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…

Take flight with Mr. Morris Lessmore

This is beautiful. It doesn’t matter what you read your stories on – papyrus or screen – if you love to read, you’ll be captivated by this gorgeous allegory. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore on Vimeo

ICT and learning: 5 myths – busted!

A recent conference I attended was a hotbed of exciting ideas, inspirational speakers and wonderful stories. Many of these focused on how to make the most of what technology can offer the learner. But whispered amongst the enthusiastic conversation and bubbling excitement, there lurked a handful of myths. Myths that need busting. MYTH 1: All […]

Learning design with Christian Long

Today, I, and colleagues from CORE Education, were lucky enough to spend a morning with Christian Long (@christianlong) who was over in New Zealand for the Learning@School conference (#lats12). It was an inspirational shot in the arm – it’s good to lift one’s head up over the parapet and get the long view, and horizon-gaze. Day-dream. […]

What I’d want my teacher to know about me

Allanah King, in her blog Life is not a race to be first finished, shared an idea. It’s a really simple idea, and also a really powerful one – and you’d be amazed at how such a simple idea can be overlooked by teachers in the heady rush of the start of a new school […]

The Joy of Books

I may be loving my Kindle, and I’m passionate about literature, but I love books just as much (or …*whisper it*..maybe more..). This beautiful film captures the magic. What do YOUR books do while your asleep?! And I’ll be sharing the joy on my Reviews in 140 reading list. Just turn the page to view…..

Teach carpentry, not hammer | Future-proofing NZ schools

“What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology…No amount of technology will make a dent…. You’re not going to solve the problems by putting all knowledge onto CD-ROMs. We can put a website in every school – none of this is bad. It’s bad only if it lulls us into thinking we’re doing something […]

‘Let’s Transform Education’: A great discussion starter

This video is a great conversation or professional development starter. It’s a neat compilation of quotations from longer TED talks and interviews that coalesce around the theme of student-driven, collaborative learning. No surprises but powerful nonetheless…enjoy:-)

Masters: Part 1: The boring bit

They all said it would be boring. They groaned and moaned and rolled their eyes. They sighed deeply. So I can’t say I wasn’t warned when I enrolled for a Research Methods paper this year. This is a compulsory precursor to completing a thesis, to complete my Masters. So, a necessary hoop (necessary evil?) through which […]