Podfather's podcast

IT Rant #12 A really busy week in IT this week, with our link to AllanahK's podcasts from Appleby School in South Island New Zealand, and the growing number of quality educational podcasts coming from the Southern Hemisphere : ITUcan, Russley Radio, Room5 and Room 1 podcasts shows how there are important pockets of technology around the world. Also included in this Rant is a further report on K12 online and the pre-conference podcast from US Podcast Guru David Warlick. I hope that you enjoy this podcast.

The K12online event is getting ever closer, take a look at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=3 which is the main portal for the virtual conference. The pre-conference keynote by David warlick is already viewable by linking to http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online2006_optz.mp4 David has also set up a wiki to which he is asking 'educators' to post and amend as part of the conference, that can be found at http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.K12online2006 It has been long trailed and eagerly awaited but if the keynote sets the tone for what is to come, we are certainly in for a real treat and a great experience which will go on long after the conference has ended... the short podcast are my thoughts on the keynote. Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

This is a short podcast of the skype call I took from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. Sheryl was presenting at the AET Conference 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama on the use of Web 2.0 tools. She had originally asked Jane Nicholls (ICTUCAN) to skype in with her today. However Jane had a bit of car trouble down in New Zealand - hence I helped out by chatting to the workshop group in Alabama from here in Wales... I still find this stuff to be like magic or alchemy, and quite amazing. http://www.aetc.cc/ Conference Intro Page http://abpc.wikispaces.com/AECT07+Workshop Sheryl's Conference Wiki http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/

I have been struck recently while listening to the podcasts recorded by David Noble ( http://booruch.libsyn.com/ ) as part of his Edonis Project ( http://edonis.ning.com/ )about the quality of ICT Professional Development. David has spoken with many of the UK's cutting edge Education IT community and as part of his sequence of questions has asked his participants about their ICT PD experiences. It is hugely revealing and I would hazard not news to report that the vast majority of interviewees report very little directed formal ICT education as part of their intial traing and/or following their qualification. I would also echo that experience as it is very similar to my own. It is telling that David has spoken to a cross section of teachers with a wide range of teaching experience, all of which paints a less than hopeful situation for formal ICT training for teachers as it does not appear at present to be keeping pace. Many of those spoken to have actually achieved their most transformational PD through the power of new technology ( Web2.0)which has enabled these teachers to connect in informal PD networks with like minded professionals globally. It must be time that formal ICT training makes use of the experience of these highly motivated teachers, who have a passion to improve teaching through the use of technology in innovative ways in a more formal environment. I know that I have joined the ranks of this formal educational training, however I would say that I firmaly believe that the online professional development that we at the IB offer our teachers comes from a sound understanding of the use of new technology can be used to build professional networks of teachers who can work collaboratively on the development of subject based wikis and also use of social networking sites such as Ning(http://ning.com/). Both of these tools were used by Julie Lindsay and Barbara Stephanics in their recent online workshop for teachers called - Web 2.0 in the IB Classroom ( http://tripleaworkshops.ibo.org/file.php/1/mar_09/web_20/page_01_summary.html ). I believe that the use of this type of workshop can work in a virally informal way within a formal setting, I look forward to seeing more innovations like this appearing in PD.

On a genuinely sunny summers day a loyal band of supporters from Abergavenny took the 35 mile journey down to the copper domed Millenium Centre to listen to Abergavenny Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society's afternoon concert in the centre foyer - and were justly rewarded. The location in the foyer accounts for the less than perfect acoustic and the noises off in this recording. The recording made using my trusty iPod with its plug in mic. The concert excellently shows off the individual and combined skill of the dedicated songsmiths from AAODS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAODS http://members.lycos.co.uk/AAODS/history.htm as they gave snippets from past and future shows - coming soon will be Fiddler on the Roof, but we hear excerpts from My Fair Lady and most impressive of all the Juniors from the 2008 - Les Miserables which was the triumph of the season with many youngsters in their teenage years fulfilling promise shown through their formative years with the society. We were also entertained with some Abba hits from Mama Mia. All in all the concert was a triumph of dedication, musicality and most of all enjoyment. Thank you to all from an avid fan.