ULearn16 | My closing keynote …

Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective. Standing on the shoulders of giants. Well, better late than never — but it is with much pleasure and a mighty dollop of relief that I share […]

Growing digital smarts? Check our biases…

‘Tis the night before the #edchatnz conference and I am mulling over the session I am hoping to facilitate… It’s been just over a month since I joined NetSafe as their new Director of Education, and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting my head around a ‘same but different’ view window on education. The ‘same’ being broad, effective […]

What is digital fluency?

[This was originally posted on the CORE Education blog.] A recent announcement from Hon. Hekia Parata signalled that digital fluency will be a key focus for Ministry centrally-funded professional learning support in 2016 (PLD Changes will lift student achievement, 23 Sept. 2015). The value of growing digitally fluent learners was signalled in the Ministry report, […]

Transforming our learners’ experiences

“Leaders that sustain their transformation always remember the reason for the journey: Transformation leads to new ways of helping families to self-sufficiency. Transformation increases capacity to help communities” (Oftelie, 2014). Talking about ‘transformation’ can feel rather esoteric, vague and resonant of a hundred other buzz words of the moment. That said, what’s important is to […]

Safe Robots, Enchanted Objects & Data Mining | #ConnectAU15

“There’s now a ‘burning platform’ for change where the cost of *not* changing is greater than the cost to change” – @dtapscott The sessions below were part of the Connect Expo (April 2014) and ‘The Next Big Thing’ summit – and they captured some of the interesting things that are happening in relation to the Internet […]

Sebastian Thrun – Moonshot Thinking | ConnectAU15

Notes from @SebastianThrun‘s keynote: Google [X] projects Working on Google [X] – we needed: a huge problem a radical solution a breakthrough in technology Only 1% of interesting things have been invented – Google may only be working with 0.1% of ways to improve people’s lives. For example: The driverless car as a way to remove […]

‘Next Big Thing Summit’ with Don Tapscott – Keynote notes | #ConnectAU15

The Next Big Thing Summit is one of eight summits within the huge Connect Expo in Melbourne, 21-22 April 2015. My notes from Don Tapscott’s keynote. He’s launching a 20th edition of The Digital Economy. The pace of technology is moving almost too fast for us to understand. We’re moving into the second half of the digital chessboard (cf. […]

IPad app: Barefoot World Atlas

New app this week just released in the iTunes app store, Barefoot World Atlas might seem steep at $10(NZ)+ – but if you don’t own a globe, and have children, this might be just the thing (that’s what I told myself anyway 😉 Key features include: Ambient music Full spinning 3D globe with animated sequences […]

Give Duck Duck Go a go

I’ve been playing with the search engine Duck Duck Go this month. You seen it? Stripped down, minimalist, promising not to remember your search history, tailor its findings based on your previous searches, or target you with pesky advertising. The blurb about how it works – and why – is intriguing. Ever thought about livening […]

My first play with augmented reality

A bit fiddly taking a screen shot with the iPhone while holding the earth steady – but I got there:) Inspired by a Twitter conversation with @allanahk and @kevinhoneycutt’s keynote at Learning@School…