edcamp Global 2015: Harnessing your Ecosystems

I caught up with a few sessions for edcampglobal over Saturday, and loads of chat on twitter.  Sunday morning dawned and I had to extract myself from family time and head to the office for our session: edcamp Global 2015: Harnessing your Ecosystems

So, what is it, that takes you away from your family time on a Sunday? 

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata - undoutedly it is always the people. 

Some time ago the amazing Fiona Grant gathered together a group of educators from around New Zealand to share a story, discuss how we are connecting in and around New Zealand, indeed, how we are harnessing our ecosystems.  

A bit of history is necessary to share my passion for the #educamp philosophy. 

Way back in July 2011, I travelled to Whangarei and attended my first ever educamp - educamptaitokerau and I was completely and utterly hooked.  

And so begun the journey of educamps in the mainland...

Claire and Anne share the story of the inaugural educampdunners...

Educamp Dunedin from EDtalks on Vimeo.
Claire Buist from St Clair School, Dunedin, and Anne Kenneally from St Mary's School, Mosgiel, tell of their experience in holding an educamp in Dunedin. Claire and Anne describe how the day came about and why the educamp experience was so successful.

Evident from the onset was the open sharing and support from Fiona and from around New Zealand. For each and every educamp there is a genuine willingness to support others in this crusade - to provide an opportunity for open, free, connecting, networking and sharing.  

Dunedin has now celebrated six educamps and a padcamp.  Each one unique, special and its own kind of MAGICAL.

Alongside this in the deep south, Christchurch held its first educamp in 2012, and has followed up with an annual event and the inaugural #padcamp in 2012.

Timaru has recently celebrated its third educamp, Central Otago have celebrated three educamps and Invercargill is hosting their second educamp next Saturday, 15th August. 

What is it that keeps this incredible phenomena going. Undoubtedly, as I said at the start, it is the people and the open sharing.  It is impossible to come away from an educamp without a multitude of ideas, connections, and fully recharged batteries.  The buzz of people, sharing, learning is simply contagious. Continually, we battle with ensuring the news of educamps is spread far and wide. We rely on participants to spread the news and bring newbies to events. We rely on the generosity of educators to share their practice, successes and challenges.  We rely on enthusiasm for sharing to our SMACKDOWNS. 

So, here we are, eight years into a journey that Fiona began in Auckland, celebrating educamps, connected educators the length and breadth of our country.  

Thank you Fiona for your MAGIC, your inspiration and generous sharing, and support.  New Zealand educators are ever so much richer for the experience.  

Thanks also to Annemarie Hyde, Barbara Reid, Juliet Revell and Philippa Antipas for sharing in the conversation.  Indeed, a wonderful way to spend time on a Sunday morning. 

A huge part of the educamp experience for me has been in travelling to other events and hosting educators from around NZ. So next week, we travel south, for #educampinvers.  Please come and join us, face to face, or virtually and experience the MAGIC of connecting and sharing with like minded educators...  

edcamp global

Reflecting on #educampdunners

Friday night saw me return to Dunedin just ahead of my house guests for #educampdunners and so the adventures began.   Dinner at Nellies was followed by a few attempts at caching, a tour of Mosgiel and a continuation of the ‘no rules photo competition’.  A reasonably early night was necessary to prepare for the big day!

Saturday dawned bright and clear and off we headed to Blend for a coffee on the way to Silverstream!  Arriving to balloons and the venue all set ready to go with coffee, tea, juice and sweet treats was fabulous.  A HUGE thank you to Silverstream school for hosting and to Andrea and Janine for their hard work. 

For me there is nothing as exciting as the bubble of educative chatter, and this was no exception.  I just love reconnecting with educators, meeting newbies and sharing the buzz of educamp.

This SMACKDOWN builds on the front of the 2013 SMACKDOWN presentation to continue to share and grow the current highlights, success, and challenges we are facing.   A really unique and serendipitous addition to this educamp was the ability to live stream in the #teachmeetnz with 6 educators from around New Zealand presenting a three minute snapshot of their current inquiry  or journey.  It was also serendipitous to connect virtually with educators around New Zealand involved in the  Festival of Education.  Indeed this was a HIGE weekend for education in NZ.

Sessions at educamp focused on blogging, connecting with other classes, authentic audiences, and sharing learning creations; personal learning journeys; collaborative teaching, modern learning practice and much, much more.

As 1.30 rolled round we reflected on the morning and agreed we were only beginning to scratch the surface of many areas, and agreed we need to carry on this learning and sharing.  Next educamp MAGIC is #educampcentralotago at Alexandra Primary School in Central Otago on 17^th May.

Next educamp in Dunedin is likely to be 23^rd August at John McGlashan College.

A large chunk of participants heading from #educampdunners to Topiary Tree Café where the conversations, socializing, learning and fun carried on well into the late afternoon.  What a MAGIC day!

The next challenge is to build on this, grow the network and share the learning as we work to improve outcomes for all learners.

Please check out the storify which captures the story of the day through a compilation of tweets!

#educampdunners http://sfy.co/ien1  

We have also opened up the e-teach facebook group to allow educators to connect in this forum also.

One new idea to try is to start a shared presentation to share current reading that is informing our practice!  Watch this space…..

#educamptimaru

Check out the MAGIC of today....

Winging my way to #padcampchch

Here I am up in the clouds again… winging my way to the inaugural #padcampchch.  

 Just loving the illusion of the mountains and the clouds separating the land and the sky....

Just what MAGIC is in store for us today? 

Soon after the inaugural educampchch, Carol Kendall initiated  #padcampchch and I immediately booked my airfares.  Having been in Christchurch for four days last week I knew I could not afford the time for a five hour drive each way.  I also knew that I could not miss this professional learning opportunity.

I have had an iPad for over a year now and I’m running a BYOB class with a large number of students bringing iPads or iPods to class.  I am constantly in awe of the creativity and learning potential of both the learners and the tool and I am very keen to realise more potential in our use of it.  Yesterday was our class assembly and three boys in class chose to share about their use of their devices.  I loved listening to them talk about the ubiquity and ownership; the power of the device and the way they share their learning with others in little app fests.  They really are controlling the learning journey. 

I had a blended learning vision early in 2012 where the learners would be able to access learning online at anytime and face to face and collaboratively in class.  We do the face to face and in class learning well but I am still only beginning the fully blended online learning capability.   Our blog is fabulous for sharing our learning journey.  Our wiki is an amazing site where each learner is co-creating our learning journey.  Our Google sites are beginning to share the potential of a blended environment. 

I am also only baby steps along the journey of digital citizenship but every day brings an opportunity to share and discuss ownership of learning and sharing and collaboration. 

I was away from class last week and came back to find that my lovely class had not really managed their learning selves in the way they do when I am there.  It was nothing major at all, just little things like not taking responsibility for learning tasks or their individual responsibilities.  I was really disappointed and discussed it with them and staff.  My very perceptive teacher who shares my class told me to relax.  She likens my expectations of independence to senior high school.  This was a very welcome comment, as I was really beating myself up.  I was also questioning whether the learners were ‘managing themselves’ “just for me”.  Lots of great discussions and learning later and we are on a wonderful path to extending our self management. 

Looking out the window I am comparing my learner's self management to the tributaries of this river or the mash up of the patchwork quilt of fields... Certain things just have to happen to realise full potential...

Anyway – back to #padcampchch.  I am really excited about the potential of networking with amazing educators from around New Zealand.  As Jo tweeted this morning – it is MAGIC when the twitter family meet up face to face.  I am really excited about the entire focus of the day – creative use of the iPad.  This is not about the apps!  It is about using the tool to enhance learning opportunities and to empower creativity.  I often reflect on the cover of the recent interface magazine signalling the death of the desktop…. I wonder how far away we are from the death of the laptop.  The power of the iPad as a learning tool continues to amaze and inspire.

So, here I am on 1 September 2012, the first day of spring, winging my way to Christchurch on “Random Act of Kindness Day”.  A day to really ensure MAGIC happens everywhere all the time. 

I have been really unwell and my ears and nose are really blocked, my throat is aching… The wonderful air host just stopped by for a chat and MAGIC happened.  He bought me a container of carvel to sniff to clear my nose and ears and it is amazing.  They really are clearing.  So there we go… 7.35am and the first Random Act of Kindness has come my way…  

I wonder how many I can sneak in today to really make this the most special day it can really be.  We are expected into Christchurch early – so not long now til I catch-up with Jo, Tara and Pauline and we head off to Wairairi for the MAGIC of the day…

#educampcentralotago

Another MAGICAL educamp experience to blog about!
Up at 5.30am excited for an adventure and on the road before day break!  Jane, Claire and I enjoyed a very foggy drive through the majestic landscape...

The intrigue of the fog offered so many photo opportunities... all of these snapped on my iphone out the window of a travelling car!  Can you just imagine the photos Jane would have snapped... but as she was driving we gathered these shots of the MAGIC of the fog, the sunrise, the haze and the beauty of the dawn...

We were all the way to Alexandra before we found a cafe open for a coffee - The Tin Goose! Yummy muffin and latte to start the day and a spot of Christmas shopping... this recipe book for my amazing chef!

We arrived at Cromwell College and were welcomed into the buzz of educators gathering on a Saturday to learn, share, network, inspire! Karla welcomed us and the introductions and SMACKDOWN began.  The sheer range and diversity of learning tools, sites, apps, opportunities is what makes educamp gatherings soooo special.  I love the relaxed collaborative nature of the sharing facilitated by Karla. The use of Google Presestation for the SMACKDOWN allowed for collaboration, linking, note taking and sharing of possibilities.

A first round of breakouts saw discussions around movie-making, google apps/sites and ipad apps.  The sharing on the google doc allowed for the MAGIC of each session to be shared and enjoyed by all.  I was inspired by Kieran with his use of google sites and again I commit to making this work for us in our Room 6 learning journey.  I continue to be inspired by the sharing by amazing educators!  I am loving this Nayland site - I can see such potential for us as a staff to collaborate and create resources for our learners....
Time for another coffee, a chance to catch-up and network and off we went into another round of sessions.  I enjoyed an inspiring session on Movie Making with the amazing Laetitia!  I am empowered to engage my learners!  In fact I can't wait til Monday to get it up and running - I am linking it to our class wiki and blog tonight to allow the learners to get as excited about it as I am!!!

A link posted on Twitter during a break really inspired us and Claire and I are working on a Bingo board for our staff and one for our class... I think my class one will be around the making of our first news movie this week....

http://salwal.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/we-are-all-learning-ict-bingo.pdf

All too soon the educamp drew to a close... So much more to learn, share, discuss.... The learning will continue on the google doc!

Lunch in Cromwell in the sun before we began to meander our way home!  An early finish gave us plenty of time to enjoy the trip and catch up on a much needed caching fix...

The blue sky, the reflections, the beauty of our landscape...  I would love to know the story of the rock dweller on the laptop.....
We even detoured off the main road in search of a cache and met a beautiful Bambi....

She ate from my hand and really seemed to be pleading with me to free her from her enclosure! A coffee stop in Lawrence and the light glinting off the blades of the wind farm turbines drew us up the hill for a closer inspection and a cache with a travel bug!  The sheer magnitude of these austere giants has to be seen to be believed.  And as if by MAGIC the still statues whirred into life before our eyes...

And as the sun set we headed for home.  A mere 12 hours away from home... What a truly MAGICAL day.  - #centralotagoeducamp 

Batteries recharged, brain buzzing with new possibilities, new connections, new friends, New Zealand appreciated a little more for her beauty and contrast.....

A MAGICAL journey with two very special friends!

The MAGIC of educampakl

The eve of  #educampakl  And so begins another MAGICal journey.  I am onboard NZ674 bound for Auckland.   As a self confessed educamp groupie, I viewed the educampakl wiki and my yearning began.  I eagerly watched grabaseat but last week it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen.   Kind words from my exceptionally supportive family saw me book flights late last week, after a very kind offer of host from Helen King – fellow e-fellow!

Although bursting with excitement I decided to keep my journey the length of NZ quiet. 

So, let me share a little of the MAGIC of the past two days…

Last night, the worst kept secret of Mosgiel was confirmed.  St Mary’s School, Mosgiel is moving over the road.  Reasons for this are: future proofing the school, greater land area and an opportunity to locate the school within the Parish grounds.  True utopia would see a rebuild, but we are going for a move and a re-fit.  However, last night’s plans show an innovative reconfigure which will see five classrooms opening onto a learning pod, a shared, collaborative learning space.  All these classrooms will have glass sliding doors opening onto the pod.  The cosmetic refit will also see our school well placed for the education of future generations. 

A complete rewire will see fibre/conduit placing us ready for the UFB roll out!  Many decisions are yet to be finalised but the potential is there for input from the school community into the final colours, cosmetics, and surrounds. 

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/217871/why-st-marys-school-will-cross-road

Reasons I believe this will work:

·         The refit will see us with collaborative learning spaces;

·         We will gain significantly with ground space;

·         A complete face lift will really brighten, lighten and modernise all classes.

·         Community involvement will strengthen our home/school partnership;

·         A new start…

·         Future proofed – room to expand….

·         Appeal – already we have kept a year 6 student who was looking to leave – staying to be a foundation pupil of school on new site..

·         Opportunity to leave our mark – and opportunity to make our mark – time capsules will be essential at both ends…

·         Change – change is GOOD!

Back to the adventure at hand - #educampakl

Why am I so uber excited ?  What is the appeal?  For me, it is definitively the people – he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!  Gathering with like minded people charges me, amps me, inspires and motivates me.  This journey is a bridge for me – it is the connection from my inaugural educamp, #educamptaitokerau in 2011 to the future.  There has been a lot of water under the educamp bridge – from Tai Tokerau, to the inaugural dunners, to the second dunners, to the inaugural educamp chch to #eudcampakl…

For me, tomorrow will be all about the connections, the networking, the discovering, the sharing…  As I anticipate reconnecting with tweets I visited on Twitter tour 2011 I am hyped and empowered and charged for learning.  To return to Stonefields is utopian.  As I relive the MAGIC of my visit there in 2011, I feel the power and connection to the transition our school is about to undergo.  Although we will not have the open learning hubs, we will have the collaborative space which, I believe, will be very beneficial for the teaching practice of all. 

Here on this flight I anticipate the reconnection with Helen King, Fiona Grant, Barbs, Michael, Amanda. Paula, Tina, Anna, Chris, Sarah, Jane, Stephanie,

And meeting f2f for the first time, those from my PLN.

For me – it is all in the Holstee Manifesto…

·         Start doing the things you love;

·         Ask the next person you meet what their passion is and share your inspiring dream with them;

·         Travel often;

·         Some opportunities only come once – seize them;

·         Open your mind, heart and arms to new things;

·         We are united in our differences;

·         Go out and start creating;

·         Life is short – live your dream!

So, here I am again, poised on the brink of the MAGIC of educamp!  What it will be that will really light my fire I cannot say!  But I know my fire will be lit, my battery will be recharged, and my passion will be shared.  Perhaps that is the key, my passion to learn, to share, to inspire…. Yes the MAGIC of educamps for me, are the opportunity to really live your passion….

I arrived in Auckland to be greeted by Queen Helen and Princess Marika and the MAGIC continued… What a wonderful welcome and a great night spent chilling with a very cool family….

Up early, uber excited for an adventure we set off to deliver Princess Marika for her play date then visited Pt England school.  It was truly AMAZING to visit Helen’s class and fel the inspiration, passion and learning in the room.  It is always so special to really feel the heartbeat of a classroom.  One day I must return to meet these learners…

Then out for breakfast with Helen and Helen –amazing eggs Benedict!

Over we go to Stonefields… déjà vu – the memories of my visit flooding back, the MAGIC of the conversations with Sarah, Chris and Kirstin, the MAGIC of the learning hubs, the MAGIC of the visible learning journey….

Walking in with Helen, we are greeted with the passion and depth of feeling that is made possible by the online connecting and the face-to-face meetings.  To reconnect with Helen, Fiona, Stephanie, Caroline, Sarah, Barbs, Allanah, Michael, Anna, Kirstin, Sonya , Rachel, Amanda, Paula, Jane, Shaun, is amazing.  To meet face to face for the first time is also magical, Kimberley, Becky,

The energy and passion in the room is palpable!  Fiona’s welcome to the fifth #educampakl is amazing! Stealing Stephanie’s chocolate fish for the furtherest travelled not so amazing! J  The welcome and passion of the Stonefield’s story shared by Sarah is inspiring.  What an incredible venue for an educamp.  TheSMACKDOWN inspires, ignites and illuminates the learning in the room.  The collaboration, sharing, networking inspiring again.  I find myself sifting and sorting and encapsulating what I can use now with my learners and what I can store for later. 

My first discussion group is an in-depth look at the ease of use and capacity of evernote with Barbs.  I am inspired to encourage all learners to download this and we will trial this for the development of our e-portfolios for term 3.  The ease of capturing written word, anecdotal test, photos , spoken word and video make it an extremely powerful planning, storing and reflection tool.  The time to share and discuss the potential and capabilities are all part of the MAGIC of the educamp experience.  The right people are here having the right conversations, sharing and inspiring. 

A lunch journey with Barbs, Allanah and Susan allows time for chat, laughter and fun!  Returning to rejoin discussions on Aurasma, Google apps and continue networking.  I am recharged, inspired, motivated anew. 

#educampchch 4 weeks ago, now #educampakl today.  Heading towards 3 weekends of MAGIC…  #educampcentralotago, e-fellow master class, #padcamp!  Life is truly good.  Yes I am living our vision – Confident, reflective, risktaking, life long learner!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Helen King for welcoming me into her family.  Thanks you to all of those organising, hosting and attending #educampakl, thank you to educamp Queen Fiona Grant for making the dreams of so many come true – to cause learning to happen, to motivate, inspire and SHARE!  You are a legend.

The day rounded off with a wonderfully mellow catchup, reflection and chill at the flying Moa.  Yet more MAGIC in store when Helen treated my to a visit to Sylvia Park where I immediately found and fell in love with a gorgeous leather handbag – purchase, giftwrapped ready for my husband to give me for my birthday.  He has an amazing way of picking exactly the perfect gift!  Teehee….

Then out for dinner to Nuffield Street!  A truly MAGICAL time…

Home for sleep and up at 5.15am.  I flew in after sunset on Friday, fly out before sunrise today.  Was I really here for only 35 hours?  YES!  Life is short – choose the moments that take your breath away!

And now, on the flight home more MAGIC ensues… A gorgeous air hostess comes and gets me and moves me to a window seat in a row of my own so I can spread out and blog! Home on the eve of my birthday, poised on the brink of another MAGICAL adventure…

Beginning our descent into Dunedin – arriving to a predicted 3degrees…  Katie is meeting me and we will travel to Wobbly Goat for a welcome home coffee…

Thank you!   AMAZING what can happen in 35 hours.....

Educampchch

Q.   Why would I travel this far for a few days?

A.    Because I am a self confessed "educamp groupie"!

I love the experience of educamp and educampchch was no exception.

The MAGIC of educampchch…

The journey towards educampchch began way back in 2011 at the inaugural #educampdunners.  As we shared the day we dreamt of a time when Christchurch could celebrate. 

The day dawned and we gathered at Burnside High School.  We gathered from across the sectors, across New Zealand, on a Saturday on the penultimate week of term 2.

The MAGIC lay in welcoming people to their first educamp through to those who are self confessed “educamp groupies…”  

MAGIC moments of the day:

·         Underlying focus – giving our learners wings to fly –

The journey we are on can be likened to building planes while flying.  We are empowering our learners to innovate, create and participate in a very exciting journey!

·         Sharing of learning expertise from Auckland, Wellington, Reefton, Timaru, Dunedin, Mosgiel Darfield, Springston and in and around the Christchurch area;

·         Willingness of people to share during the smackdown, the discussion and right throughout the day,

·         The amazing range of sharing, not only of skills, tools and knowledge but practical discussion around how to enhance learning opportunities. 

·         Across sector sharing – primary and secondary collaborating

·         Shared lunch on-site…. truly AMAZING - thanks Emma for organising!

·         AMAZING venue at Burnside High School

·         Wisdom is in the room - the people, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata

·         The conversations, meeting people,  sharing,

·         Time – in a relaxed, unscheduled day to really connect and collaborate

·         Twitter stream – trending for most of the day…

·         Google doc – collaborating to share and record the learning journey of the day

·         Inspiration

·         The development of the educamp phenomena

·         Celebrating the MAGIC of the inaugural educampchch – starting small and building...

·         Looking to the future with continued collaboration… thanks especially to Coralie and the GCSN

Check out the collaboration on the Google Doc!

    The MAGIC now lies in the anticipation of educampakl and educampcentral Otago!

A HUGE thank you to Pauline, Burnside High School, and all who attended this AMAZING event and are committed to continued contact and collaboration. 

What was the MAGIC in the day for you?

Two MAGIC days with Pauline!

Following on from the MAGIC of Master Class I had two MAGICAL days with Pauline.  We chatted, geeked, giggled and shared our learning journeys well into Friday night!  We are both on an amazing BYOD journey.  What a lot we have to share.  Our conversation are a springboard, as we hop and leap about all over the place identifying learning opportunities.  We giggled our way through the 'is there learning happening' questions and even talked through the ability of the learner to use a pen and paper when the need arises....

And giggled our way through the wonderful response on Twitter from Jane...

We had a wonderful tour of Burnside High school and worked on the wiki for #educampchch  http://educampnz.wikispaces.com/Christchurch

It will be amazing to be there for the inaugural educamp in Christchurch!  Pauline and I had an amazing time all weekend.  I have so many wonderful ideas to implement.  I am so inspired by Pauline's ability and skill on her ipad.  My short-term goal is to spend more time working on my ipad.  Buzzing with new ideas....  We realised just how geeky we were when it was pointed out to us that we had 6 devices running between us....

We even managed to fit in a little retail therapy... and look at the MAGIC we found...

And even this was serendipitous as it coincided with this tweet from Helen...

MAGIC - it really is the only word for some experiences....

Learning Spaces....

I am passionate about 'learners loving to learn' in spaces of their choosing.  I really have to reflect on my own learning experiences recently.  

Yesterday we celebrated #educampdunners in the AMAZING learning space, Te Manawanui, at St Clair School. We had the freedom to move around, to sit in groups, to collaborate, to present, listen, share, learn and grow...

Each space was unique and was chosen to meet our learning needs... How important it is for me to encourage my learners to identify and chose learning spaces to suit their mood, learning task and need.  

On the 16th and 17th of April I had the MAGIC  experience of Ignition2012 in the inspiring learning space of Albany Senior High on the North Shore, Auckland.  Again, we were able to choose our space to meet our needs.  

Ignition, like #educampdunners was an unconference.  

On Wednesday 18th April, Allanah, Barbs, Ingrid and I had a MAGICAL tour of Hingaia Peninsula with Jane Danielson...

I was speechless when I was there... well - as speechless as I can be - and I am gobsmacked when I look back at the photos now...  They say a picture is worth a thousand words... but even a picture doesn't share the MAGIC of the learning journey at Hingaia - if you get a chance to visit - grab it!

Compare this with how I spent the 19th and 20th of April at the NAPP Hui at Holiday Inn, Auckland Airport.  With more than 250 of us seated in groups of 8 around tables crammed into a room with no room to push out your seat.  The Hui was fantastic and the learning journey and networking was MAGICAL.  The learning experience however was incomparable.  I was 'trapped' at my seat.  I was unable to move, relax, or decide on a space or mood for my learning.  

I am not saying that this is wrong.  It is hard to imagine how this would have been possible with such a HUGE number of people.  However, I am saying that the more I learn, the more I reflect, the more I network and discuss, the more determined I am to assist, encourage, model, choice of learning space for my learners.  I am continuing to work with my learners as they reflect and identify their preferred 'space' for individual learning activities.  

What is your preferred learning space?  Does it depend on the learning?  The time of day? The challenge? Your mood?