learning in progress ….

So … this update is tagged– "more explicit use of media technology to document and share ideas, stimulate exchange, provide activites for students"

Have been discussing with number of people, including cluster principals, the use of multimedia to document current things in schools, provide activities for students, foster exchange of ideas across schools (and transition)

For example did you know (and these is a quick impression of recent things, by no means a comprehensive list) :

Heathcote has modern flexible learning spaces and is great example of what the education plan might look like.

Whitehills has just started using interactive Whiteboards, their grade 6 students tutor younger students in Kahootz, and they’re working with Michael Ymer on maths etc

Epsom does some live PodCasting to the web, as part of an oral history project that is working towards their 125th celebrations

Goornong has kids making movies, and does a lot of other thinking curriculum and ICT style activites

Bendigo North had kids making multimedia presentations to discuss possible educational futures, and initiated the recent maths discussion across the cluster

Axedale students fully tap into their rural location for authentic learning in a farm setting, and kids have been using Photostory to document their school history and agricultural program,

Huntly is further embedding their negotiated curriculum, learning contracts, Maths 300 approaches into garde 5 and 6 curriculum

Most schools ran the new reporting format last semester, and more will this semester.
transition Passports have gone out in the last week.

some schools are redoing their PoLT profiles, and/or using PoLT online

Weeroona is trialling double classrooms, has flexible multiaging in the primary section, is running two full PD programs in addition to VELS, POLT and the Education Plan , and has a host of other excellent projects and activites going on - too numerous to mention individually (but this week includes Energy Vehicles, ski trip, girls in science project with Disovery Centre, 2 weeks of VELS development, prison visits)

And of course teachers everywhere just get in and do a great job in a complex and overloaded environment every day – the above is just a thin slice (its nowhere near a list of what schools are doing – just some impressions from the last week or two).

That’s where the use of multimedia can help document good things in schools, foster exchange of ideas across schools (and transition) and provide activities for students.

As alluded to above with that little slice, there is a lot more good things going on. So using digital video and DVD technology to capture some of it will :

1. assist staff to know what other staff doing
2. trigger visits / shadowing

We can also overlap some of these areas –such as getting students to document teaching approaches in their classroom – some year 8s have already made videos / DVDs  like this.

And also for students:

 there are several film festivals and related projects in progress which some schools are already involved with :
1. Bendigo530
2. ACMI “Screen It” (movies, animations, games)
3. Kids Congress
4. Kahootz competition

and we can also :
5. Extend use of www.think.com and similar tools ;
or learn Photostory, or blogging, or webcams, Inspiration or ...  

if you want to enter one of those, or learn how to use the skills in class - I can work with staff and students ...