TeachMeetNZ

Flat Connections

Sonya Van Schaijik PTC 01 , , , , , , , ,

flatconnections.square.shadow.jpg
‘Break outside your friends list and join a community of internet strangers. You will be surprised at what you will learn from them.’
Imgur founder Alan Schaaf

For the past few months I have been working with a group of educators globally as we fine tune our learning about being connected educators in a global setting. One way of coping as an online learner involved setting up a page on my SandBox Wiki and dumping all the links that flew at me. This included any contact information and all the important pages. This page helped me hugely and allowed me to quickly access anything I needed. There might be a better way of doing this but I coped regularly by reverting back to what I know.
A whole pile of events aligned for me as part of my FlatConnect learning and these have eventuated in the following outcomes:
There have been 5 of us in the Flat connections cohort. @julieswords1 @AnnRooney6 @mblanrun  @BonnieHermawan.  We come from four different countries and have time zones as one of our biggest challenges. To address this Julie Lindsay @julielindsay our mentor uses Timebridge to coordinate an agreed time between us. Between us we have a combined level of expertise that is astounding.
Julie uses Fuze which is a free online video meeting service  to communicate with us synchronously. This works like elluminate but appears to be more stable. However I am unsure if this can be live streamed as I have had a play but need to learn more about this great tool.
For our current assignment we were asked to work collaboratively together on a common theme and create a video artifact. We were asked to use our team wiki to create all our notes and learning.
One huge learning from me this week was that I can copy and paste directly from a google doc straight into the wiki and all my images tables links etc all come across beautifully. The only challenge is the photos need resizing but it is easy in a wiki, because I can just drag across. I should have done that at the start of advertising my google hangout. I was focussed on trying to pull the group together quickly for a hangout and resorted back to what I know which is twitter and google docs. A second learning was coping with the time zones particularly as I was coordinating the hangout and I used World Time Buddy because this is a tool I have used before. I learnt that there was a half hour time difference between my two Australian Colleagues. I sort of had already guessed that there might be. In New Zealand we have no time difference between any city because of our small size.
As I prepare for a collaborative project with our sister school in China I need to take into consideration the Great Firewall of China that blocks twitter, Facebook, Google and recently Instagram. I am aware that several schools and local citizens bypass the wall using a different system. But in China this is an illegal activity. I could have directed the current cohort to the Team wiki and I could have used the Flat Connections Ning for asynchronous communication. There is no way I can use a hangout with our sister school but we can use skype for school as this gives us a similar number of access if I brought in several classes to work with our school. I could screen cast a skype session but that would bring up legalities about capturing images with minors.
After the Google Hangout session was over I realised that I could have had each team member share their learning around our recently completed assignment and I could have had them create a single slide about what they had learnt. I could have then given them the second lesson of sharing their own screens and they could have talked about what they have just completed. I underestimated abilities and I could have covered a lot more in the session. Even though most of my global colleagues were new to a hangout, they are not newbies to collaborative tools.
Instead I wonder if they would be willing to join me again in a follow up session and give a brief reflection of their learning as being part of FlatConnect Global Educator 14-2 group. We could use the same idea I do with TeachMeetNZ project and I would wiillingly cut the video so that they could have a reflective page on our Team’s wiki.
Where am I up to? I need to interview a teacher gamer and complete my part of the collaborative assignment, create my slides about our sister school project in preparation for our final session with Julie and count down to our summer holidays as we only have two weeks left of school but there is still so much to do. 
WOWEE, I have also just learnt that I can copy straight from a Goole Doc into the Ning too. Even better I just spotted the editing tool for corrections and even better the HTML tool for embedding. 

CENZ14

Sonya Van Schaijik Hyperconnectivity, PTC 01, SOLO Taxonomy , , , , , , , , ,
Connected Educator Month has been and gone here in New Zealand.
The vision of the New Zealand team was for educators to strategically access, collaborate and share across national & global networks to inform schooling designed around students’ needs and strengths.



As I look back over the past few years, this is the third year that  I have been part of Connected Educator Month. In 2012, I was lurking and watching what was happening via @JulieLinday’s tweets. In 2013 I lead a Global Chat Sharing Stories of our Global Connections with #GlobalClassrooms. I attended a few online sessions run using Blackboard Collaborate.

At Newmarket School I am conscious of giving our teachers and our students the same opportunities that I have been a part of. So as I read the Ministry of Education Future-focused learning report, and Core Education 10 Trends in particular Trend 8: Global connectedness I am looking to 2015 and have identified how we can ‘effectively connect, communicate, collaborate and co-create across classrooms.’ I have been given the task of designing an EFL experience for learning using a global focus and I am excited at the possibilities. I have been learning so much from the #FlatConnect course and credit Julie for exposing my thinking to ideas that I had not even thought of. I will be using some of those ideas in my design. 
At SOLOtaxonomy design is extended abstract thinking. I am thankful that I have been part of Connected Educator Month and have created learning opportunities for teachers because now I can bring those ideas back and inform my school and design the learning opportunities for our staff and children based on their needs and strengths to connect and collaborate at a global level.
This year Karen Melhuish Spencer @virtuallykaren approached me and asked if I was interested in aligning one of the TeachMeetNZ sessions into the Connected Educator Month. I already knew about Connected Educator Month so of course I said yes and I would run the first session earlier in the month than I had initially planned. I then agreed to coordinate and run two events as I was sure that Matt Esterman  of #TMSydney  would join me because we have been speaking for a while about a combined TeachMeet event. The third event which was a collaborative book project was not really planned. However the work I have been doing with Julie Lindsay  around teachers working together on a collaborative project was the incentive I needed to say ‘Let’s do this.’ As a SOLO taxonomy educator I am aware of where I need to go next with what I do online so the book project was like the beta test.

So those were the three events I committed to for October. At the same time because of my teacher inquiry, I was working with staff who were preparing for their first ULearn presentation. In addition Wendy and I agreed to work together and co-present using my inquiry as the springboard for the presentation. But ULearn14 was only one of three events that my principal and I prepared and shared at. The second was sharing for the Springboard Trust and the third being part of the collaborative educators team who wrote the #EdBookNZ.


Highlights for Connected Educator Month are all listed below.
But what you can see is the product.

I know Pam Hook  and Virginia Kung  would say to me, “Where’s the rubric Sonya?” and “The process is more important.” and ‘How has your thinking changed?”  I am also really conscious of not allowing this reflection to just being a multistructural description. So if you are reading this, then please respond below as this allows me to think more at a relational level.


So where to next for me.
“Politeness is the poison of collaboration,” said Edwin Land. My collaborative friend Bridget Casse  was prodding working with me as we wrote the chapter on connected educator blog post. I was more excited in the working document. The challenging discussion was stimulating and thought provoking.
So thinking along the learning of #flatconnect I would have each collaborators work on a wiki page next time. This allows the interested educators to see the process. We could use an unlocked google doc too, however am unsure of how secure the history would be and how long it is archived. If I was working with children under 14, I would probably use Edmodo because it is a more like a walled garden for our children.

Acknowledgement
Thanks to all the amazing educators who took part, supported, proof read, gave feedback, broadcasted etc to the events below. Special thanks to the staff at Newmarket School who have joined in and are sharing their learning. Special thanks to Wendy the head learner who is willing to walk the talk, special thanks to Karen who was visible in all the events and to Julie for my global learning. To my SOLO mentors Pam and Ginny none of this would happen without your ongoing disruptive thinking.

https://www.smore.com/t5yjg-connected-educator-month?embed=1

TeachMeetNZ running a session

Sonya Van Schaijik PTC 01, PTC 04, SOLO Taxonomy , , , , , ,
Currently I am learning with Julie Lindsay on Global Educator sessions. Julie is a global educator whose work I had admired from a far for a few years before I had the opportunity of joining a face to face session with her last year in Hawaii. This year I am learning more about running a global project by undertaking the Flat Connections Global  Educator sessions. This blog post is about aligning the work I already do with TeachMeetNZ and reflecting using the readings and discussion from the course to make the online sessions even better.
Recently I read Core education 10 trends and was interested to note that they have highlighted global connectedness as one of the important 10 trends in education.  


Sometimes I am asked how do I run a session for TeachmeetNZ?


Before the session
I put a call out to people who have made contact with me previously who have shown an interest in presenting. Sometimes it is through connections I have made on #edchatnz and sometimes I might have picked up a blog post via the twitter breadcrumbs. By the time I have finished a live session the next session is usually already booked. Because our TeachMeetNZ has an NZ focus I generally run sessions for New Zealand educators. When have the team I build a page for the session on the TeachMeet wiki because I have already learnt the importance of leaving breadcrumbs so that bystanders know what happened. Once I build that page I call for communication details.


Communication and building connections.  
How do we communicate on TeachMeetNZ? The fastest way is via twitter so stay up to date via the hashtag #TeachMeetNZ. I also send out emails to the group via google mail so do check that too. The bulk of communication takes place  a fortnight before the live session.  It is usually a great idea to use the communication details to find each other on twitter, on google plus, on facebook and any other social media spaces that you know.


Handshake to build connections
A handshake allows the group to bond and the session to be a success. I have already learnt that I need to spend a bit more time on the handshake in order to allow the participants an opportunity to build connections with each other. Over time I have learnt that three tutorials are ideal before we go live. My modification is to give the presenters an opportunity to share what has been happening in their week at each tutorial. I have learnt that sharing highlights from the week is an  important part of building connections.


SOLO taxonomy
Using Solo Taxonomy I can step out the tutorials and reflect on where they are placed and what I still need to do to create depth in the learning.  
Multistructural Thinking is using the the tools such as the hangout, twitter, google+, GAFE for consuming. Therefore teachers are learning how to use the tool and the emphasis is on the tools.
Relational thinking is about making connections so one way is by making social connections with the other delegates they are presenting with using the same tools. They also use relational thinking when putting their slides together. Therefore teachers are making connections both with each other and with their learning.
Extended abstract thinking is when teachers are contributing to an educational resource by creating presentation slides and through an edited video. Presenters usually complete the process by writing a blog post about their experience and add to this process of learning through reflection. Therefore teachers are creating a resource and sharing their learning via a blog reflection.


First tutorial session is a Beta test
This first tutorial is like a Beta Test and is really for newbies or educators who want a refresher. This allows equipment to be tested. Using the #Flatconnect digital citizenship concept, this first tutorial is about technological awareness. A Google Hangout does change regularly. Some problems usually identified in the first practise include needing to update systems and is there any technical feedback. Do our microphones and cameras work?  Sometimes, we need to restart the machine after computer updates.
We learn how to activate the toolbox and add our name to the session. We activate the chat box and discuss its importance for communication.  We learn about positioning ourselves with the camera by checking the distance of our face to the camera. Some people sit too close as can be seen from the recordings. Remember when speaking to look at the camera not at the hangout delegates who reside at the bottom of the screen.
Do rewind the recording as this highlights any distractions that are around. A classic example is the washing hanging behind. When we go live remind the household what is happening so that loud music, pets are outside and requests are kept to a minimum.  During this session participants will have located their page on the wiki and have added contact links.
We discuss appropriateness of our space and remember the following
  1. privacy of other people like speaking positively of our institution and our colleagues.
  2. use appropriate language just like we would in a staff meeting.
  3. remind family members that the sessions are live so they do not choose this time to walk behind on their way to have a shower 🙂
All artefacts are created for ease of sharing so a reminder about copyright including what is on the presentation slides.
Each educator controls how much they are willing to share. If they are speaking about their institution do let the school leaders know.


Second tutorial session is the slides test
By this session, participants will have downloaded the template slides to their computers, or created and online copy using Google presentation. I will know the title of their slides. They will know who is in the current session with them. They will have some idea about  the topics being covered. They will have rebroadcasted tweets and ideally sent some out too regarding the current session. Participants will have alerted colleagues in their institution and invited everyone and anyone to watch the live session. On twitter they will be watching the #TeachMeetNZ Hashtag for updates and will know the order of presentation as this will have been tweeted out. Slides can still be in draft form and this tutorial demonstrates how the slides are embedded into their TeachMeetNZ page. The participants TeachMeetNZ page is their social awareness page. This allows them to add all their contact details so that other participants can identify who they are working with. Participants will have bookmarked this page for ease of access.  This second session is also a question and answer session and an opportunity to problems solve any issues that have eventuated. Sometimes I have needed to take photos here too in case presenters cannot make the final session.


Third session is the dress rehearsal, final photos and disruptive peer feedback.
This session allows timing to be checked. During this session a photo is captured for each presenters page. This is a backup session too in case there are problems during the actual event. As each presenter shares, others in the hangout gives feedback and suggestions. These include clarity of the slides, lighting of the presenter and usually involves some questions about the presentation. A reminder that all sessions are recorded to rewind for learning. This tutorial allows cultural awareness to happen because participants learn about each other, from each other and with each other.


Live session
20 minutes before the session the room is activated and the call put out.
Presenters should arrive 15 minutes before session to test microphone, set up their name and check that their presentations is up on the tabs. The live streamed session highlights global awareness as participants realise that their presentation is viewed by a greater audience than just New Zealand.


Afterwards
After the live TeachMeetNZ session I add the presenters to the main google+ list of everyone who has taken part. Their  video is added to the Youtube archive channel. The clip is for the presenter to do with as they like. For example the video can be embed directly into a portfolio. I suggest that they share the love by adding a link back to the TeachMeetNZ site. Over time I can see the sessions as a triangulation of learning. Each tutorial begins with a recap about what has been happening during the week as this allows connections to be made.


Hints
Participants can come in blind for the final practise, however I do not recommend this as it shows in the final recording.
Educators who attend tutorial sessions always have a smoother recording. If an extra practise is needed then I have past presenters who are always willing to support because they want to have a go at leading their own hangouts and therefore look for opportunities to practise too. In addition presenters can practise with each other.
One of my goals is about building connections so if a chat with me personally regarding their presentation is required then book a separate time via twitter direct message. I will make time when other delegates have dropped out of the hangout. All tutorial sessions are recorded for rewindable learning. These can be seen on the main channel if you go and search for them. I usually tag them to just whoever is in the session for our learning.


General questions
Yes you can present using any media, But keep it to 3 mins.
Prezi can be used and even really short video clips. If a video clip is used then add a new tab with the video instead of embedded in the slides because the sound is not clear when recorded from an embedded slide. If using prezi allow time for transition. Keep the slides simple with images. Not too much text.


Recommendations
After the session put slides into slideshare as this allows the tracking of number of views received. Remember to claim a badge, embed it with a direct link back to their page. Tag me on twitter if a reflections is written. Do give feedback as this is an important for quality improvement.
To be online and learning online is not the same as being tech savvy. #TeachMeetNZ  is about contributing, collaborating and being visible. “Come out and be part of the construction.” says Julie Lindsay. Contribution skills are not intuitive they must be taught. Take advantage of a social based learning with the blogs, videos and the presentations. As an educator If we are only consuming then we will be left behind, if we are creating and contributing and conversing then we are succeeding.


Where to next
As each tutorial is run prepared slides are needed because the recording does not show what I am doing. Reading a tweet is not enough, participants are reminded to alert me that they are receiving by starring what I tweet. As I prepare for the combined Aussie and kiwi session I am alerted to the fact that I have not given a choice for meetings. Maybe I should have used timebridge to establish meetings. These are ideas for me to think about for next time when I run combined sessions with other countries.

October-spring is here

Sonya Van Schaijik PTC 04 , , , , , , , ,
 
October is usually a crazy busy month for me.


It is my mum and dad’s birthday. In addition it is my youngest son’s birthday and also my birthday.


This October I have probably taken on far too much but because I have been in the world of education for 30 years, I know that sometimes it just gets like that and helps with the sprint to the end of the year for our New Zealand summer holidays. Plus it is the learning that ignites my education fire and I find it exciting and stimulating. I am passionate about teachers and their learning too. To help give you a bit of an overview, here is what my October looks like for me, without those important four family dates and all the practises in between.


Dates
Title
Links
30 Sept
Minecraft Hangout
Google Hangout
1st Oct
Launching CENZ
Webinaire
4th Oct
TeachMeetNZ google Hangout
Google Hangout
9 Oct
Present Ulearn with Wendy
Presentation
10 Oct
Present Ulearn with Ginnie
Presentation
TBC
Eduignite Citizenship
Presentation
20 Oct
Complete my chapter on educator
Blog Post
28 Oct
TeachMeetNZ /TMsydney
Google Hangout
31st Oct
EdbookNZ
Publish a book


I am also aiming to complete my Flat Connections Global Educator Certificate with Julie Lindsay. Already I have learnt that I do not give enough opportunities for my teams to get to know each other with a handshake. I have immediately remedied that by setting up a padlet for my #TeachMeetNZ project.

In addition set up systems to support our RTLB with the next roll out of iPads for their teaching and learning with students. Currently I am reading around minecraft as I believe we need to explore this programme further.

Sometimes I am asked why do I take on the extra outside of my school life, however those of you in my PLN who read this, you will fully understand when I say all the extra benefits me, my learning and therefore benefits my school. How else do I know how to help our teachers create videos, help them with reflective blog posts, help them with their inquiries and presentations and know who to ask for help or call in to skype with our children and share their expertise. Ultimately this helps them  This is because I am right in the middle of it all.


PS: I aim to visit Eden Gardens too these holidays and I hope to get my garden planted for the summer.

Clesol Day 2

Sonya Van Schaijik Critical Inquiry, PTC 08 , , , ,

Saturday
Keynote Speaker: Deborah Short, TESOL International
Using Sheltered Instruction to Develop Essential Academic Language Skills

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/
Averil Coxhead 

Give the children something interesting to talk about.
Give verabal scaffolds for elaboration
SOLO Taxonomy at relational by highlighting key vobabulary.

Using word wall to make signal words explicit.

I was fortunate to sit in on Rosa Kalauni session where she spoke about
Secondary  Success
At her school they choose Pasifika Teachers and put the median band children together.
These same children attended the same classes with a Pasifika chosen teacher or a literacy class with a Pasifika chosen teacher. Rosa spoke with passion for the Tama Toa Project. Her session was well thought through and put together and I came away motivated to implement even more focussed projects at out school for our learners.

Today was the day I shared my #TeachNZ project
http://teachmeetnz.wikispaces.com/TeachMeetNZ_2014_3
If you go to this link you will find my slides and also all the 3 minute presenters slides.

Over the next few days, I will take the video and cut it down in three minute slots that the presenters can add to their digital footprints. I am excited to see the reflections begin to come in because I know that here is where the real learning takes place.

The exciting part of running a TeachMeetNZ session is watching the confidence and interactions develop between the educators who take part. The challenge with running a virtual session face to face with a live audience is ensuring a a balance between presenters sharing their stories and having time for the face to face audience.

After a break we moved into ‘In conversation with – Janet Holmes’, Victoria University of Wellington
Janet gave a great presentation and I really liked the way she incorporated photos and video to break up the just listening to Death By Powerpoints that seems to be the focus of a lot of presentations I have seen at the CLESOL conference.

I left the day early to have  rest. Then walked to the evening dinner.

Clesol2014

Sonya Van Schaijik Critical Inquiry, PTC 07 , , ,

Clesol Day 1

http://www.clesol.org.nz/index.html is in Wellington and runs for three days.

This year Clesol is hosted at Victoria University. This is my first visit to Rutherford house.
Using #Clesol on twitter I could only locate 6x other educators attending the conference.

The conference launched with a welcome function sponsored by IELTS. I was excited to see a few familiar faces so as Paul Nation walked by I grabbed him for a group photo.

The first plenary began the following day and as I sat in that first session and looked around, I  saw maybe 6 educators using a device. The challenge is most teachers have been given a TELA since 1996 so why were most educators here still using pen and paper.

William Grabe

Powerpoint available via email.
william.grabe@nau.ed
Foundation for L2 Reading development.
William highlighted essential aspects of reading comprehension. He spoke about instructional applications as well as a few specific practices that are not commonly considered in many reading instruction curricula. I was listening to him share about building a reading curriculum.

I attended   collaborative workshop ‘Connecting across the ditch and beyond.’ The session was well rehearsed, ran to time and was inclusive of all attendees. Both Lesley and Yvonne covered a range of social media and how they used them in their work. I was particularly interested in the collaboration and to hear that yesterday was the first time these educators had met f2f.
Lesley highlighted for the group a few of her global connections from her personal learning network. 
The following session was from John Read who covered 

‘Coming to grips with quality in language assessment’. John spoke about an ongoing concern in language teaching is how to assess learner abilities through good-quality assessments that are suitable for their intended purpose. He stressed the importance of moderation and expertise amongst teachers in their own subject area. Again the slides are incredibly text heavy and for a learner like me, I like my pictures.  I give a quiet chuckle when he spoke about computer familiarity. I was not sure if this included mobile devices but probably not.  

In the afternoon session I attended Heather Thomas session on Mindfulness practice and pedagogy that could enhance English Language Teaching (ELT) by increasing attention, emotional 

The session was not what I expected but is actually what I needed to hear. We often rush from one thing to the next but never take time to stop and smell the roses. 
She shared with us the following documentary. ‘Room to breath’.


Heather’s session was on Mindfulness meaning about being in the moment, being present, being in the now.

Probably the best part of the day was the discussion that happens between the sessions.

TeachMeetNZ Interface

Sonya Van Schaijik Leadership, PTC 01, PTC 05, SOLO Taxonomy , , , , , , , , ,
Titled: Where Teachers Meet
TMNZ.png
(Educators involved in TeachMeetNZ in 2013)
This post is an update of that article.


In 2013, I launched TeachMeetNZ as part of my TeachNZ Sabbatical. A TeachMeet is an organised but informal meeting (in the style of an unconference) for teachers to share good practice, practical innovations and personal insights in teaching with technology. TeachMeet originated with three Scottish educators – Ewan McIntosh, David Noble and John Johnston. Currently all over the world there are hundreds of TeachMeets that take place regularly in a variety of venues. As Ewan Macintosh commented, TeachMeet was never about technology 100%, it was about the Teach first of all, and the tech was instrumental to achieving what we wanted to achieve pedagogically and never the other way around.” Ewan Macintosh.
This article will describe how I developed TeachMeetNZ, the process of the on-line organised collaboration using Google Hangout, the relevance to teaching and conclude with future development for TeachMeetNZ.


TeachMeetNZ
I developed TeachMeetNZ after two years of research, investigation, then the trialling of a variety of online products, with Google Hangout being selected as the preferred platform.  
A small team of willing educators agreed to join with me to learn how to use Google Hangout as a way of presenting, demonstrating good practise, sharing and celebrating teaching with technology. Each term, a group of inspirational New Zealand educators develop and deliver a series of presentations. These sessions are live streamed, and are attended virtually by educators from around New Zealand and globaIly. In addition a TeachMeetNZ wiki was  developed for participants to communicate and share their presentations with a virtual audience.


Collaboration and participation
TeachMeetNZ is about New Zealand teachers connecting online. They collaborate and problem solve using online tools. These educators support and mentor each other before and during the practise Google Hangout sessions. To take part, teachers prepare 12 slides that auto cue every 15 seconds so their presentation is three minutes long. The slides are hosted on Google Presentation or Slideshare and must be live before the session. We learnt that the most viewed YouTube clips are just under three minutes long so this is the preferred length. A three minute video is created of their presentation and may become a resource for use at a later time.
After the live event, discussion usually follows via twitter using the hashtag #TeachMeetNZ. Many teachers go on to blog a reflection of their session, and they can embed the YouTube clip into their blog.  A TeachMeetNZ presenters badge is awarded to those educators who present on TeachMeetNZ..  Participants and viewers willingly give feedback and regularly give their time to support and help others.


Relevance to teaching
Online spaces are useful for portfolio development and fostering interaction and collaboration. Google Hangout is a tool that can be used to collate and present resources, to support community interaction and contributions, and as a platform for personal expression. Google Hangout is an ideal tool for teachers combined with a YouTube account.


From creating and hosting TeachMeetNZ sessions I have learnt that teachers appreciate recognition and acknowledgement for what they do. Hosting TeachmeetNZ has pushed my knowledge of making connections with ideas and with people. Hosting the sessions has encouraged me to give better feedback to teachers who take part. The sessions have allowed me to be more focussed on my feedback with teachers and not to rush this important process. After each session I play the clip back and reflect on how I can carry out the task better next time. I make notes and begin with these notes at the next session. I have also learnt to go through the presentations before the live streaming so that I can better prepare my questions. I do this by asking for presentations to be live before the session and I usually run practise sessions for people new to using Google Hangout.


Where to next?
In the future I plan to host more discussion sessions with panels of educators. Last year I had an educator host a specialist session based on PE and this year I have planned to include similar sessions.  In addition I have planned to have single themed discussions and to have educators and practitioners who can contribute to themes at a deeper level. Some of the feedback that I have had from participants is that they enjoy the opportunity to ask questions and discuss ideas in greater depth. A session, that I hosted at the Festival of Education in Auckland, featured a group of inspirational educators who shared and discussed their passions both online and with a live audience.


The TeachMeetNZ site has grown rapidly and I have now become the site’s curator. Currently the site contains nearly thirty nano presentations. This number increases each term as teachers share and celebrate their learning on TeachMeetNZ. Global visitors and viewers can watch the presentations in their own time and place.


For my own learning.
The SOLO Taxonomy practitioner in me realises that my current sessions take me back to being multistructural in my thinking.  In order to achieve depth in what I do online I need to continue to take a leadership role in other online communities. As frightening as this sounds I think that my first goal is to move from participating and running TeachMeetNZ sessions in online communities to being involved at administration level with online global projects. I would also like to continue with mentoring and developing others to host sessions. The popularity of the digital badge concept may also mean that I further develop this system for levels of participation.  


If you have been a presenter or have watched a session on TeachMeetNZ, please add your comments below.


For further information
Visit the wiki
#TeachMeetNZ on twitter


Teacher from Newmarket School
Auckland New Zealand

TeachMeetNZ Anniversary

Sonya Van Schaijik PTC 04 , , ,

First week back at school this term and I was still finishing off TeachMeetNZ Anniversary session.
On the 3rd of May we hosted our anniversary session.
However the real date that TeachMeetNZ began was on the 4th of May 2013.

We had a full house.
@MissDtheTeacher @stephen_tpk@gingamusings @kaiako_nz @gmacmanus @chasingalyx
Our invited guest was Arjana abfromzwho got up at 4.00am in her timezone to join us. She was invited as a mentor and guest and in true Arjana style she had a turn at presenting. 
Time Keeper was Kathy @kathyscott25   and she was also back up host. Kathy was one educator who had been with me from the start learning how to use the tools. She tinkles the bell to keep us on time.
For this session we trialled Question and answer in hangout and worked at bringing in more participants.
Marnel 1MvdS was my monitor for this new tool. The challenge she had was being able to see it from within a hangout. My fault, I was training the presenters but did not realise how difficult it was to see the questions from within a hangout. At the end of the session, Marnel created a storifi of the twitter feed.
We trended again on twitter.

Monika @BeLchick1 watched the twitter feed and broadcasted on twitter as presenters spoke 
We broke the 100 live time views mark on the day and 15 people watched the session right through.
Our first session took 25 minutes to broadcast and this one took just over an hour.

I have learnt a lot about my self from hearing the way I speak and direct teachers. Some of my learning include not to be so direct, giving positive, clear feedback and acknowledging the other educators who gather around me to ensure that the sessions run smoothly. These include broadcasting and helping with training. There have been 38 teacher presenters on the sessions and you can go and rewind their sessions here. The highlight for me is the reflective blogging that happens after the sessions. This is when the real learning happens for teachers as I think about how we can continue to get sidetracked with the product. I also learnt that with the Festival of Education GHO session I myself am unable to screen share. I love the way that the recording was live almost immediately after the session.

Where to next? I would love to run a session with staff to share their inquiry. I am keen to have  a try at running a virtual mini conference. Maybe call in past presenters to run their own sessions but all within a single hour period. Begin with one session where everyone can tune in and then push people out to various groups and pages on the wiki. It would be great to have questions and answers too from a virtual audience.

Finally I am ready to run a discussion as is being planned because I can now operate the Q & A section on a hangout.

TeachMeetNZ Reflection

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Recently the above message came to me via twitter from Annemarie Hyde.

Of course I responded with a yes and here is my Eduigniterotovegas presentation. I shared about TeachMeetNZ and about the amazing connections I have made with New Zealand educators. I shared about the site being a collaborative product and how proud I am to have nearly 30 mini presentations available for anyone to come, view and share. It was great to have Marnel Van der Spuy as master of ceremony at the Eduignite and to see her in this leadership role all the way in Rotorua via Google Hangout. Because I was presenting I needed to have practise sessions and was grateful to and to  who spent time with me in a Hangout so that I could practise my part of activating shared screen and showing my own presentation. I did miss having with her rattle snake to remind me of time.

To be honest I am always hosting a Google Hangout Session but I have never really presented. I have been hosting TeachMeetNZ sessions for nearly  a year now and the sessions allow New Zealand educators to talk to each other. The sessions are like being in a conference yet more like when you meet over coffee with your educator friends. That kind of sharing of practice is a fabulous way for New Zealand educators to use technology to talk together.
TeachMeetNZ shifts the focus of conferences because now we do not have the restrictions of time, space or paying to attend a conference. The exciting part of TeachMeetNZ is the ability of a teacher presenting to other teachers. Yet the experience is not just for the teachers who attend or who tune into a session but also for the teachers who presenting. I did not realise the value of this until I myself presented at Eduigniterotovegas via Google Hangout.

Sharing via Google Hangout provides opportunities for educators all over New Zealand to share their expertise with other educators and this is not restricted by time, venue or location. 
As  would say ‘It’s Magic.’ The ‘Magic’ is for educators to share with each other as she did so well recently when she highlighted TeachMeetNZ at #Educampdunners. 
There is no selection process for a TeachMeetNZ session and I am proud of the fact that anyone can share. Generally, I tag people on twitter who have shown an interest and often I am asked if they can join a session. Every session new ideas come in. As a host I have learnt so much listening to each educator share their passion, practice, expertise and ideas from around New Zealand. I feel elated every time especially when I see people from all over New Zealand connecting and then from outside of New Zealand sharing the sessions. 
So for you audience come and join a TeachMeetNZ sessions and watch. Come and see how much fun it is to meet other educators and have deep meaningful conversations. Start by being a lurker and rewind the learning. Follow the conversation on twitter using the #TeachMeetNZ hashtag. 
I believe TeachMeetNZ is something of significant value to the New Zealand educators scene and I am excited to be presenting a special anniversary session on the 3rd of May. I already have a glimmer of running a full virtual national conference because I can see how to use the Google Hangout tool with the questions and answer features activated.

To finish with, when I was waiting for the session to begin, I felt excited at seeing and  out there in the Rotorua audience because they are part of both my online learning world as well as my face to face learning. I enjoyed presenting via Google Hangout and welcomed the opportunity to be part of the process instead of directing the event.

Steve Hargadon’s video provided me with lots of inspiration for this post.


Festival of Education

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Welcome everyone to you our F2F audience and also to our global audience who have joined us who are have joined us virtually. I take this time to say thanks to my twitter buddies who have tweeted and retweeted this session to help us celebrate. The session today is a live google hangout. We have 7x educators from around New Zealand presenting. In addition we have 3x support educators with various roles that they will explain. The session is live on our wiki and also on google+

Talofa Lava, Malo e leleli, Bula Vinaka, Kia Ora, Ni Hao Ma, Anyoung Hasayo, Konnichiwa, Namaste and Welcome everyone to TeachMeetNZ Session 5 I am Sonya Van Schaijik a teacher from Newmarket School in Auckland New Zealand. The greetings are the language of our children from Newmarket. TeachMeetNZ evolved from my Core Education efellowship inquiry into Hyperconnectivity. The TeachMeetNZ site and framework was collaboratively developed during my TeachNZ sabbatical year.

The site continues to evolve and grow and currently there are over 20 mini presentations from New Zealand educators and growing. Just how much does ICT contribute to better outcomes for our learners and also for you to hear our teachers share their learning stories.

TeachMeetNZ is part of my ongoing learning with Hyperconnectivity that I began as a Core Education efellow in 2011. SOLO allowed me to identify that at extended abstract I needed to create an event for teachers so this is it. SOLO Taxonomy has allowed me to rethink the ways that teachers can share learning and has framed my next steps.

I will briefly highlight the story around setting up TeachMeetNZ. There is a fuller version on youtube embedded on the wikispace that I shared on the Virtual Learning Network.

To begin:

“TeachMeet is not about technology 100%, it is about the Teach first of all, and the tech is instrumental to achieving what we want to achieve pedagogically and never the other way around.” Ewan Macintosh

TMNZ is aimed for New Zealand Educators and our one is the first that I am aware of presenting using Google+ as the virtual venue. The history explains the process. However I want to acknowledge our first team.

In 2013 at Ignition I placed a notice up if anyone wanted to trial google hangout and to present a nano presentation. There were 6 people who joined the discussion and I shoulder tapped others. The first group agreed on a date and my team of helpers supported me in ironing out all the glitches. We live streamed all the training and mistakes. So that they could be rewound and learnt from.

Implementing the project involves these tools and putting time aside to work with the presenters virtually. Ah Huh moments

This year as I have been reading around the topic of collaboration and making connection my aha moment is when I knew that I was on the correct pathway with TeachMeetNZ in that we focus a lot on the children but teachers also need encouragement and recogniition.

On TeachMeetNZ  teachers can come together and share their learning. For presenting they will receive a digital badge for their portfolio and a video clip of their presentation.

This is the fifth session of TeachMeetNZ and I am proud to welcome the stunning line up that we have for today.Soon I will pass it over to our team to introduce themselves and then to our presenters. So Marnel over to you first, then I will ask you to hang up as I will use your camera on the audience. I will come back at the end to run a Q&A session that will be monitored by Marnel and that will be 10 minutes. So please audience think of some questions for us. We use ChatWing for questions and answers and that is currently being monitored so from wherever you have tuned in, please join in the discussion. Tell us where you are from. Keep on tweeting and keeping the energy going using the twitter hashtag #TeachMeetNZ.

Thank you all so much for joining us. A special thanks to our amazing presenters who worked with me over the past month getting ready. A big thanks to our wonderful support team who joined in to help with todays session.

Within the next hour we should have a full recording live on the front of the wiki and on google + and over the next week I will tweet out each presenters page so you can revist and rewind and share the topics with your PLN and own staff in your schools and communities.

We can continue the discussion on Google +. So look for me and remember to use the hashtag.

We are always looking out for presenters for future sessions or even if you wish to run a topic specific session. The framework is already in place and all the templates are available to help ensure a smooth session.

Please do get in contact if you would like to join us. TeachMeetNZ is a great way to share your ideas and learning not just in New Zealand but to a global audience. We do ask that to present if you can be a New Zealand Educator, even if you are teaching overseas.

I mention Arjana Blazic who has inspired me along the way and suggest to you to look out for TeachMeetInternational as a way to present with Global educators sharing Global projects.

Please complete the evaluation form on the wiki and give us your valuable feedback. This wraps up our fifth session of TeachMeetNZ, Good bye everyone.