Virtual Learning Network

Replies

• • Enabling e-Learning@Enabling.eLearning

  

  Enabling e-Learning (View all users posts) 12 Jul 2011 9:52am (4461 days ago)

  Thanks for sharing your comments, Innes and Stephanie - and for being the first 'off the block'.

  I think with technology, in particular, the pace of change is so fast that it's always a focus for our own learning, as well as thinking about the oportunities for students' learning, too.

• • Enabling e-Learning@Enabling.eLearning

  

  Enabling e-Learning (View all users posts) 19 Jul 2011 4:17pm (4453 days ago)

  Deidre, Nigel and Isaac - thanks for sharing your experiences. You all touch on the value of seeing others work, something that is often really hard to manage in our busy lives, especially for those schools so geographically isolated.

  Walkthroughs in your own school, though, can be just as powerful - sometimes we can feel very cut off in the walls of our own classroom.

  What are your views on videoing each other?! - would that be as powerful as actually being there?

• • Enabling e-Learning@Enabling.eLearning

  

  Enabling e-Learning (View all users posts) 15 Aug 2011 9:36am (4427 days ago)

  There has certainly been plenty of discussion online about how Twitter is an excellent tool for professional learning. How do we reconcile this kind of 'dipping one's toes in the water' kind of learning, with the deep, sustained processes that are described by Timperely et al. in the Best Evidence Synthesis on Teacher PLD?

  I blogged about this dilemma recently...but I guess the devil's advocate  question is: does micro-blogging 'count' as effective teacher learning?

• • Enabling e-Learning@Enabling.eLearning

  

  Enabling e-Learning (View all users posts) 15 Aug 2011 9:39am (4427 days ago)

  I agree that there is a nice synergy between the effective pedagogy approches in the NZC and the opportunities offered by 'web 2.0' technologies. In fact, the powerful shift for many with e-learning is understanding when you do and don't need technology, if that makes sense. Developing an inquiring approach to teaching, so that technology is used deliberately, can be a huge shift for all of us.

• • Enabling e-Learning@Enabling.eLearning

  

  Enabling e-Learning (View all users posts) 16 Aug 2011 9:21am (4426 days ago)

  I applaud you, Melanie, for putting your thoughts out there and responding so honestly to my (deliberately provocative!) question. It is an issue I myself have grappled with - what counts as effective, blended PD? - but I think increasingly that a variety of activities (such as online in the VLN/Twitter and F2F) that challenge our thinking and keep us inquiring about how well how students are engaging with the curriculum are essentail.

  You paint a powerful picture of the importance of being connected to our colleagues, especially when we are isolated or very busy. The aim of a space like this is to help teachers to connect and begin to engage in a variety of learning opportunities to support/extend their learning in schools. The community relies on people like yourself being brave enough to share their thinking in public.

  Your post reflects a fierce desire to keep going with your own learning - a competency that not everyone develops - so good on you.

  Your contributions are highly valued in our community - do keep sharing. We all benefit when each of us is confident enough to participate in these spaces.