Archive for 'Uncategorized'

Who’s in charge?After twenty-nine years of Tomorrow’s Schools, are decisions really being made by the community?

A few months ago, I finished my Master of Business Administration. It was one of the biggest challenges of my life. One of the artefacts of this is a modest research paper. A few people have asked to read it. If you dare, please find it attached. Who’s in charge

Credit Card security, big data and Burger King

I got a call from ASB Bank. They had detected “unusual activity” on my credit card. After verifying that it was indeed the bank (and not a scam), I worked out that I’d lost my card. Someone had found it and spent $2 at Z Energy then $3.20 at Burger King, then more at BK, […]

Get students started with collaborative notes in Google Docs

Question from twitter that deserves a long-form answer: “I’m trying to use Google Docs with a low ability year 10 class but I’m not using Teacher Dashboard. Am I wasting my time? I want them to have content notes available to them at all times. It’s proving tricky!” Simplest possible If your students don’t have school […]

School Report – does anyone care?

Mr13 came bouncing home this afternoon. He had a letter from his rugby coach. It told him what he did well this year, what he needs to work on, and which famous rugby player he is most like. He was encouraged to watch the famous player closely and emulate him. This all reminds me of […]

#edchatnz – I got memed

If you follow me on twitter you’ll know that it was a busy weekend. I was at a conference for teachers who are on twitter. As the post conference dust settles, there are hundreds of blog posts reflecting on the event. I got tagged in one, and now I have to write a reflection. Here […]

Cee – Dee – Eee – A Platform for Learning

Last week I wrote about learning. It’s a Banquet, not a Soup Kitchen. I’ve been thinking about how to assess whether this kind of twenty-first century learning is going on. I’m calling it: Cee, Dee, Eee. This is basically a set of KPIs. Unfortunately, I need to describe it backwards. It’s not my fault the […]

Invisible Technology – a vision for school IT

A friend asked me what my dream for the IT systems at school were. This is it: Seamless integration of ICT tools across our two sites, so that the tools become invisible. Students and teachers are so focused on learning they’re not even aware of the technologies being used. Invisible ICT enables teaching and learning. […]

Sleep is for the Week – a weekly(ish) roundup, Edition 2

Ashton Kutcher This is a fantastic piece of motivation for teenagers. Ashton Kutcher uses his acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards to give some great advice to teens. My favourite quotes are: “…opportunity looks a lot like hard work…” and “…I never had a job that I was better than…” Te Raranga This is […]

What does “Gamification” mean?

You’re running with your headphones in when a voice says: “the zombies are 100 metres behind you! Run faster!” I bought this app for my eleven year old yesterday, and he’s completely addicted: to running! What a massive win! He’s come home and tells me that he’s “picked up” these resources and saved some lives […]

Reflection: Moodle for Beginners

A group of Auckland’s finest teachers came to Howick today to talk Moodle and eLearning. Best thing: a mix of Primary and Secondary teachers made for excellent conversations. None of us could recall being on a training day with both disciplines – very important questions were asked, like: “what do children need to know when […]