"everyday is a learning day" » ulearn09 http://maramastewart.com Exploring and Challenging Learning in the 21st Century ... Wed, 16 Jun 2010 06:09:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 It was over quicker than a Tua knock-out! http://maramastewart.com/2009/10/20/it-was-over-quicker-than-a-tua-knock-out/ http://maramastewart.com/2009/10/20/it-was-over-quicker-than-a-tua-knock-out/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:26:00 +0000 marama28 http://maramastewart.com/?p=126 I must first apologise for neglecting my blogging obligations.  It would seem that life is flashing  by and piling up at a furious pace.  Between attending and presenting at ulearn09; preparing my class for term four; PAT and STAR testing for school reports and preparing for my new position as Principal at Pukeokahu School, I have been avoiding this blog with vigour.   However, guilt has raised its furry head and I have decided to just get on with it.

So … ulearn09 was fantastic!  As an attendee it was an energetic experience; but as a presenter it was a blast.

Early on in the year I decided that my Professional Development Goal would be to take every opportunity to present  to a professional audience.  When ulearn09 came up I saw it as a fantastic way to extend my presentation experience.  Though in hindsight, I must admit that the decision to present at ulearn09 was kind of like jumping into the deep end without my floaties!   But, all in all, after all of the stress and sweaty palms, everything worked out well and it was over quicker than … well you can read the title.

My hands-on workshop was about using Web2.0 tools to enhance a classroom blog, like I had done with my classblog – The Wocket Spot Blog.  I decided to design my workshop to be run like the Amazing Race.  Collaborative groups would required to complete as many tasks as possible within a given time frame and publish their completed tasks to a mock classblog – you can check out the finish tasks here.  The point being that Web2.0 tools are quick, fun and easy to use.

All of the information needed to complete the tasks can be found in a website I have developed – Creatingewindows.com.  It was my hope that after my workshop the attendees would be able to continue using the site and share it with their colleagues and perhaps even run the Amazing Race for their own staff (I have left The Race page with all of the tasks on the site).

And of course now I offer to you all access to my wee site.  I hope it is helpful and fun to use.  I will be adding to it as time goes by and I discover other funky little Web2.0 tools that enhance learning in a blogging environment.  You are all welcome to use it to run your own Amazing Race, just drop me a line if you need help setting it up. And please let me know if you think there is anything else I should add.

Yes!!! Writers block defeated! Post is published! Guilt is dissipating and next the topic is forming in my mind!

Images sourced under creative commons licence from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spudmurphy/2219132087/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hynkle/2720388912/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/317055520/

]]> http://maramastewart.com/2009/10/20/it-was-over-quicker-than-a-tua-knock-out/feed/ 0 Teaser Three – Watching the Progress Bar turn Blue http://maramastewart.com/2009/09/23/teaser-three-watching-the-progress-bar-turn-blue/ http://maramastewart.com/2009/09/23/teaser-three-watching-the-progress-bar-turn-blue/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:51:05 +0000 marama28 http://maramastewart.com/?p=120 Lately I have been using Camtasia to create Screen Casts for my eWindows site.  Now usually I am a strictly freeware kind of girl (well that’s a little bit of a fib because I have paid for Edublogs, Voicethread, Flickr and my domain names, anyway …)  but I am really impressed with Camtasia.  So much so that I may even fork-out for it after my free one month trial (this is awesome, try before you buy!).

Camtasia is easy to use, has great support and tutorials.  It runs seamlessly with my Mac and uploads directly to YouTube.  At one easy payment of $99.00 (Education Pricing) I do believe it may be a keeper, though it may have to wait until after I recover from my little trip to Christchurch (only 9 more sleeps!).  O, and after we wallpaper the living room.  Below is my weekly-ish offering to the Blog-o-sphere.  My third ever Screen Cast on how to add a Wordle.net Word-cloud to a post.  So readers, I would really like some feedback here, how did I do?  It’s a lot harder than it looks.

]]> http://maramastewart.com/2009/09/23/teaser-three-watching-the-progress-bar-turn-blue/feed/ 2 Teaser Two – Playing With Prezi http://maramastewart.com/2009/09/15/teaser-two-playing-with-prezi/ http://maramastewart.com/2009/09/15/teaser-two-playing-with-prezi/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:19:42 +0000 marama28 http://maramastewart.com/?p=105 Here is my second offering to the blog-o-sphere from my uLearn09 presentation

An eWindow into my Classroom

This is a Prezi Presentation that will feature on the home page of my ulearn site.  Prezi is an alternative to the standard slideshow presentation.  I have added a fun little ‘how to’ I found on YouTube for those of you who want to know more.  If you do decide to use Prezi as a presentation tool, it is important to remember that Prezi is best viewed in ‘full screen’.

Just click the large grey arrows at the bottom of the screen to scroll through the presentation.

This is a cool little how to video I found on YouTube – Thanks zuilabs

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