CWA Team Blog

Presenting TKI workshops:

Tuesday is a full on day for the team as we present four workshops in a row.

Assessment- Integrating ICT, learning data and Assessment,

Exploring Maori and Pasifika resources

NCEA and Study It- making things easy

ICT- exploring ICT resources on TKI

This ULearn ‘06 conference is all about promoting and understanding the new Internet based technologies such as blogging, on-line forums, chat and video streaming as they have enabled the conversation to go well beyond the face 2 face experience of previous conferences.

Murray Brown the ICT Manager for the Ministry of Education, shared with the conference the most important aspects of ULearn ’06. The main philosophy revolves around the theory that technology needs the value of educational professionals in order to be effective in educational use. 4 points were raised by Murray, each needing to be worked with, and addressed at this conference.

 These were:

Connectivity, home and the classroom.

Content: libraries and educators

Community- providers and peers

Capability- guidelines and communication tools.

Now without sounding bias but where do you find these 4 points at the flick of a switch- Yes that’s correct- Te Kete Ipurangi- The online learning centre!!

The workshops enticed many educators from early childhood through to upper secondary. Each workshop catered to meet the needs of their audience and answer one or even more of the conference key questions.

For educators to share their experience and knowledge of effective teaching practice in technology rich environments.

Christchurch September 24- 27 2006

Hi Barb, Site Manager of Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) and a team of 10 experienced educationalists have travelled to Christchurch to contribute, share and deliver TKI resources that support the conference theme – the 10 key questions.NZ Education’s 10 key questions covering e-communities of practice, curriculum, assessment, learning and teaching, vision and values, pedagogy and practice, diversity, and student perspectives provides the essence of the two strands Leaders and Learners that support the main goals for ULearn ‘06.

Today was setting up of our stand that is situated alongside the other Ministry of Education sectors. As you can see we proudly wear our TKI vests- this is a great way to stand out from the 1400 delegates attending this conference and help promote our website. TKI pens, brochures, and even the chocolate fish easily entice our eager educational audience. Many want to share their successes after using TKI resources and implementing it into their class teaching/ planning, others offer valuable suggestions and some just enjoy saying hi to one of the team whom they have been corresponding to over the year.

The conference first keynote speaker- Lisa Galarneau – Welcome to the Future: What online games can tell us about future of learning? Lisa is a game researcher for microsoft and a web e-learning producer and shared her perspective on the future of learning. Her presentation clearly showed to us as educators, that we have a long way to go to see the benefits of an interactive, virtual world.

The conference dinner was held on Monday night- a truly dazzling affair with excellent music, delicious food and wonderful entertainment from a number of very talented school children. A great way for the team to relax, unwind and dance, as well as the ever important net working.

New York houses many spectacular landmarks, some I thought would be ho hum as we see them on movies or hear about them so often, but to actually see them in their true surroundings is another matter. The architectural beauty of some of these buildings- mostly apartments now, are supreme. The use of copper- tarnished green, gold, or wrought iron lace to decorate the roof tops or accentuate a balcony is cleverly done, as is the special lighting effects at night.

A harbour cruise (which I recommend) takes you under the 26 bridges (7 major ones)and over 6 underground tunnels that link this island to the rest of the country. What impressed me most about these bridges is the varied architectural designs over the years. Each new bridge is sure as different from any of the others. The other interesting fact is that some of these bridges were built before the ‘car’ had been invented or could not cope with the volume of traffic once opened, so they built a second story of roads underneath the bridge!! The Brooklyn bridge is the one of the most famous and well worth a walk over.

The Statue of Liberty I must admit is a spectacular site. Thought it would be a low rating attraction for me- but I was proven wrong. This harbour cruise takes you close to it, plenty of times for a photo shoot. She is a an impressive statue and in some ways quite beautiful- on a sunny day. Her careful positioning at the mouth of the Hudson river is in prominent place and you can see the impact this statue must have had and meant for the thousands of new immigrants hoping for a better life in America. Check out the webcam, the weather is meant to improve today!!

The Empire State building is another one, but sadly the waiting time and the gimmicks to buy and buy more souvenirs lost some of its impressiveness. The ears do pop when you zoom up 80 stories iat record speed, then transferred to another lift- past more souvenirs opportunities to reach the viewing platform. The views are as far as you can see- on a fine day and well worth the 40 minutes queue to get there. However, as I was walking past the building the other day in the rain and with low cloud it had a sign saying 5 minute queue and zero visibility!!! I suppose if your time is short in NY then you would still go up. Just to note it has an average of 35,000 tourists a day visiting.

Ground Zero I have mentioned before, but thought this photo from the top of the Empire State gives you a very good indication to the size of these two massive towers and how they once dominated the landscape.

What makes New York so unique? Is it the history of the city, the size of the island that somehow manages to squeeze on this tight land space, the many movie back drops (General Electric Building-Ghost Busters, NY Public library- Day after Tomorrow, Chrysler and of course the Empire State building- King Kong,)…. or the fact it contains such a diverse community?

Walk down any street, catch a train, bus or be served at a shop and you begin to appreciate the numerous dialects that live in such close proximity. Yet, this is no different if you went to any other big city- Melbourne, London, Paris for that matter. I suppose the uniqueness is experiencing it and having the time to appreciate and soak very bit in.

Lower Manattan is where you find China Town and Little Italy- two very different cultures that offer food stalls, flowers, clothing, designer handbags for $15- $25, Rolex watches(with 2 L’s)for $5 and streets and streets of restaurants. Interesting to note even the local New Yorker will search the internet to find out which restaurant has the best reviews- business is cut throat!!

Chelsea and Greenwich village are the trendy places to live. As you meander your way slowly might I, add as the feet do take a pounding, through these areas you begin to appreciate the differences that each suburb presents- whether it is the local bar, news stand, or the endless number of nannies keeping their ‘charges’ under control, life moves along at a startling and noisy pace. Never a dull moment with a street full of taxis and their horns!

This city has no where to spread out, so the only way is up but amongst this maze you do find the odd park or see people purchasing a tree to take home and place in their apartment or roof top balcony.

Signing off for now- more museums to check out and in some cases revisit to complete the exhibits we have missed.

Hi, Barb reporting with advice for the eager traveller intending to visit this 24 seven city. The most important one is wear comfortable shoes and always take an umbrella with you especially at this time of the year. Certain parts of USA are heading into cyclone season with Hurricane Katrina anniversary on 29 August. Designer gumboots are the autumn rage this season and with the rain that been falling you can understand why.
Comfortable shoes gives the eager tourist a chance to walk the streets, jump on a bus with relative ease and zip down the endless and might I say, confusing tube stations. A map of the underground is a life saver!!! Yellow taxi’s a dime a dozen, once the art of hailing for one has been accomplished, then sit back and relax as they weave their way through the maze of streets and avenues.

For any first time person to this never sleeping city there are certain touristy sites that you must see and do- Statue of Liberty, harbour cruise around Manhattan, the Empire State building, Ground zero, The Bull at Wall street. Then there are the necessary photo sessions to prove you have been there.

The variety of Museums and the treasures that each one contains is beyond belief- Picasso, Salvador Dali, Monet, Egyptian treasures, Roman statues, fossils and more all there for you to spend hours (and hours) wandering and taking in the delights of each attraction. Explore these links to begin to appreciate what they offer, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Guggenheim and all in easy walking distance from Central Park.

Without a doubt all these have entry costs and well worth every ‘green bill’. Speaking of the green bill make sure you travel with plenty of cash as that is still the way to do business especially at the variety of weekend ethnic markets and small food stalls that line every possible corner.

The best possible advice I can give to any traveller is to check out Google earth, by using the 3D option you get very accurate visuals.

That’s it from me for today. Time to soak the feet, and prepare them for another day of adventure.

We feel very privileged living in mid Manhattan, especially the east side which is where most foreigners and the business sector live. New York City is huge and I mean huge, my feet can testify to that!! Our apartment is on the 8th floor of a 25 story block on the far east side of mid Manhatten,1st ave - to get to Central Park it takes 15 minutes to walk. Today Ian and I did a harbour cruise, we walked from 1st ave East side (our apartment) to 12th Ave far West side to catch the ferry. The walk took 45 minutes, and the ferry ride 3 hours. The trip was great as it took you around the Manhattan island and gave the usual historical commentary as well as a close up of the Statue of Liberty which is magnificent in itself.

Apartment living is the norm here but I do wonder what you would do in winter- The shows in Times Square seem to be a big hit then. Usual apartments are the same size that we are in ( separate bathroom, kitchen, utility room, walk in wardrobe and lounge come dining room) with the number of bedrooms being the difference. Ours is very comfortable, but no balcony. Apparently that is safer than one with!!! Maybe it was due to the Superman movie as it was filmed near here. Every apartment complex has a doorman which takes getting use to. Mind you after a day walking I do enjoy someone opening my door for me. Starbucks is on our corner and I must admit they have been my life saver on hot days. Speaking of food every second store is a food store-You name the food you want and you can find it in walking distance as far as I can see. On reflection I suppose this is not unusual in a large city of 13 million people. And yes Kath I can vouch about the food portions they are mammoth!!!!

Actually Ross, Ian is hunting out a good beer bar. We passed one today on the way to the West side and do you think we could find it when we needed to. That is one thing here, if you see it then buy, eat, whatever, right then and there as you may never come across it again.

I can definitely say the local NY people are very smartly presented. Mostly fit and tanned- mind you when you see the high heels these NY women wear you wonder how they can walk/wobble at all. Central park certainly gets a hammering- bike, walk, run, sports coaching, sunbathing. The tourists are easily recognisable as we are the sensible ones wearing running shoes around the streets.

Transport an interesting experience, I thought the London underground was confusing, well I was proved wrong. After many and a few continuing failed attempts I am beginning to get myself around (saves the feet a little) but ended up in the depths of Harlem the other day. I was the only white person and felt slightly ill at ease until I ventured closer to Central park. Yellow taxi’s roam the streets 24 hours a day and very common to flag one down- anywhere!! The use of car horns are never ending and I do wonder why they place $250 horn fine posters all over the place.

Shopping, Touristy things, China town, Little Italy all to come through the week. We have seen and are continuing to enjoy the experience. So many things to see, but lovely to know that I have a few days left to try and tick a few things off my list. One main aim is to visit the museums. I have found them, sussed out the prices, which train to take etc. So need to plan a course of action, oh gosh so unlike me!!!

Hope this finds you all rested after the weekend, haven’t heard how the rugby game went- yet.

Bye for now

Barb

Well I think I can get use to this - being the lady of leisure and spending time soaking up all that is happening in NY. Never appreciated the size of Manhattan- absolutely huge and my feet can vouch for that. I have walked and walked and walked and now to my great delight I am now walking down streets and avenues that I now find familiar. With those eager buffs at CWA who have pedometers I am averaging K25000 steps a day. The running is taking a back seat as the legs just wouldn’t cope with that as well.

Speaking of running- yes I have ‘meandered’ may way through Central park- an impressive, huge (once again) park that sits smack bang in the middle of Manhattan- this is where the many young mums meet with their children for an Army style marching keep fit class, buggies and all. Then on an adjacent park area you have the older NY residents with thier dogs (large and small-people and dogs) and they have their chat while the dogs play. There is a Marathon at Central park this Sat morning, thought it may be worth being a spectator- there are some extremely fit people here.

We are in a superb apartment. Close to the United Nations Building- so Ian meanders down there for his daily meetings. The air conditioning in the apartment goes non stop. Weather wise it can vary between 95-85C, but autumn is on its way. The beautiful elm trees that grace the streets are beginning to turn and drop- yes even at this temp. Sorry all, I wont go on how hot and wonderful it is as I know what dreadul weather you have been having this week as we are in daily contact with the chn and they make it very clear that the weather has been dreadful.

Here are a few pictures showing you some of the sites we have experienced over the last week. I do the prep work and then when Ian has a free moment we zoom off and enjoy the sites together- so as you can imagine a very busy weekend planned!!!

Just one worth mentioning is the World Trade centre site- a very eerie place with the cavity of the buildings very obvious. Extremely quiet place and very moving. Many fire trucks display the names of their crew that were lost. Some people say that the NY people have become more friendly and caring towards each other since then- 5 years ago in September.

I will fill you in on the other happenings over the course of the week. Many pictures to show but don’t want to bore you silly.

Thats it from me for now. Take care and trust all is hail and hearty.

 Barb

Coming soon - news and views from New York with TKI site manager, Barb Wright.