Introduction

[Kate Jeffrey]

Feel free to introduce yourself in this forum. Let us know a little more about you, your background and where you are from!
What are you currently doing that you believe is innovative? Or are you here for inspiration?

[Adrian Camm]

Hi everyone. My name is Adrian Camm and I am the Numeracy Coordinator at Mooroopna Secondary College and have responsibility for senior Mathematics and Physics.
Im a member of the Powerful Learning Practice International Cohort which is facilitated by Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. Im working closely with forward-thinking educators from around the world, engaging in transformational conversations about 21st Century Learning.

I am excited to be presenting at this year's Innovation Showcase, and you can find out a little bit more about my presentation here.

[Travis McKenzie]

Okay, here goes. This will be my first post on a social network. Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of the internets since before the dancing baby meme but have held off from facebook, myspace et al as it's hard enough keeping in contact with the three real friends I have in between nappy changes, new Lost episodes and my wife.

But I see now that there could be something in all this web 2.0 3.0 stuff, and so i'm happy to finally break a new years resolution from three years ago and dip my toe into the dark side of the web,

Unfortunately, the best introduction I can give is this, which is only half as informative as it is embarrassing.


This was made by my brother who originally wanted to make up a mockumentay about a disabled man and his house of modern technology that helped him get through the day... He settled for me and my unscripted life. In real life i'm far less enthusiastic, however this might just be a symptom of the inordinate amount of nappies i've been jumping out of bed at 4am to change.

One thing I do really like is this.


I make this required viewing for my media classes.

At the moment i'm exploring ways we can use video games in classes. Continuing on from my dabble with machinima, (which quickly degraded into "can we just play halo now?") I use Spore Creator, photoshop and comic life to get my students into storytelling. I have a theory about literacy too that you can ask me about if you also bring a bottle of decent red wine and a clean glass.

This is Wesley BTW, he's 7 weeks old today and he hasn't got a facebook page yet either.

Travis.

[Shawn Callahan]

What a terrific introduction Travis. Sounds like amazing work. I'm helping the Innovation Showcase team to collect some stories of innovators in action. Can you recall a specific moment when one of your new ways of helping your students learn had a significant impact? Love to hear what happened.

[Bernice Dodd]

Travis, just a warning... make the most of those nappies and those night time interruptions...tomorrow he will be 10 and the day after 30....the older we get the faster that time goes :-) Enjoy every moment knowing that it will pass so quickly. My first baby is now 31 and it was only yesterday..... My baby baby is 13 and that was only a moment ago......Technology has not learned how to slow this process yet!!! I guess what it does is give us an avenue to record today so that we not only have the memories in our minds but on line in various forms to share with others and to relive ourselves. Enjoy every moment.....

[David Westaway]

Finally got to watch "An anthroplogical introduction to YouTube". Thanks for posting it Travis. It's amazing that YouTube's only been around since 2005. What was I doing before then???

[Shawn Callahan]

Good morning everyone. I'm Shawn Callahan and I'm helping the Innovation Showcase team collect stories of learning innovation in action. We plan to use these stories in a range of ways such as sharing them with you and your colleagues as examples of what's possible and to inspire others to innovate; to help people realise that they are already innovating and encourage these innovators to share their experiences; and to trigger new stories of innovation. Sometimes you need to hear a story to remember your own experiences.

Now I have been inspired by Travis' YouTube introduction so I thought I would share a story I told about how I got into storytelling.


On the day of the Showcase I will running some sessions to collect innovative experiences. You might want to join us to hear your colleague's stories or perhaps share some of your own memorable moments. I look forward to meeting you.

[Carole McCulloch]

Hello everyone, I'm happy to be part of this network and rub shoulders with educational Web 2.0 enthusiasts. I am an ementor and dabble in such things as virtual classrooms, blogs, wikis, Twitter and all things connected with Digital Storytelling - photo story was my main software but now I am intrigued with software like Photo Peach, VoiceThreads and Fliggo.

It is wonderful to meet you Adrian, I'm a big fan of the power of Powerful Learning Practices, I'll look into those links you provide. Likewise to meet you Travis as a fellow digital storytelling enthusiast - I'd like to tap into your experiences with your use of the software you recommend for younger storytellers. I'll be looking into the links you provide also.

Thanks for an opportunity to introduce myself here Kate, and to answer your question, I believe I am here for the inspiration - for me this is a preferred motivator - I look forward to being inspired by the innovative practices of others here in this network.

Shawn, I am a big fan of your work in the field and like you, I was inspired by the introduction from Travis. For me I am always engaged when folks are willing to share a 'slice' of their life.

My innovative practices include the following new projects this year:

1. research into the use of storytelling for sharing homework practices across cultures and 3 countries (England, Denmark and Australia - a Latrobe University initiative);

2. planning and preparation of engaging learning practices for disengaged young learners using Facebook, Voicethread and Flip Cameras;

3. supporting community leaders in their Powerful Learning Practices using Ning, Skype and Elluminate - doing a series of Google Power workshops online for improved productivity;

4. supporting new community coordinators in their journeys into elearning using Wikis and providing experiences with relevant Web 2.0 tools using a Stepping into Elearning Journey theme;

5. coaching groups of new Elluminate facilitators through a series of Masterclasses for the DEECD and hopefully inspiring new users of virtual classrooms through a series of Stepping into a Virtual Classroom for the DEECD.

6. mentoring tutors of digital storytelling in a new project that seeks to draw out the stories from those affected by the drought, this one is called 'Don't Mention the Drought'.

My world is mostly online and I also practicing the art of 'juggling projects' - this keeps me on my toes.

CC

[Bernice Dodd]

What I am doing is not exactly innovative, more crazy... I am trying to keep up with students less than half my age, studying teaching full time whilst still working, an at times theoretical, 29hrs a week and single parenting.
We were given this site as part of our ICT subject resources. I have watched with interest the presentations.
My six were brought up in this technological world and do not know a time without a computer in the house. My son earns his living as an IT and my daughters all spend many, many hours attached to their computers. At Christmas we had 8 laptops, 2pc's, a W11, an X-box, 3 DS's and who knows how many i-pods and phones in the house. At one stage four of my daughters were playing an online game against each other whilst all sitting in the loungeroom, a truly digital family.
Although the computer is part of my everyday life too I am by no means up with their abilities. In the first few months of my course I have been introduced to Photostory, Inspiration, Pebblepad, Delicious and others. I am impressed that today's education students are being encouraged to think digitally as they train to become teachers. Hopefully this means that the new group of teachers will be equipped to at least begin to think digitally as they set out to lead our next generation of school children. I plan to be there too and may be more the follower than a leader but will at least be willing to take some of this technology on board.

[Carole Bird]

Hi all,
I'm so glad that Kate added the option that we might be here to get inspiration rather than lead the way, because I'm here to listen and learn. I'm a teacher-librarian of a smallish P-12 school in Mount Evelyn, and as of last year's SLAV course, a keen user of Web 2.0. Not so easy getting it into use in school however - so many obstacles to overcome! But I'm loving the experience myself, finding new ways to learn and get ready for when the time comes to actually use it!
I've been looking at Voicethread recently and got one colleague interested in trying it out in Term 3 if I can find contacts for him. Things might be looking up

[mike]

Hello all! I am a technology teacher, born and raised in Pittsburgh Pa (GO PENS) but currently living in Chicago. I ended up out here in the 312 working for a professional networking website created specifically for teachers. On the site you can share resources, communicate with industry peers, and you can also search for jobs The site is called Applebatch and its brand new but we are starting to gain a following in the Chicago area. I am here to talk to other tech savvy educators and find out what the teaching community really wants so that I can help integrate it into our website. Any thoughts/ideas/feedback would help. Thanks and look forward to talking to yall!