Bolting on cybersafety? | Day 8 #28daysofwriting

In the last couple of days, Google and the Alannah and Madeline Foundation announced a further development in their relationship: a $1.2 million grant from Google so that the e-Smart Digital Licence “will be made available to every grade 6 student in Australia in 2015” – Medianet. You can read all about this licence here: https://www.digitallicence.com.au/home – […]

Dichotomies: Round 1 | #28daysofwriting Day 6

A few things swirling around the head today, largely as a result of chat on Twitter and elsewhere with folks in the UK, tapping back into some of the shifts in systems and structure over there in the last few years. There were one or two interesting tweets about how some folk saw trendy ‘rubbish’ […]

You go where you look | Day 5 #28daysofwriting

It’s a worthwhile task discussing the ‘why’ behind our actions – why we tried one particular activity, why we think of a certain student in the way we do – and to have a critical and supportive culture in which to have these challenging conversations.

We go where we look. So it’s vital to know where we are looking. And why.

More jerk than clean | Days 3 & 4 #28daysofwriting

Learning something – anything – new is hard. Learning something new as you get older, I think, can be even tougher. It’s a good reminder of how it feels to be that student…

Doing. Being. Becoming | Day 2 #28daysofwriting

Doing “Some women have…gone mad for lack of things to do” (Florence Nightingale, via Woodham-Smith, 1952). I can’t say this was ever true for me – and those who know me well would laugh at the idea. In fact, the phrase ‘human doing’ might suit me better than ‘human being’. Most folk will comment on […]

28 days kick off, 2 days late…

Well, I’m already late to this particular blogging party, kicked off by my mate and NoTosh creative-meister, Tom Barrett. Three days in and it’s in full swing. Half the food has gone from the buffet and someone’s already dancing in the garden. The challenge: to write every day throughout February. Possibly also completing in 28 […]

The death of the digital community?

This post is my contributing chapter for the special Connected Educator Month project #edbooknz – an e-book launched by Sonja Van Schaijik. Many thanks to Rachel Roberts for her ‘warm yet challenging’ feedback:) “My seven year old daughter knows that her father congregates with a family of invisible friends who seem to gather in his […]

7 characteristics of a true connected educator

Being connected is dispositional – the modern educator must adapt expertise to serve the evolving needs of their learner. Here are what I assert are the 7 characteristics of a connected educator…

Connected Educator Month goes global: My interview with the CEM team in the US

I am a few days into Connected Educator Month here in New Zealand and it’s hugely exciting what’s already started to happen. I’m leading this initiative as part of CORE Education, with a team from Victoria, Australia and the original Connected Educator Team in the US. Here is an interview I gave for the global CEM site: […]

Ten Trends 2014: Global connectedness

[Cross-posted from the CORE Education blog – here is my recent post for the Ten Trends series, published by CORE Education] Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi | With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive Most of us now have more opportunities to connect with others […]