to school, and it doesn’t have your logo on it anyway.

But, enough of that...
Thank you Apple for the opportunity to network, to attend quality PD and to have a great deal of fun in the process. I’m so glad 2005 was a just a hiccup.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who shared this fun experience with me. It was an absolute pleasure sharing your company, enthusiasm and good humour.
(I met a lot of really nice Kiwis!)
I declare ITSC06 a success!
Thanks.
Rod Blitvich

ITSC 06 Day 3

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 06:56:41 +0900

See the Slideshow - button at top of page.

Last night we took a pleasant stroll down to Cockle Bay on Darling Harbour. Steve outdid himself with this one. The 3 course menu was superb!
Tony King, CEO Apple Australia, spoke about viewing Education through the eyes of his young children. He urged us to focus on learning through Creativity. I think this was a key message that germinated and flourished throughout the conference.

I woke up early this morning with no sore head, but this theme of Creativity spinning around in my head. What can I do as a Science teacher to encourage more creativity in my students’ learning? I thought about a few things: reduce the content and allow more time for the more important stuff. Then I thought about talking with Steven Doyle some more about another ITSC type event in Perth, maybe with the motto “Be Creative” or “Creative Learning”. We got a new Minister of Education yesterday, maybe it’s time for a bit of a chat or letter or email? Maybe we could encourage the Department to re-focus? It would be great to get Marco to speak to him!

ITSC 06 Day 2

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:35:32 +0900

Marco kicked us off this morning with a moving Keynote. Marco’s passion shines through and he put a heap of work into his presentation. (I paid him to put a picture of me in his talk - thanks Cobber!!!).
Marco warned that “If you CAN be replaced, you WILL be replaced”. Are we still just re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?
Is what we are doing still - Relevant? Meaningful? Applicable?
Learning used to be “lean back”, but now it’s becoming “lean forward”.
Marco uses the power of the image in his classroom. He allows students to express themselves in meaningful ways, particularly with movie. It is not the technology or the high-end applications that count, it is the message and the meaning. Which conveys more meaning (and empowers more learning) - a 15 page Term Paper or a 3 minute movie??

THE POWER OF THE IMAGE
The impact of the Image on academia.
Marco’s goal is not to get kids to University but to make “good people” and “responsible citizens”

You have 3 options - Quit, Complain or Innovate.

ITSC 06 Day 1

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:58:29 +0900

The “Steve Doyle Show” rolled smoothly into action today after a slight hiccup last year.
Great location and facilities, very well organised and heaps of Apple presence as well as legendary educators from around the country and the US.
Stephanie Hamilton from Apple USA provided a stimulating Keynote talking about change- the changing world, changing technology and changing learners. Yet one of the most change resistant occupations is Teaching. Are we catering to the multi-threaded digital natives? Are we preparing them for the world they will soon enter? What skills are the employers of tomorrow looking for? We need to encourage creativity, problem solving, collaboration, interpersonal skills and self-direction. Most drop-outs don’t leave school because it’s too hard, rather because it’s too boring. Don’t teach “technology for technology’s sake, integrate it into your subject area as a tool to achieve the learning outcomes you strive for.

So... where was the mystery dinner? Bridge Climb? Boat cruise? Wrong! - We went to the Sydney Bowling Club for lawn bowls! What a laugh! I guess we’re getting old!! But it was good fun, although I feel sorry for the poor instructors who were faced with a mob of beer drinking fellows who couldn’t pay attention and had dubious bowling skills. It was a successful, fun evening. Very clever Steve!

Is it true that Steve Doyle provided free beer ALL NIGHT???
What a great guy!
:)

ITSC06 Day 0

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 19:23:43 +0900

Left home at 5am. Yawn!
Strong easterly winds in Perth made for a bumpy take-off.
Landed in Sydney around 1pm.
Get train from airport to Sydney Central - a major feat for a small town boy! Did a quick bit of shopping, but my favourite Paddy’s Markets aren’t open until Thursday.
Nice hotel room. Put a couple of Crownies in the fridge and had sushi for a late lunch, then a nap, then laksa for dinner.
Looking forward to catching up with the Apple crew - especially my “cobber” Marco Torres from the US.

No Mac Laptops For WA Teachers!

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:41:50 +0800

In April 2005, negotiations commenced between the Western Australian Department of Education and Training (DET) and Apple Computer Australia for a contract to replace the Notebooks For Teachers (NFT) Apple iBooks.
In November 2005, the first of the 3 year leases for Apple iBooks expired. Teachers expecting to replace these leased laptops with new iBooks were told the contract hadn’t quite been finalised, but would hopefully be in place in time for them to receive their new iBooks in February.
In February, these patient teachers were told that things still weren’t finalised.
So continued this cycle of waiting patiently, then being told - just a bit longer, almost there.
Below are direct quotes from both parties:

“We are still working through the processes and hopefully will have a resolution shortly.” - Apple, Jan 23rd
“... We HOPE to have iBooks included before...Feb 3rd” DET, January
“...we expect to offer iBooks again before long.” - DET February 1.
“Hang in there - closure is not too far away.” - Apple, 21 February
“...hope to have the matter resolved shortly” - Apple, 9 May
“...hope to be able to report a successful outcome soon.” - Apple 17 May

So, here we are 15 months after negotiations commenced and 7 months after the contract expired and where have we got? - Nowhere!
There are teachers who have iBooks heading close to 4 years old. They have run out of Hard Disk space and are anxious for new updated models - as their ACER using colleagues received months ago.
It’s not good enough!

We are concerned that Apple doesn’t seem very worried by the situation.
Has Apple done all in its power to resolve this problem? Some say “No”.
Some say “What’s a thousand iBooks to Apple?- Nothing.”
Why isn’t Apple chasing this harder?
Why are Apple staff simply ignoring our emails?

The longer this stalemate continues, the more Apple users will give up and sign up for an ACER laptop. The further behind Apple will get. The happier the DET Central Office Windows advocates will be!
This will be sad because teachers will be denied the superior platform that enhances their creativity and the learning outcomes of their kids will suffer.

We ask a few questions of Apple:
Why are you ignoring the emails of your long time passionate Apple Evangelists in Perth?
Are you serious about the Education market in Australia?
If so, what are you doing about the ITSC mess? ( see Bring Back ITSC )
If you are serious about Education - What are you going to do about the Apple NFT mess in Western Australia?
When can you bring this mess to closure?

Bring Back ITSC

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:51:06 +0800

BACKGROUND:
ITSC stands for Apple's annual
Innovative Technology In Schools Conference.
It has been held annually in December for many years (except for 2005).
ITSC is regarded as Australia’s premiere ‘hands-on’ education and technology conference. This unique conference focuses on supporting the creative, innovative and collaborative use of technology in the learning and teaching environment.

• ITSC has been held in early December
• ITSC is held at the University of Wollongong
• ITSC lasts for 3 or 4 consecutive days
• ITSC attendees have come from across Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia
• ITSC had been organised by a steering committee of Apple Educators
• In 2005 changes within Apple Australia saw a new Education staff attempt to organise ITSC with little benefit of past experience. The conference details were released late and with 3 weeks to go Apple decided there were insufficient registrations and they made the monumental decision to cancel the conference.

ITSC Pluses

• Working "in depth" on an extended project for several days
• The key to the success of ITSC has been the nature of its 3-4 day intensive extended project work in a residential environment
• Working with experts
• Networking and sharing
• International/Inspiring Keynote Speakers
• Location
• Facilities at UOW
• Campus East - nice accommodation
• International House - great because walking distance form the Uni and close to train station.
• Marco Torres
• Don Henderson
• Fun and Cameraderie

ITSC Minuses

• It (sadly) didn't happen in 2005
• Few workshops catering for above Beginner/Intermediate level
• Lack of Relevance of workshops for IT Leaders in schools
• The demise of the "Show and Tell" workshops (2 or 3 would be nice)
• Workshop Program was posted late in 2005
• Workshop Program seems to have become less Innovative
• Some (primary?) teachers reported that early December is an inconvenient time (but I'm not sure you can please everyone)
• Lack of notice in 2005 (teachers need 3 months notice)

ITSC Suggested Improvements

• Keep it in late November/early December - for many of us teacher relief costs are negligible at this time of year ( normally relief costs are $250 per day)
• Wollongong is a good location
• Identify the audience! Innovative Technology in Schools sounds like the IT leaders in schools, the digital trailblazers and digital pioneers. Cater to these people.
• More workshops for Intermediate/Advanced levels
• More Innovative Workshops
• A greater focus on catering to the IT leaders in schools (who are more likely to attend)
• Bring back the Show and Tell workshops
• Strive to expose us to new technologies and challenge us to think of ways to use this in the classroom to improve student learning outcomes
• Some skill building workshops eg Introduction to Motion, Aperture, DV Studio Pro, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro etc, Filemaker Pro, Garageband, iStopmotion etc. If it is too difficult to arrange three day full-on workshops in this skill building area then how about a few show and tell workshops in this area?
• Re-introduce a Seering Committee of Educators
• Encourage Innovators and Risk Takers
• Do not make length less than 3 or 4 days
• MUST give at least 3 months notice (including workshop details)
• Make more use of the considerable depth of talent that exists in the Australian Apple community
• Provide a number of workshops with immediate real-world applications for the classroom. Try to think of cross-curricular applications.
• Not necessarily related to ITSC but - bring back the AEE (Apple Educator of Excellence award). This award was for people who make a significant contribution to Apple computing education, but aren't quite at ADE (Apple Distinguished Educator) level. It was designed to recognise and encourage their contribution. It didn't provide them with expensive hardware, but with Apple software and some help with Professional Development.

Bring Back The AEE

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:17:59 +0800

Bring Back the AEE (Apple Educator of Excellence award).
This award was for people who make a significant contribution to Apple computing education, but aren't quite at ADE (Apple Distinguished Educator) level. It was designed to recognise and encourage their contribution. It didn't provide them with expensive hardware, but with Apple software and some help with Professional Development.
• I don't think the AEE award is much skin off Apple's nose. Not a great deal of cost. But a positive encouragement to those who continue to fight the good fight.
• I also think that by encouraging this next level of Educator, Apple would actually benefit.
• If you tell another 20 or so people they are AEEs and offer them a cool T Shirt, access to Apple software (which they will role model with) and get them to a bit of free or subsidized PD then it doesn’t cost much, everyone wins, and people doing the right thing will feel good about it.
• Apple could consider it a "seeding" exercise, whereby they have a bunch of enthusiastic people modelling their great software in schools and at Education PD events.
• If Apple is serious about its Education roots, it would consider this suggestion. See below for details: