Stuart Mealor
HRDNZ, Moodle Partner (NZ)
Presentation

I'm the Moodle Certification Manager, and it's one of the most fascinating projects I've been involved in. It's a constant pleasure working with the certification group, and the wider international community. My whole career has been in business / IT training and development (although I started life as a graphic designer). I also have an MBA in International Business, and a degree in Professional Development - which is why I spend a lot of time in the Moode for Business Uses area. I've used FirstClass, WebCT, Blackboard, and Moodle, eXe, MyUdutu, etc. When I have free time(!) I do some voluntary work for the Business Mentors New Zealand scheme helping young businesses grow.

Using Moodle as a social-networking tool

I have been working on this project for around a year and first presented this session at the Moodle Moot in San Francisco in June 2008. This session is firmly located in the E-Fest Connected Learners theme. The model discussed illustrates (in practical terms) how a social-networking provision can be created within Moodle that parallels the social-networking sites commonly used by learners such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Del.icio.us etc. The session illustrates how some these technologies can be integrated and replicated in a Moodle-based environment to create a personal learning environment 'learner dashboard' which is 'owned' by the learner.

Pablo Garcia
2Touch (NZ)
Workshop

Pablo Garcia owns several businesses providing consulting services and solutions to the education sectors in Australia and New Zealand.  Holding a Masters in aeronautics & thermodynamics, he can hold his own in most physics classrooms.... but these days Pablo spends his time working with educators to devise improved ways of achieving student outcomes.  A varied background beyond the education sector includes a long involvement in alternative energy programs, eight years running a business designing and deploying gaming systems, and a passion for developing technologies to assist community and mental health improvements. 

Pablo has driven the development of Australia's 2Touch interactive whiteboard, and is an enthusiastic advocate for solutions and practices which open students' and educators' learning horizons.

Engage versus involve:  Achieving every student's active participation

Since interactive whiteboards ("IWBs") made their debut in NZ classrooms in 2003, the word "engage" has been quick to the lips of our educators.  However, engagement for a large proportion of the class can remain passive:  IWB's may be riveting an audience's attention, but they only allow hands-on involvement from a few at a time. The educator is challenged to create activities in which every student is continuously involved, as opposed to observing a teacher or a few fellow students modelling work on the IWB. Until recently, student response solutions have been largely confined to voting, games and contests, or quick quiz activities.

New software now actively exploits the intersection between response tools and IWB's, making it so that every student can interact with the whiteboard - from his or her seat. Two distinct approaches have emerged in selection and use of student response solutions:

• use of choice-based coded response solutions to support a culture of continuous formative assessment, and
• use of texting-based open response solutions to stimulate higher level thinking and collaboration.

In this workshop we will explore both approaches.  Your debate of the merits will conclude a hands-on session in which every one of you will be expected to take a part!

Alex Matthews, Rox Flame
Midnight Assembly Charitable Trust, Collaborative Underground Dangerous Design Label (NZ)
Presentation

The Midnight Assembly (http://www.midnight-assembly.net/) is a charitable trust based in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that is committed to cultivating an inspired youth culture. The organisation was created and is operated by youth. Our aim is to offer a broadened reality for youth who are dissatisfied with the aspirational limits and creative restrictions of their environment. By popularising creativity and self expression we believe youth can be empowered to realise their potential and begin exploring these new and exciting possibilities together.

Midnight Assembly at eFest - At efest Midnight Assembly will operate an information stand and will deliver some presentations.  The stand will have information including; multimedia, t-shirts for sale and a team of three or four informative representatives.

Rox and Alex gained their insights on the current state of secondary and tertiary education in the most relevant way possible; by being students during the past decade.

A Challenge to NZ Education

Our 'Challenge to NZ Education' will involve three parts delivered over the 55 minutes. 

First will be a series of video interviews  screening the perceptions youth have on the education system,  and how IT has played a part in their learning – and what  patterns they see emerging.  The interviews will be done on Wellington youth (12 – 25) from a number of different backgrounds.

The second part will deal mainly with theories and ideas on education.  We will explore strengths and weaknesses of our current education system in New Zealand and our personal impressions on how they could be improved.  The two main questions in part 2 are “What kind of learning culture do we  have?” and “What kind of learning culture would we like?”

Finally, our presentation will turn to the role of information technology and digital media, and how these things can facilitate    the learning culture we envisage in part 2.  The Midnight  Assembly shows its colours in this segment, delivering ideas on a project that could practically fill the things identified as needed.

Andy Kirk
Flexible Learning Network (NZ)
Presentation

Andy is the Educational Technology Advisor for the Flexible Learning Network and has been co-ordinating the Mahara pilot projects involving tertiary users (http://www.myportfolio.ac.nz) & secondary school users (http://www.myportfolio.school.nz).

Mahara open source ePortfolio - connecting learners and their learning environments

This workshop will focus on the open source ePortfolio system Mahara, exploring ways in which it can be used to support learning and enable users to develop online communities, make connections between their learning - in the institution, in the workplace, formal or informal - and the range of online spaces in which it takes place.

Consideration will be given as to how we can begin to explore and connect these formal and informal learning environments in which a learner might be engaged; from the institution-led Learning Management System to the variety of publishing, collaborative, social networking tools and other technologies typified as Web 2.0. The underlying principal of Mahara is that it is a learner-centred tool, a personal learning environment; whilst ePortfolio adoption and management may be institution-driven, the content and networks developed should be learner-owned, with a life and purpose beyond the institution.

Mahara's system of Artefacts, Views and Groups allows for multiple layers and connections of individuals and groups sometimes disparate, sometimes interlinked, personal to the user, often shifting over time with progression through work or study. As part of the session, attendees will contribute towards a Mahara created 'View' on ePortfolio mplementation, informed by the discussions and questions arising from the workshop. More info http://mahara.org or try the demo at http://demo.mahara.org

Dr Scott Diener
University of Auckland (NZ)
Presentation

I spent 20 years in the Psychology faculty of Chapman University, and also was in private practice as a Psychologist. I was Associate Dean of the College of Lifelong Learning at the University, and was responsible for the earliest web developments and LMS implementations(early 1993). I have been Director of the University of Auckland's LMS development group since 2003, and in 2007 assumed the position of Associate Director, IT Services, responsible for Academic and Collaborative Technologies.

Virtual Worlds, Real Collaborations

A recent Virtual Worlds Management report found that there are over 100 youth-oriented virtual worlds either live or currently in development. Investment in virtual world projects in the first two quarters of 2008 has now exceeded $350 million dollars, and tops off the 1 billion dollars invested in virtual world related companies in the 12 months ended in October 2007. The Gartner group suggested last year that 80% of active internet users will have accounts (avatars) in some sort of virtual world within the next three years. However, such non-linear growth patterns in the internet should no longer surprise us.

With global companies like IBM, CISCO, Google and many others ramping up dozens of virtual world collaboration effort, and major universities around the globe investing in simulation education environments, it is clear that this is not a passing phenomenon. This session will present recent industry reports on virtual world developments, and will showcase several educational developments, including a live demonstration of the University of Auckland Second Life 'campus'. The session will also include a brief introduction to design, development and management issues in Second Life environments.