Welcome to this professional learning opportunity for educators in New Zealand and overseas. Explore examples of collaborative online learning and the application of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning. Access audio and video links and support material, and participate in collaborative areas. The keynotes and workshops will be released between 28 May and 8 June, and available beyond this time.

I encourage you to checkout the keynote presentations and workshops available from this FREE on-line conference. The first day of the conference was May 28th. When I first read about the event, I thought to myself, “Okay, Monday I’ll check this out.” I was not thinking globally, about it being from New Zealand. So Sunday I was surprised to find the conference had kicked off, until I realized my tomorrow is today in New Zealand.

This is the second free, on-line conference that I’ve attended, the 2006 K12 Online Conference being the first. This is Professional Development on your terms. Did I mention it is FREE? I love these things. At my convenience, I listen to and watch the presentations from my patio, pause to get the clothes out the dryer, go back the next day and access another presentation. I can rewind when I need to, capture shared images, contemplate the ideas, and use the information to simultaneously blog and share with others.

The round one keynote was by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach with 3 sections. Here are my takeaways from Part I:

• Members of the work force will be valued not for what they know, but what they can invent. It’s not so much about what knowledge you have acquired, but what you can create.
• Technology is a portal for connecting, collaborating, and empowering. It’s not about the tool itself, but choosing the appropriate tools for different situations.
• Society is changing and schools are not keeping up. For the sake of the children, it is time to change the way we teach. Sheryl urges us to rethink how we organize our schools, how learning occurs, and what teaching strategies should be used.

Four areas to consider

• Students must be Multiliterate
• Changing Demographic of the Student Population
• Student must be Active Content Creators
• Collaboration and Communication are Key

In Part II Sheryl discusses how blogs, wikis, Skype, RSS, and Cluster Maps can be used in the classroom. Part III includes interviews from 3 classroom teachers, Lisa Durff a MS/HS teacher from Maryland, Allanah King from New Zealand who teaches year 4 and 5 students, and Darren Kuropatwa a HS Math teacher from Canada. These teachers talk about using these tools in their classrooms. With one click, Elluminate Live is launched and you can listen to the audio of the interview, view the presenter’s slides, and interact on the website being displayed.

Check it out. I’m confident that you won’t be disappointed.

Technorati Tags: time4online time4online07 New+Zealand professional+development edtech web2.0 Sheryl+Nussbaum-Beach Lisa+Durff Allanah+King Darren Kuropatwa