Let's talk about learning and leading
It’s been a week or two of interesting stories related to school students harnessing social networks in order to make a point. We’ve had school speeches on the state of education and a plea for puffer jackets to name the most recent two. There has been reciprocal handwringing on the part of the press in response that has […]
Read More Got tech? Hear me roar!“I have children in my class whose parents do not want them to appear online. So how can I do collaborative work with those children? They have to do something else and that’s not fair at all…” It is quite normal, even ideal, to surface crunchy questions during sessions with schools. One of the workshops […]
Read More Only some of us can be digital citizensJust out this week is this report from OFCOM in the UK: Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report [October 2013]. It’s worth a read through, even at the Exec Summary level, as it offers an interesting snapshot of where usage of the web and devices to access it are rising and falling amongst young […]
Read More Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report | OfcomI recently presented a series of keynotes, developed with Dr John Fenaughty, on the topic of digital citizenship and how fear-based messages, curriculum add-ons and reliance of filters are not as likely to foster digital citizens as much as embedding it in authentic curriculum-based learning. I went phishing fishing on YouTube for positive messages and […]
Read More Learning online | The kids are all right…My young daughter keeps a WordPress blog. She calls it ‘My Pet Shop – A space to care for little ideas’ and it uses the ‘strange little town’ theme because it’s pink with strange little houses along the bottom. She adds photos, comments, recordings using Soundcloud and video. Her main focus at the moment is […]
Read More Does a blog matter if no-one replies?It’s been a busy couple of weeks at a couple of conference days in Taranaki and Napier – and the highlight of Friday was a day spent with the Digital Daze cluster, in workshops and with a keynote, before their community celebration that was their DigiAwards. A key idea that I and colleague, Chrissie Butler, […]
Read More ICTs in education: What’s important?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 […]
Read More IPad app: Barefoot World AtlasThis is a post about learning…but bear with me while I work off a ranty-preamble… The six-year-old had a lesson on banking today from a well-known Southern Hemisphere bank. Let’s call it the Absolutely Solid Bank, for argument’s sake. She came home, all excited about a cash-gobbling monster stomping through stories with a salutary message: ‘Zoom to […]
Read More Did I over-react?Finally. I have found a great post that articulates really sensibly the role that a parent could – should? – take to support their child’s developing understanding and awareness of digital citizenship. I was struck by the way the author, Molly Baker, embraces the benefits, and takes a pragmatic approach to the potential challenges. She acknowledges […]
Read More When your 13-year-old joins FacebookTonight I wrote a letter to one of my daughters – the 3 year old – that urged her to stay happy and smiling, be strong and good for the people looking after her. I told her I loved her loads and that I would with her as soon as I could. This letter may […]
Read More A letter to my daughter trapped by a disaster
karen spencer 