By background I’m a physics teacher, on loan to some areas of learning that I’m currently interested in.
Update: January 2012
- Have been back teaching at High School recently. Lots happening of interest, but you can’t always put this in a blog.
As of January 2011: just a few fragments of my life at the moment
- This blog. An itinerant process only, coming and going in fits and starts along with Twitter and Facebook. (Blog, Twitter, Facebook: pick 2)
- Moodle 2+. A huge part of things at the moment. Workshops, some writing or training materials, some staff training.
- Learning Design. What’s best in Moodle 2+ (especially at the High School level, and vocational learning)
- Bangladesh and China: I still have some contacts there and will be visiting China again in May
- Teaching Strategies. (My focus has moved OFF learning strategies for a while. The question is: what can teachers DO to aid learning?)
All with a constructivist, learner centred, community approach. I am busy, and sometimes a little unfocused and distracted by the butterflies. Most of these things are a work in progress.
A little history
This all started when I went through a rough patch during the early 1990′s when teaching at Shirley Boys High in Christchurch: a bit bored a bit frustrated (why are the kids not learning?). I ended up taking a paper in the then new Masters in Science Education at the University of Canterbury. Prof Phil Butler and John Longbottom (later to be Dr) introduced us to a few papers in science education research. One of the little pieces I wrote was “Why didn’t anyone tell me about Vygotsky?” I videoed myself teaching, interviewed my students, and my attitude to the teaching and learning process was revolutionised.
The irony: I left full time classroom teaching soon after, and have been involved in teacher professional development in various ways since then.
In 1998 I was a visiting teacher at the University of Canterbury (in Physics).
Distance Education. In the distance education side of my life I am indebted to Prof Mike Wells (now Professor Emeritus, Montana State University-Bozeman) who taught a distance course I was part of in 1998 (“Real World Problem Solving”, via First Class) Here he modeled many of the practices I later adopted as my own. I was ready for 2001 when the courses at the College moved to having a serious online presence with the development of Interact, our home grown learning management system.
In 2000 (after the demise of the wonderful Riccarton Project) I fell into a role at the then Christchurch College of Education. Educational Designer.
In 2002, while trying to understand online learning, I encountered the concept “Community of Practice”. In 2004 I became a member of CPsquare, the community of practice about communities of practice.
In 2007, after a wash-tumble-spin dry cycle the University and the College of Education merged, with me moving to the University Centre for Teaching and Learning.
Just a few past fragments of my life . . .
- Communities of Practice. In 2002, while trying to understand online learning, I encountered the concept “Community of Practice”. In 2004 I became a member of CPsquare, the community of practice about communities of practice.
- Moodle 1.9 Shifting 700 academics and 17,000 students (depending on how you count) from Blackboard and StudentNet to Moodle.
- Akowiki. Yes I know, the stuff should be on WikiEducator. Coming. This is kind of a dumping ground for things I need to follow up on. I think the only use is when I send a person a URL.
- Bangladesh, Korea and China: short term teacher professional development programmes at UoC. I have presented on Teacher Reflective practice, Interactive teaching Strategies, Teacher professional development concepts, Active Learning and mentoring.
Dead Links
- iCommunities.org – an online community space based on Interact. I still have the domain name, but the idea has passed.
- Interact – an online community support platform. Free and Open Source. Support has ceased.
The inevitable disclaimer:
This blog is me talking. Helps clear my head. In the past it did not represent official policy at my place of employment, although sometimes by chance it did coincide.