Established in 1908, the Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) is a charitable trust made up of over 100 kindergartens and four all day early learning centres across the greater Auckland region.  Their mission is to provide leadership in education. One more academy institution trusts … Continue reading →

OfficeMix has been offered to educators for quite a while, but we’ll like to say that this strategy makes it different. Open source brings open collaboration, edX offers open source codes and open data, to leverage that openness is a brilliant business strategy. A new partnership between Microsoft OfficeMix.com and edX, the non-profit online initiative created by founding partners... Read More ›

Here's a free Articulate Storyline interaction that I came accross in a LinkedIn group.  Credit to Alexandros Anoyatis (twitter@anoyatis).View Demo : http://goo.gl/McySpDownload Story : http://goo.gl/mFyIMScreenr : http://www.screenr.com/2Jx7

". . . unless you speak up... you will not be learning . . ."Judy Jacob’s comment on Working With Online Learning CommunitiesI often wonder if our current education systems drive us to make invalid assumptions about how learning happens. I’m talking about educators here, not necessarily members of their learning communities.Curious though it may seem, I learnt lots as I bumbled my way through high school. Not because I was especially able or bright.I had an annoying knack of being outspoken when I couldn’t understand things. I hated not knowing what was going on. I asked questions.The teaching momentFortunately, I had good teachers. They recognised the teaching moments that I presented to them - on a plate. I gained the respect of my teachers, probably solely because of this attribute of asking questions, for I certainly wasn’t a model student.Good teachers admire learners who ask pertinent questions. It makes them feel wanted. Hence their intolerance of impertinence, I guess.Asking a question offers a teacher the opportunity to fulfil that so-often-difficult-to-attain goal of the pedagogue. The goal is to teach relevantly. While it’s true that learners tend to engage more in learning when they interact during a ‘lesson’, I’m not so sure that speaking up or even asking a question is necessarily exclusive for learning to occur.Questions and answersOne dated definition of education is ‘the ability to learn from a book’(this implies the educated is still learning). You can’t ask a book a question. Today, we like our educated learners to learn from the Internet, using searches, networking and the like.It’s presumed that these media permit the learner to ask questions. And the belief persists that asking a question - or even just speaking up - is so very necessary for learning to occur.I’ve always thought of thinking as a stream of thought statements and questions, asked and possibly answered in the mind. My assumption is that a thinker asks questions of herself or himself and that’s what initiates further thinking.Lying in bed, just awake, on a Saturday morning, having no plan pending for the unfolding day, my thoughts might go something like this:"Shall I get up now? Or will I just lie here blissfully embalmed in the cosy bedding for half an hour?I wonder what the weather’s like? Perhaps I could get the garden dug? Or maybe give the shed that coat of paint?Ah, but isn’t it nice to lie in on a Saturday morning?"This sort of discourse assists me to learn about how I feel. It can figure how the day that’s just beginning can become a part of my life. So yes, my assumption about asking questions still works. Even if I learn nothing of what’s happening outside my head, I can learn something about myself.Assumptions on learningSo why do teachers assume that no learning happens without questions being asked? I think they are referring to what I call active questions, spoken or typed in a txt or email, or other such method of communication between two or more people. There is an assumption that the question has to be aired. But I am puzzled at how the idea fits with learning from a book.It’s a point of view I’ve come across before, that of the lurker who never engages, never interacts and never asks questions. The inference is that the lurker never learns.This is not the opinion of Nonnecke and Preece, who actually coined the phrase, Silent Participants for learners who lurk. They claim that learning can take place despite no participation from the learner. My own experience aligns with their research findings.Etienne Wenger refers to community members who do not speak up as Legitimate Peripheral Participants. He recognises that learning happens even if the participation is only peripheral, that is to say the learners don't speak up.Teaching, learning and assessmentTeachers are geared to assessment. Often they feel compelled to possess written evidence that a learner has reached an objective before they are convinced the objective has actually been learnt.Assessment is forced participation on the part of the learner. Without engagement at the time of assessment, it could be construed that nothing can be achieved in an assessment test. Yet not achieving is hardy unequivocal evidence that learning hasn’t happened.A principle upheld by designers of resources for distance learning is that if the student hasn’t been asked a question about a learning objective, and responds with the correct answer, the objective hasn’t been learnt. Prompting the learner to respond in this way gives the teacher an opportunity to record that learning has occurred. It tends to subscribe to the tick-box mentality, but at least it is a recordable event.Questioning a way to learnI’m not entirely opposed to the suggestion that questioning is a way to learn. Nor am I questioning the idea that learners will learn nothing if they don’t ask questions. My hunch is that questions are asked in the mind all the time. The trick of learning relevantly lies in asking the right questions.A student who always has a question, and puts it, will learn. They can ask it out loud or online, to a teacher or to another learner. Or they can ask it in their own mind. As long as the learner keeps asking questions, there will be answers given in return and they can learn from those. This is especially the case if a learner knows a thing or two about metacognition, even if they don't know the word.Do learners have to ask their questions directly? To a teacher, for instance? Do you think learners will not learn unless they speak up?Or can they learn without asking questions?What’s your take on learning and participation?

Positive impact is a not for profit set up to provide education and collaboration to create a sustainable event industry. What does a sustainable event industry look like you ask? It is an industry where at every decision point people consider the economic, … Continue reading →

Innovating Pedagogy 2014  This is the third in a series of annual reports on innovations in teaching, learning and assessment. The Innovating Pedagogy reports from Open University(UK) are intended for teachers, policy makers, academics and anyone interested in how education may change over the next ten years. Learning design informed  by analytics - A productive cycle linking design and analysis... Read More ›

If you are a fan of the Common Craft library of videos like I am, you will LOVE the Cut-out Library.  Cut-outs are digital images like the ones used in the videos.  Use the images in your training programs and presentations.You can download the images as part of a PowerPoint presentation or zipped file.  You must be a Common Craft member to download the images.  Members can also download the Common Craft videos.Check it out:  http://www.commoncraft.com/cut-out-library

Doctors of the World UK is part of the global Médecins du Monde network, which delivers over 300 projects in more than 70 countries through 3,000 volunteers. Our vision is of a world in which vulnerable people affected by war, … Continue reading →

Remember, remember,The 5th of November,The gunpowder, treason and plot.I see no reasonWhy Gunpowder TreasonShould ever be forgot.Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night in New Zealand - and it will be Guy Fawkes Night in several countries on this day - potentially a fun night for most children and adults.The history of its origin has been well documented.The scene is a cellar, directly underneath the House of Lords (Parliament) London, early in the morning of 5 November, 1605.In a few hours, King James VI/I, the British Parliament and many dignitaries will be in attendance for the opening of Parliament. Having learnt of a rumour of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, the King has ordered a check of the cellars to be executed this morning.Guy (Guido) Fawkes is quietly leaving the cellar, having just completed his undertakings and last minute checks on dozens of barrels of gunpowder, laid all set to explode in a couple of hours. Fawkes is apprehended by the guards and the stockpile of gunpowder is discovered.Further investigations reveal that Fawkes and several of his accomplices had attempted to destroy Parliament in what is now known as the Gunpowder Plot.The outcome of the trial that ensued in January the following year brought Fawkes and his cohorts to the gallows. The King ordered that the event be celebrated by burning fires all over the kingdom.And so a tradition began for a customary annual celebration.What intrigues me is the fierce adherence to the Guy Fawkes tradition in New Zealand, a country that is now colonised by many nationalities. What is more intriguing is that a significant portion of people who celebrate ‘Guy Fawkes’ in that country have no knowledge of the origin of this almost pagan custom. Many simply refer to the celebration as Fireworks Night.What is even more astonishing is that it’s nearly summer in New Zealand at this time of the year. Skyrockets and exploding firecrackers (or bangers) are already banned as they are a fire hazard. It’s not uncommon for dwellings (predominantly of wooden construction in NZ) to be burnt to the ground or large areas of bush and scrub to be razed over the ‘fireworks’ season. In its country of origin, Britain, the tradition takes place during winter when there is a low fire risk.Legislation already restricts the sale of fireworks to a brief period in November. There have been several moves in recent years to ban the sale of fireworks for use at private celebrations in favour of public municipal firework displays.My family watch the city display from our living room window. The whole sky is lit with pyrotechnics over a period of half an hour.Interesting isn’t it, that the fun aspect of a bygone, almost forgotten celebration should so fiercely dictate how people choose to conduct themselves? For me, a shift to a suitable mid-winter date seems obvious as a first move towards safer fun for all.Enjoy the fireworks!

Where do you begin when designing a mobile performance app?What instructional design issues should you consider?Which design tools should you use and where do you locate important resources?Learn how to design a mobile support app that fits your users’ habits in next week’s complimentary Best of Learning Solutions webinar: Designing a Mobile Performance App, featuring one of the most popular, best-rated sessions from Learning Solutions 2012 Conference & Expo, newly updated and now available to all through this special online presentation. Join Connie Malamed Wednesday, January 16 at 10:00 AM PT as she discusses:• What to consider when designing a mobile performance support app• Designing for gestures• How to write use-case scenarios for your app• How to wireframe your app• Where to find important resources for app designYou do not need to be a member of The eLearning Guild to attend this event.  Register now: http://bit.ly/10VqWD3