Nine 2004 efellows attended the Dimensions of Learning conference in Melbourne, as part of a Ministry of Education initiative to disseminate research and share about the fellowship programme. This conference was selected as a strategy to learn more about international trends on thinking and learning. Keynote presenters included Dr Tim Waters, Dr John Barell, Professor Art Costa, Brian Pete, and Karen Boyes. The sessions by Dr Jano Marzano and Dr Jay McTighe were of particular interest to and enjoyed by many of the efellows.

Many keynote presenters included interactive introductions and activities in their workshop sessions, where participants were encouraged to share and reflect on their practice. This provided the efellows with numerous occasions to discuss their research, its implications on current practices and the Ministry of Education???s eLearning fellowship programme. The efellows are a diverse group of teachers with a variety of interests and this was reflected in the wide-coverage of conference presentations they attended. There were many opportunities for efellows to make initial contact with delegates and encourage them to visit the efellow booth in their breaks between sessions. It is estimated that in the region of 100 to 150 participants visited the stand, most of them speaking one on one to the efellows over the time of the conference giving the fellowship a huge amount of coverage.

eFellows from across the three years (2004 - 2006) have been touring with the TUANZ Education Conference - Improving Teaching, Learning and Thinking Skills with ICT.

eFellows have had the opportunity to share their experiences as an eFellow; discuss their research, their research findings and the impact this has had on their teaching, thinking and practice.

Display introducing and outling eFellows projects.

One of the many factors that make the eFellowship unique to other study grants, is the idea of 'fellowship'. it is exciting to see eFellows from the three years linking up and making connections - expanding the circle of the 'fellowship'.

eFellows at the Ministry Stand, where they are at hand to discuss the fellowship and their research projects

Derek Wenmoth (key note - Next Generation eLearning), Gayleen MacKereth (2K4 efellow), Paul Lowe (2K6 efellow),

As part of the e-fellowship, each fellow has kindly been sponsored by Hewitt Packard (HP). For the last three years, HP have made a commitment to provide hardware resources to the efellows. The generosity of HP has been overwhelming as each year, efellows have received their own digital camera, colour printer, data projector and a hand held computer. This year saw each 2K6 efellow recieve a three in one printer, scanner and copier, the latest hand held and new portable data projectors.

This hardware enables efellows to have instant access to up to date technologies and support them with their research.

The equipment we have received will be invaluable. The
handheld computer will enable complete portability of data
collection and recording and digital handling.
The printer scanner copier fax will be a complete
communication and printing and paper handling
centre. Extraordinary.
Brian Waller

Melissa from HP gets to act like Santa, handing out the equipment and giving some useful tips and tricks.

The efellows would like to express their thanks to HP and Melissa for their overwhelming support of the efellowship programme.

Another wave of efellows have been selected to carry out innovative research in an elearning context. At a gathering in Wellington, in which the Minister of Education attended, the efellows unveiled their proposed research projects. These projects cover all sectors of education from Early Childhood to Secondary. Project topics include themes such as 'Imagined Possible Selves', e-Portfolios, Digital Stories, Exploring ways ICT can match students prefered learning styles and Science classes using IT rich problem based learning strategies.

The ???Microsoft Innovative Teacher Conference??? in Korea was a chance in a lifetime to learn not only about Korean education but to broaden our understanding of education on a global scale. There were 25 countries represented and although we did not listen to all the presentations, as they were on at the same time, it was humbling to hear of the adversity experienced by developing countries. Sri Lanka has an extraordinarily low ratio of computers per student in our terms, however the progress they have made over the last few years is remarkable. Not only have they areas without electricity but they are combating the aftermath of the tsunami. How can you build infrastructure when there are people crying out to have their basic needs met?

We learned about corporate culture. We saw presentations from multinationals like Starbucks, Levis and the hotel chain ???W???. These companies, who profiled their marketing strategies for us, gave us an insight into the ways these firms appeal to their clients. There are commonalities which have relevance to us as educators, a multisensory, interactive approach with a clear focus on the client culture and their interests.

The schools we visited in Korea were very different in their approach to our own schools here in New Zealand. It was an invaluable opportunity to gain insight into this Asian culture and by contrast our own. This opportunity was much appreciated and we recognize the efforts of Microsoft and the Ministry of Education to make it happen.

Thanks Maureen and Nils.

Written by Jenny

In December 2004 all 10 2K4 e-Fellows travelled to Singapore, where they attended the Inaugural Regional Innovative Teachers Conference hosted by Microsoft. The Conference was part of Microsoft???s ???Partners in Learning??? education initiative ???.

Each 2K4 e-Fellow was given the opportunity to present their year???s research to Microsoft???s Partners in Learning and other conference delegates.

Lynda Walsh-Pasco

Lynda was subsequently chosen to represent New Zealand and to share her research at the 1st World Innovative Teachers Conference. This August, Lynda headed off to Seattle to attend the conference and present her research to around 100 delegates from around the world.

Lynda is a teacher from Roxburgh. She is trained physical education teacher who has in recent years become an e-teacher at her school and within Otago Net. OtagoNet is a collaborative on-line network of nine rural Otago schools established in October 2001 to take advantage of broadband telecommunication, including the use of videoconferencing. Its aim is to widen and enrich the educational opportunities for Otago rural area and secondary school students and enhance teaching and learning.

Lynda???s research looks at ???Best Practice??? in teaching with videoconferencing.

To find out more about Lynda???s work click here.

This is Lyndas story??

What are the fellowships?

In June 2003 the e-learning fellowships were established to reflect the Ministry of Education's commitment to quality teaching. Another aim was to recognise and reward New Zealand teachers and early childhood educators who have used ICT innovatively and creatively to improve students' learning.

The fellowships aim to:
?? improve the professional capability of teachers
?? increase the use of effective e-learning strategies in schools
?? produce research for teachers by teachers on innovative application of ICT in New Zealand education

Core Educations Role in the e-fellowships

Core Education provides the academic guidance and support which includes professional residential workshops and online mentoring.

Who are the e-fellows?

The e-fellows are teachers and early childhood educators from around New Zealand.

Each year 10 teachers are released from their teaching duties to carry out innovative, leading edge research in New Zealand Schools and early childhood centres.

Click here to look at these exciting projects

Two of New Zealand???s leading interactive white board companies have generously given each e-Fellow (2004 and 2005) an interactive white board for use in their research, dissemination of their research and with their classroom programmes.

Thanks to Manzana, each 2005 e-Fellow has received a portable SMARTboard. Each 2005 e-Fellow has the use of the SMARTboard for one year (July 2005 to July 2006) for use in their research and in their classrooms next year.

Thanks to Envision in cooperation with Promethean, each 2004 e-Fellow is receiving an ACTIVboard to help with the dissemination of their research and within their classroom programmes.

SMARTboard  Manzana

Rob Love and Pablo Garcia from Manzana at Core-ed

Last week, all the 2005 e-Fellows had a training session with Rob Love and Pablo Garcia from Manzana at Core-ed.

During this time the e-Fellows had a chance to become familiar with their SMARTboards and discover some of the features of the boards.

Jo and Judy setting up their SMARTboards

These SMARTboards are going into a diverse range of classrooms ranging from the Early Childhood sector through to Secondary Schools. After having time to explore the SMARTboards, this is what some of the fellows had to say??

Andrea - Primary
I found the day enjoyable. I liked being able to explore and play around with the different features of the board. It was great to be able to start generating some ideas about how I would like to see students interacting with it. I???d love to use it as a tool for helping the students organise themselves, set goals that the whole class can see and support each other with, tracking our thinking processes and learning journeys. I have some ways in mind that other teachers might like to use it in the following 2 terms while I am still on the fellowship but not working with kids. There are some very tactile learners who have some learning difficulties who I feel might be motivated by the SMARTboard???s tactile nature, and may find that it helps them get through difficulties that they can experience in the classroom in an interactive and independent way. They may be able to experience some successes in their learning that they may not have been successful with previously.

Jo ??? Early Childhood
"I can see great potential for Smart board use in early childhood. We use Kid Pix a lot and will be exciting to explore this programme on the Smartboard, children will be able to draw straight onto the board either using their fingers or the provided pens. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can show the children how to use it."

David ??? Secondary David Okey demonstrating to the e-Fellows waveforms being generated by musical instruments.

"My first teaching session was the very next day, Thursday, when I used the SMART board along with my data logging gear to look at the wave forms that Lyn???s flutes were generating. I was able to explain briefly how musical instruments generate sounds with pure tones and the differences between musical instruments. Having the SMARTboard enabled me to expand the data being recorded and draw directly onto the live data and explain the different waveforms being generated by the musical instruments."

"For several years at conferences I have chatted to Pablo and admired SMART boards totally convinced that my classroom needed one. However there were always other priorities for money and I was unable to convince the purse holders at school that I absolutely needed a SMARTboard. This meant that it was great to get my hands on a board and have Rob and Pablo on hand to familiarise us with the use of the board."

"I was totally convinced that a SMARTboard will be a fantastic tool to use in my Physics classroom."

Packing up the SMARTboard after the training session

The SMARTboards are all portable, so e-Fellows can take them with them wherever they go.

Each 2004 e-Fellow is receiving a Promethean proACTIVboard and Slate this week, for use in their classrooms or in their roles of teacher professional development. These proACTIVboard have been provided to the e-Fellows by Envision in cooperation with Promethean as part of their support for the Ministry of Educations??? e-Fellows Scholarship programme.

During the U-learn Conference held in Auckland last month, most of the e-Fellows attended a training session with Murray Thoms (Director of ENVISION PRESENTATIONS LIMITED) and Simon Briscoe (Sales Consultant, Southern Region).

The e-Fellows had a chance to see the ACTIVboards in action as well as interacting with the boards using the slates.

Andrew Carswell - hands on with the ACTIVboard, demonstrating how he can see the board being used in his classroom at Hillmorton High School, Christchurch.

The 2004 e-Fellows had a chance to see some of the potential the proACTIVboard has and left the training session buzzing with thoughts and ideas of how these would/could be used in the classroom and with other teachers.

The e-Fellows would like to thank Murray Thoms and ENVISION for the opportunity to use these Promethean proACTIVboards this year.

Keep watching this space to see how the e-Fellows are using the Promethean proACTIVboards in their classrooms.