I came across a post on the Upside Down Education blog today that discusses the effect that furniture can have upon elearning pedagogy in a classroom http://upsidedown.edublogs.org/2011/11/06/learning-spaces/ In my Building a 5th Wall in Your Classroom  I suggest how this can be done by simply moving furniture around.  The presentation is below:

I was inspired to make this conclusion having seen the excellent presentation by David Jakes who describes how the layout of furniture in a classroom has a direct impact upon the learning that it can facilitate, it is well worth a look. http://www.slideshare.net/djakes/would-you-want-to-learn-here-3015221

I had a great day working with the team at Lifeway College. They had invited me along to work with their delegates to learn how to use tumblr as a blogging platform. I worked with over 80 teachers throughout the day. Lifeway have put together an elearning package for schools and they either deliver it in school or as they did today at one of their venues. I have yet to se the entire programme details butnit appears that it runs over several months and is a cumulative skills process, looks good.

They have booked me for several more days this year and are looking to do the same with me next year too. I have suggested that I could also offer courses on how to use specific tools such as the ones that I build tutorials for, but related to the integration of the tools into class programmes. The main aim with any of these initiatives is to move beyond mere use of the tools and towards seamless integration and pedagogical shift by the teachers to ensure that the tools leverage deeper learning on behalf of the students.

I have also offered to the Lifeway team my social media course. Only time will tell what they would like me to deliver for them and where I fit into their programme. All in all a good day and one that will be repeated again next week in Orewa.

My second breakout of the day was my presentation on QR codes, how to use them in the classroom. In an earlier post I suggested that we as educators need to market learning to our students, using a marketing tool such as a QR code in a classroom can go some way to ‘market learning’ to students. At the point of publishing this presentation has had over 5000 views, I have no idea why it has become so popular so quickly, but for a short while it was on the slideshare home page as one of the trending presentations on Twitter, great stuff! Presentation is below:

Had a great day yesterday, two presentations to deliver and both went well.  I took a bit of a punt on my first breakout.  I have had poor experiences with the internet connectivity when I have presented in Rotorua before, admitedly this was at a Learning at Schools conference and not at a Ulearn.  However, it was still a punt, I invited Patrick from TalkWheel to Skype in from San Francisco to tell the audience about his product and to give a short demonstration.  It went really well.  I had wanted a small intimate room, but got the theatre and 110 delegates!  Apart from the lack of a working mic and the lack of round tables, it went well.  Presentation is below:

The annual Ulearn conference has started with pre-conference workshops happening today and the main conference starting tomorrow. I am presenting all day on Thursday and am looking forward to the networking opportunities that this conference always offers to delegates.  If you are not attending you can follow proceedings on twitter by using the #ulearn11 tag.  I will be updating regularly via Twitter, Facebook and here.  It is always fun, stimulating and exhausting in equal measure.  Due to the 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch the conference is being held in Rotorua for the first time.

I have just updated my Twitter badge for the duration of the Ulearn conference in Rotorua to the one above.  If you would like to add the Ulearn badge to your Twitter icon you can download the image from this link here You will need to be able to add it to your own image in an editing programme that allows you to add layers.  http://aviary.com would be a good online solutio, using the Raven Vector editing programme.  Let’s see how many avatars we can change at Ulearn this year.

My latest article for Interface Magazine has just been published.  The online edition has been out for a couple of days, but the hard copy landed today.  You can read the article here:

You can also collect some principals from my Twitter list.

I have had a great month of June.  I have worked non stop, even through the weekends.  The highlights have been the tutorials site going live.   I have also been working with osteopaths in Auckland and with tourism operators in North Canterbury working with them to show how social media tools can be used to reach out and inform their target audiences.  The schedule has been punishing, but the outcomes and rewards have been more than worth it.  Finally, today I have learned that I have been accepted to present at the ITOC conference in August.  Hopefully this will open up a whole new avenue of opportunity for me in the coming weeks and months.

Thanks to Simon Evans who alerted me to the impending deadline for submission of papers to this year’s Ulearn11 conference, I have now submitted my proposals. This year I have submitted four breakout proposals and now have to wait to see which, if any, of the suggested ideas will be accepted by the organizing committee.

Will know soon enough.

Composed and published via iPad using Wordpress’ iPad app.

The presentation suffered from the morning after the night before and from those who are in Christchurch with other priorities. However, to the 30 of you who turned up so early after the conference dinner the night before, thank you for making the effort. The reaction to the presentation was overwhelmingly positive. It is all about empowering teachers to make the change today as Scott McLeod implored us to make on Wednesday. The presentation is below: