ITF09

Enquiring Minds Project

ITF09 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:08:33 GMT

And the winners are……

After we ran out of time at the excellent Gala Dinner we did not have time to announce the Winners of the Enquiring Minds project.

We were all really impressed with your efforts and despite some technical difficulties with Deep Zoom some fantastic projects were produced.

You can view all the projects in the Vienna ITF Projects community on the UK ITN. (You have to join the community for access.)

It was very difficult to choose a winner.

So for their determination to get it working and for taking a risk in trying something new. I would like to announce the winners as

Group 9 – Deep Zoom Souvenirs

To view the full project download the zip from the UK ITN and access this file (this blog does not support viewing the project in its entirity – sorry…)

Group9\group9\DeepZoomProjectWeb\ClientBin\DeepZoomProjectTestPage.html

Thank you all for your participation in this workshop. We really enjoyed your projects.

Winners of European ITF09

ITF09 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:22:43 GMT

There were many very good projects at the European ITF09, and all are winners for participating. However, we had to choose the winners that would be given the opportunity to travel to Brazil to participate in the World Wide ITF09, and hopefully win the world wide award.

And the winners are;

Category	#	Country	Name	Project
ICT Usage	1.	UK	Ollie Bray	Thinking out of the Xbox
-	2.	Sweden	Anna Ljungqvist	The paperless classroom
-	3.	UK	Mandeep Atwal	Young Voices
Content	1.	Belgium	Isabel Schapdryver	Secondhandshop
-	2.	Northern Ireland	David Stinson	Pupil E-portfolio
-	3.	Greece	Diplaris Dimitriou	From Newton to CERN
Communication /collaboration	1.	Serbia	Slavica Juric	The story about bread
	2.	Bulgaria	Krasimira Dimitrova	Journey Through Bulgaria
	3.	Slovakia	Pallo Peter	Nature Explorers
Educator’s choice	# and (points in contest)
	1. (25)	Bulgaria	Krasimira Dimitrova	Journey Through Bulgaria
	2. (13)	Belgium	Isabel Schapdryver	Secondhandshop
	3. (12)	Croatia	Helena Miljevic	Industrial revolution in Rijeka
	3. (12)	Greece	Thodoris Andriopoulos	Who killed Mr X
	3. (12)	Northern Ireland	David Stinson	Pupil E-portfolio
	3. (12)	The Netherlands	Andrea Brauns	Sound Lottery

Note: To use the links provided for the VCTs in this overview, you need a login and password for the UK Innovative Teachers Network.

If you are not already a member sign up here

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners – hopefully we will have the pleasure of seeing you all in Brazil in November:)

Presentations

ITF09 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:27:18 GMT

Here is PDFs on all the presentations and the Futurelab Workshop from the ITF 09 in Vienna;

Link to the presentation by Christian Fonnesbech on the Climate Mystery

Link to the presentation by Franz Kühmayer on the Future of Education

Link to Power Point from the Futurelab Workshop

Link to the presentation by Jan Mühlfeit

Link to the presentation by Lucin Pero titled “A New World of Learning”

Link to the presentation by Dan Roberts titled “Recharge the Batteries”

Graphic notes

ITF09 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:43:58 GMT

As promised I hereby upload the graphic notes made by Deirdre Crowley during the event. This is the first entry in a series that will contain important material from the European ITF09; winning VCTs, Power Points, etc….

All notes are uploaded as deep zoom (for optimum use you must install Silverlight); use your mouse to zoom and move the picture to see more detail… (the far right side of the picture will only be visible if zooming, this is due to the deep zoom format – I am working on a solution for this, just need to find the code:))

The theme of the ITF09

Welcome notes for all the speakers

Notes on Keynote by Franz Kühmayer – Future of Education

Notes on keynote by Christian Fonnesbech – The Climate Mystery

Notes on Futurelab workshop - 1

Notes on Futurelab workshop – 2

Notes on Keynote by Dan Roberts – Winner of WW ITF09 - 1

Notes on Keynote by Dan Roberts – Winner of WW ITF09 – 2

Notes from the closing by Lucin Pero

And last but not least, meet Deirdre who has made all of these wonderful notes for us. Thank you very much Deirdre, and we will be looking very much forward to see you in action again very soon:)

A new world of learning

ITF09 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:34:01 GMT

The rest of the morning the groups from yesterday were increadibly dedicated in creating their digital content. You could see heads smoking while videos were edited, photosynths created and songs recorded! I am very curious to see the results!

It was to Lucin Pero, Director of the University of Rijeka, to open the afternoon. He pointed out that we are living in an exponential time and are only still in the stone age of communication. We must transform the educational structure in response and ask ourselves how we prepare the students for this future society which will be totally different.

Our brains adapt to this exponential life. It has been proven that thinking and collaborating can change the brain, and also searching the internet engages the neural networks in the brain. So we can see that our brain is adapting. So the challenge is whether we can understand young learners and design programs appropriate for them. This question is not only academic, because this means for us at teachers that we need to think in non-linear dimension, which we have not learned to do.

According to Pero, flexibility is a key issue – flexibility of content, learning models, time and space,goals and assessments and learning arrangements. What we have now is the opposite. Students becoming owners of the the whole learning processes, of the content is crucial.

Recharge the battery

ITF09 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:59:02 GMT

Thursday morning started with a speech by Dan Roberts from Saltash Community School in the UK. Dan is a great example on how innovative work can be rewarded also in your professional life: he has become promoted assistant head teacher as a result of winning the worldwide Microsoft Innovative Teachers Contest in Hong Kong. Saltash school calls itself Saltash.net which makes their mission clear. A couple of years ago they asked their students what they wanted. The kids said they wanted to learn how to learn, but especially they wanted easy access to technology and internet, wanted to produce with technology…

The project Dan won his award in Hong Kong with was called “Recharge the Battery”. Main objective was for students to understand the advantages and disadvantages of intensive and extensive farming. Starting point was a documentary on TV about where our food came from, which the students became quite concerned with. Dan wanted them to hear both sides of the story, gave them time and asked them to design a 3 lesson cycle that used technology and could give everyone a balanced argument about advantages and disadvantages. They also defined their own assessment criteria and success criteria before starting.

The result was that they bought 6 hens and a pig and started breeding and feeding them. This process can still be followed on www.saltash.net/livestock where you can find a Pig Cam or a Hen Cast, plus ask an “eggspert” or follow the classes blog. Dan then started a live meeting session with two of his students back home who talked about their experience and answered some questions the audience.

Futurelab Workshop on Enquiring Minds

ITF09 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:15:48 GMT

Futurelab professor Lizbeth Goodman started by presenting the ClubTech programme which has successfully reached 5.4 million young people, very many of them poor and at risk, with very innovative and engaging technology programmes in the United States. It was exciting to hear that the ClubTech programme will be brought to Europe, Middle East and Africa by Futurelab through a partnership with Microsoft, but be totally redesigned, updated technically and localized. We are sure looking forward to this.

Sarah Payton took over for the workshop on Enquiring Minds: This is a four year programme by Futurelab in cooperation with Microsoft that aims to enable students to take more responsibility for the outcomes of their learning. Central themes are the 21^st century leariner, the impact of digital technologies and knowledge/content. The main thesis is that students take to school important ideas, interests and experiences that can and should be taken as a starting point. “Can we bring that backpack of knowledge and experience into school and take it as a starting point for kids’ learning?”. Enquiring Minds mainly provides a framework to work with this method, in order to make it possible for every school to get started with this way of teaching.

The Enquiring Minds Framework shows how the enquiry-based activity may take place in the classroom. Stage 1 is about initiating and eliciting the children. It’s about exciting them, bringing them to talk about their knowledge and experience. In the second stage, children shape, define and focus an idea, question or subject and make plans to research it further. Stage 3 is the doing and making stage, where students research, design and construct in order to make a contribution in their chosen enquiry. The last stage is about communicating, presenting and evaluating their knowledge they gained. There are many ways this could be done – using technology or not.

What experiences do teachers and students have with this process? Sarah talked about the changing interaction in the classroom that many teachers experienced. They had more meaningful relationships as the students became stakeholders and even negotiators – they were encouraged to consider themselves as teachers to their classmates. Teachers also found they got to know their kids better, which in turn enabled them to respond better to their pupils needs. The students on the other side liked the freedom of choice: finally they may think for themselves, follow their interests and discuss what they find important. Also the students realized that the relationship to the teacher had changed, they had deeper, more meaningful conversations. Students thought they acquired skills for undertaking independent work, and thus were better prepared to do homework, prepare for exams and do papers.

The groups then started to work. First they explored how the experiences of today’s learners are different from those of the old days: the groups were encouraged to draw a picture of a 21^st century learner, write/draw the skills we think this learner needs and describe the best equipped learner in a sentence. After this, the groups were introduced to the afternoon activities which would rely on the Enquiring Minds framework model – concentrating on phases 3 and 4. We received inputs and ideas how to think from different angles and narrow down the enquiry topic for the afternoon activity.

Stuart Bell from Microsoft UK gave us some ideas on what easy, free technologies to use for the presentations which would have to be ready tomorrow afternoon. He quickly gave us some ideas how to use Autocollage, Vitual Earth, PhotoStory, create a Deep Zoom in order to tell a story or “zoom in” on a topic. A colleague already uploaded a Photosynth of the Hofburg ITF venue. Or use Songsmith to tell a groovy story with a song. The links to all this cool stuff is to be found on uk.innovativeteachers.com.

Opening of the second day of ITF

ITF09 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:49:00 GMT

The morning of the second day was opened by the General Manager of the Vienna Hofburg, Mrs. Denner, with an impressive video featuring the beautiful Ceremony Hall that the ITF is being hosted in. We surely appreciate being in such a famous location that has hosted and still hosts many historic events, with celebrities, kings, queens and heads of states! This very hall was the crown hall for the Habsburg Dynasty, finished in 1806, hosting people like Napoleon and Sissi. She described the history of the buildings and the many institutions it is home of – from the Lipizzaner horses to the Vienna Boys Chorus up to still being the seat of the Prime Minister. Check out the Photosynth that a colleague of yours already created:

We are here...

ITF09 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:34:00 GMT

Hi all

Finally we arrived in Vienna:) The Hofburg is amazing, majestic and very very big...... All of us here are very excited about this event finally taking place!

Teachers are setting up their stands and everyone is feeling the spirit of the ITF09. Have just been listening to the two keynotes that are on for today, and both were very good and very relevant. Franz has some very revolutionary ideas on education in the 21st century, but during the session today I got the feeling that his ideas hit exactly the right spot for most participants; the Danish journalist thought that the presentation by Franz Kühmayer was very interesting and spiked some interesting thoughts regarding learning in the 21st century, the Albanian team also felt very inspired by his speach on the necessity to change the way we teach out students - it is not enough to just introduce the computer to the classroom and keep using the same teaching methods, this will not bring about revolutionary change. Along with the introduction of computers in the classroom it is necessary to introduce new and innovative teaching methods in order to move our students forward. Franz Kühmayers punchline was; "Europe will never be able to compete on price, we need to be able to compete on knowlegde and quality".

The Climate Mystery was presented by Christian Fonnesbech, Creative Director of Congin. I spoke to quite a few representatives from different countries, and common to all was that they loved the video presentationand found it most interesting and very relevant. And Christian Fonnesbech ended his presentation on the Climate Mystery by asking the question; "will you join us in the project" - and if you do or want to learn more please write to this email;

climatemystery@congin.com

So now we are all looking forward to following the success of the Climate Mystery:)

----

Just came back from the evening dinner, where all participants in the ITF09 (app. 250 people) went to a Heurigen, a typical Austrain restuarant where they serve local Austrian dishes accompanied by authentic Austrian Tiroler music. We had schnitzel, coleslaw a la Austria and Strudel for dessert.

Welcome address

ITF09 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:10:00 GMT

Petra Jenner (44) has been General Manager of Microsoft Austria since 1 February 2009. She is in charge of 340 employees and is responsible for the Austrian partner business system, which includes over 5,000 companies and around 5 billion euros added value. Her motto is “do as you would be done by”.

Before joining Microsoft Austria Jenner, who was born in Germany, worked from early 2004 in the management of the Israeli-American security specialists Check Point Software Technologies in Munich, where she was Regional Director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland; in 2008 she also took over responsibility for other countries in northern Europe, making her manager of the largest region in Europe.

A business management and computer science graduate, Jenner had previously been managing director of Pitoval GmbH in Munich, and gained further experience from the 1990s onwards in companies such as iMediation, Informix Software and Sybase.

In her free time she likes to travel, dance, ski and do yoga. She is married and moved to Vienna at the beginning of 2009.

Watch the Vienna Hofburg Video and get a feeling for ITF 2009

ITF09 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:22:00 GMT

Keynote speaker - Christian Fonnesbech

ITF09 — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:38:00 GMT

Christian Fonnesbech is founder and director of Congin, a Copenhagen based design and production studio for story based, cross media content that works with companies and customers across Europe. Christian has developed and produced dramatic, interactive content on a variety of traditional and new media platforms. Currently Christian also works a consultant for the Danish Ministry of Culture.

From 2000-2002 Christian was Creative Director at Sjuzet, fusing clasical drama with role plays and computer games on digital platforms such as phones, television, virtual reality and the internet. Before his switch to interactive content, Christian directed and co-wrote for TV, where he created prize winning short films and worked as a script consultant for both TV and film companies. Christian’s prerequisite for this work is his MA in Film Science.

Christian Fonnesbech will be giving a keynote on the Climate Mystery

Keynote speaker - Dan Roberts

ITF09 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:31:00 GMT

Dan Roberts is Assistant Head Teacher with responsibility for Learning at Saltash.net Community School and has taught science for the last 6 years; Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy at key stages 3-4 and Biology at key stage 5 (students aged 11-18 years).

His particular interests in Science are focused on engaging students to want to learn science and make Science a huge part of their lives in the future. He is currently doing work in developing strategies through ICT and multimedia such as using music, videos and sound to engage students in Science.

In addition to his current role he has been a Lead Practitioner in Science for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust for the last two years. Sharing good practice has been brilliant, on a personal note he says that he has really enjoyed sharing experiences with others but it is definitely a two way process as he has picked up so many examples of innovative science teaching and also learning which he has been lucky enough to take back into his own classroom and school.

Also Dan feels fortunate to have met other teachers as part of the Innovative teachers network which he feels has enhanced his skills and made an extremely positive impact on his teaching. According to Dan this has invigorated and enthused his teaching once again, and it has opened many doors and different lines of thinking. It has generated several future ideas that he is keen to develop and implement. It has made a huge difference in the classroom and the resources that he has developed and shared as part of the network, and this has engaged and pushed students in their achievement. The highlight was when Dan came in third at the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Hong Kong in November 2008.

Keynote speaker - Franz Kuehmayer

ITF09 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:09:00 GMT

Franz Kuehmayer has a long track record of successful leadership positions on an international scale. He received education at the Technical University Vienna, Austria; the Kellogg School of Management, Chicago; and the University of Washington, Seattle. Franz is the founder of reflections, a consultancy specializing on Trend Analysis, Vision & Strategy. He is working with the leadership teams of renowned organizations across Europe, including Siemens, Mobilkom, The City of Vienna, Microsoft and others. He is a sought after speaker at events, lectures at multiple Universities in Austria, and publishes frequently, both online and offline. Franz can be reached through his website http://reflections.at

Graphic note taker

ITF09 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:19:00 GMT

I am very excited to announce that the graphich note taker Deirdre Crowley will be taking notes at the European Innovative Teachers Forum 2009.

Deirdre Crowley is the founder of Crowley & Co., a Washington, DC-based consultancy that helps clients to achieve strategic success through effective facilitation and collaborative visual tools. Crowley & Co. consists of a broad network of associates including graphic facilitators, designers and strategic planning experts. It is this strong partner-based approach that enables Crowley & Co. to respond to a wide range of client needs across corporate, military, government and non-profit sectors in Washington and around the world (including Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America).

Prior to founding Crowley & Co. in 2004, Ms. Crowley was a senior consultant for The Grove Consultants International in San Francisco, California. Together with the Grove Consultants International, Ms. Crowley has been at the forefront of the visual practitioner movement in establishing the use of communication design techniques throughout corporations, non-profits and government agencies.

Ms. Crowley’s clients include Microsoft, M&M Mars, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Novozymes, the President’s Cancer Panel and the United States Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Today Ms. Crowley is an associate senior consultant with The Grove Consultants International. She is also a founding partner of Strategy Arts, a Philadelphia-Based strategy consulting firm, and an associate staff member of the Center for Evidence-Based Education in Princeton, New Jersey.

Ms. Crowley holds a BA in Education and English from Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island (USA). She spent four years with the United States Peace Corps in Jamaica where she worked as a trainer for health sector volunteers.

Deirdre at work at the Education Leaders Forum 2008

Every time I see Deidre at work I wonder how she does it, and I bet that you will have the same feeling when you see her in action at the ITF09.

This is the end result of Deirdres note taking from above