elearning stuff
I’ve been at an elearning conference which started with a welcome on the very beautiful marae at Unitec. The wharenui is a beautiful building and I loved the Treaty pou – bronze, twisted vines and digital reproductions of the Treaty.
Once the welcome was over, however, we entered Pakeha time. Which was ok except that it’d have been nice if the metaphors had continued a little longer.
Some presentations were very good. And some, as at all conferences, not so.
What stood out for me was the technology panel, not so much that we looked at the small and detailed but because we looked at the big picture.
I liked David Pearson because he asked questions about cultural practices, disruptive technology and institutions’ ability to deal with disruptive technology.Bronwyn Hegarty talked her usual intelligent stuff about blogs and in fact blogs became a bit of a theme of the conference.
Maggie Buxton talked passionately about augmented realities, projects and learning through play. She was, for me inspiring.I’d be keen to find out more about fo.am
I liked that the conference started with the metaphor about the house and I enjoyed the seriousness of Agnes Kulkushka-Hume and the energy of Steve Wheeler.
And I liked meeting up with former colleagues, business partners and friends.
Oh and I tried to tweet more. but I’m still not sure about twitter. Some of the comments on the big screen seemed to me a bit like kids being, well, disruptive.
Link to the marae: http://www.unitec.ac.nz/index.cfm?624A834C-145E-6A3C-46A1-6C94DA3886DC
a community event
is a fine thing -especially when the weather clears…
…..and organising women
Yesterday was the local fair which the Ranui Residents Association organised in conjunction with the Porirua City Council.
It was a fantastic day and everyone was happy, relaxed and positive. Its purpose was to start off the Village Planning process…….so hopefully the survey results will help us out there.
But it would not have happened had it not been for the Porirua City Council and the wonderful Lepeti who did the running around, organised her husband Sam and aiga ….and just was everywhere with every thought in her mind. She was fantastic.
It was a great day and in the end fantastic teamwork.
The image? Painting organised by another great woman – Tupe Rodgers. You can see some of the community group work she has done in the Mungavin Tunnel.
I’m a union girl and that’s ok
It’s been a bit of a week or two and I wanted to put in a plug for unions. I have been for sometime a member of the ASTE union which has now become TEU Tertiary Education Union. In the past this union has helped me out with various redundancy issues and this last week they came to my aid again.
It was great to have the union rep beside me in a meeting and to have the emotionally detached advice.
I think that in this current climate where there’s a lurch again to the right and awful reminiscences of the early 1990s (is that Ruth Richardson’s voice we hear in Paula Bennett) we’d all be wise to resume our collective activity and hold fast to our rights which I feel being pulled from under us……..and so good luck to colleagues in the MECA agreement, who for over a year now have been fighting the powers that be for better conditions.
And thanks Phil and TEU.
Ranui festival March 27th, 2010
Fashion show from the St Vincent’s de Paul shop, recycled hat competition, local bands, karaoke, school displays, tai kwando displays, Harley rides, village planning information, local residents information, collection of history stories, digital stories of the area, card stalls, quizzes, demonstration…..fabulous people
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Smlogging and the community
Alan Levine’s post about how people are blogging less and twittering more made me think it was time to do this post.
While I have been indulging more, and more so now that winter is upon us (aieeeeee), I have been involved a little in some community action stuff.
Last year a group of us stood outside the local Shell Service Station and had our photo taken for the local rag, Kapi Mana, of which we are very proud.
Why? Well because when cars turn out of the service station into Mungavin Ave it causes chaos and there is the potential for a BIG accident. We talked with the council and the Shell people and we have come to a kind of solution: Council will provide some signage, Shell will put it on their advertising boards and we will keep talking to Council about some roading changes. It’s taken a while and while perhaps it’s not the restrictive changes we’d like, it is a start and I have to say Shell have been great since they don’t have to do anything else legally.
We are also trying to get some changes made to the Village structure via the Porirua City Council Village Plan and several locals have been out delivering surveys and being proactive. So it’s good.
Now? Cold, fires, red wine and haloumi cheese, which I think should be a prescription medicine and therefore free. Research on learning environments and distributed identities ensue too.
For those returning: it’s freezing cold, stormy and, well, wintry.
