Aotearoa ... kei te aroha au ki a koe

New Zealand is simply amazing. What can I say about the many sights I have seen, people I have met and things I have experienced? Time and space are not enough, but I will try: Perhaps the crowning highlight of my three week tour was the traditional Maori Powhiri and honour that was bestowed upon me during the ICELF Conference in Auckland. I was invited to present my keynote speech in the Maori sacred meeting house - the marae. This was a barefoot keynote, because no-one should enter the marae with their shoes on. Afterwards I was presented with a greenstone gem with inlaid paua shell as a symbol of everlasting friendship with the people of New Zealand. I will treasure it always. Many photographs of the conference can be found here on the ICELF website.

The sights of New Zealand are absolutely stunning. The lakes and hillsides and the majestic mountains and volcanic outcrops are awe inspiring, as are the natural phenomena of this great island. The geothermal activity down in Rotorua can be spectacular, provided you don't mind the constant smell of sulphur in the air. Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington all have great places to visit. In Hamilton, the statue of Richard O'Brien as Riff-Raff is bizarre, and is streamed live on the internet through a web cam, 24/7. Palmerston North's Massey University campus is one of the most serene, arboreal places I have had the pleasure to visit. Wellington's Te Papa museum on the beautiful waterfront is a place to lose yourself for many hours, as you explore and discover the history and culture of this great country. The Lord of the Rings tours (there are several) are a must for all Tolkien fans. The guides are knowledgeable with inside gossip from the film industry (Wellywood) and the visits to iconic location shoots are exciting for film fans. A visit to the Weta Cave in Miramar is also good value. Meeting an ex Plymouth University graduate in a shop across the road from where I'm staying was strange. Bumping into Dermot Donnelly on the Lord of the Rings Movie tour bus in Wellington and finding out that we had similar research interests in online learning and wikis for education was even stranger.

I discovered that innovation is alive and well in some very rich seams of education in New Zealand. My visit to Albany Senior High School impressed me for its bold break away from the tired old silo mentality of traditional schooling. In their fabulous learning spaces they exclusively use open source software and encourage BYOD as well as integrated curriculum practices. AUT's soon to be constructed learning precinct also breaks the mould of traditional university campuses, and by the look of it as I drove past today, it is on target for completion next year. The smart shed project I visited at Unitec will provide richer situated learning experiences for construction students and will no doubt be copied by other training colleges in the future.

But it is the people of New Zealand who have left the most indellible impression on me. Kiwis are some of the most friendly, helpful and accommodating people in the world. Perhaps it is their relative isolation from the rest of the world that makes them so affable. Perhaps their location in the South Pacific and its long tradition of hospitality makes them so welcoming. It was great to catch up with Jedd Bartlett and Derek Wenmoth (Core Education) again, and to meet up once more with old friends including Nigel Robertson (Waikato University), Niki Davis (Canterbury University), Thom Cochrane (AUT) and Michael Fawcett and to meet in real life some new (but strangely familiar) Twitter friends such as Vasi Doncheva, Jonathon Hagger and Karen Melhuish. My grateful thanks go to all those who have organised my travel and accommodation here this year, and especially to Mark Brown (Massey University), Linda Keesing-Styles (Unitec), Mandy Williams (Waiariki Institute), Noeline Wright (Waikato), Mark Osborne (Albany Senior High School) and their colleagues for making my stay here so delightful.  And finally, my special thanks to my cousins Linda and Alistair Robinson (AUT), for welcoming me into their home in Auckland during my stay here. To all of you I say - Kei te aroha au ki a koe!


Image source and ICELF


Aotearoa ... kei te aroha au ki a koe by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Counting the cost

When we talk about the future of learning, we talk about the future of society. Most will agree that good education contributes significantly toward the wellbeing and prosperity of society. Without a trained, educated work force, nation states are not in a position to compete within the global economy. You only have to look at any emerging nation of the world where there is poor or partial compulsory education provision to see exactly how its economy is faring. Moreover, the higher the number of people unemployed, the more drain there will be on the economic and social resources of the state. This is the main reason why successive governments load their deck so heavily in favour of improved educational provision. It is politically expedient and it is also socially and economically desirable to seek to improve the state funded education provision. And it is why most changes imposed by governments don't actually work. This is because the governments of the world often remain blinded by economic considerations, and fail to see the true value of good education. Our leaders know the price of education, but have no idea about its true value.

Education is not just about preparing children for a world of work, and it is more than an organised attempt to secure the economic future of the nation. Education is far more valuable than that. How can we ignore the simple joy of learning? How can we measure the cultural value of learning about art, music, science, faith - the world around us? What price can we place on leading young people to maturity of thought, where they become discerning and critically aware individuals, able to decide for themselves what is right or wrong in the world? How do we place a price tag on enabling children to channel their fertile imaginations into precious, creative, transformative outcomes?

The answer is, we can't ... and we shouldn't. When the world falls apart around us, what we will be left with - is what we have learnt. And while the good people of Christchurch, New Zealand, are struggling to come to terms with their tragic losses, resulting from yesterday's devastating earthquake, what will they be doing? They will be surviving, escaping, organising, caring, sharing, coping, communicating, collaborating, rebuilding, reflecting and reappraising, and drawing on many other valuable skills they have learnt. Skills that go way beyond the mere acquisition of facts and knowledge. They will be drawing upon their emotional and intellectual resources which do not result solely from immersion in a 'curriculum', but rather through their exposure to the values and mores of their community.

As the news of the Christchurch earthquake broke yesterday, many people drew on their social media communication skills to connect with each other, providing vital information and sharing news, in a virtual community that spanned the globe. They achieved this without the help of the broadcast media, who were once again hours behind in reporting from the scene. We received reports from citizen journalists, people caught up in the drama of the moment, using their mobile phones to send out their pleas for help, and their remarkable but disturbing pictures and videos of the scenes they were witnessing before them. Such actions cannot be taught. There is no curriculum that can be developed to give us an appreciation of what we should do in a disaster or a crisis, no way to teach how we can communicate human tragedy as it unfolds. We learn by doing and we learn by being exposed to these experiences. And as we learn, others learn with us and from us. As a community, we somehow survive and ultimately, thrive. Lifelong learning is what education is made of. It was never about knowing what, always about knowing how. Let us never confuse schooling with education. If we do, what will be our future?

Dedicated to the memory of those lost in the Christchurch earthquake of 22 February, 2011.

Donate to the Red Cross NZ Earthquake victims fund

Image source by Martin Luff


Counting the cost by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Here's to the connections

That has to have been the longest day of my life. I have just travelled all the way from Auckland, New Zealand, to my home in South West England, via 3 flights, various bus and car rides and stop overs in Sydney and Singapore. I estimate that for me, Saturday has lasted 35 hours. But in reflecting on all the discomfort of long hours sat upright in cattle-class seats being served almost inedible airline food, with screaming kids and tactless fellow passengers all around, and the inevitable jet-lag, I have to say it has all still been worth it. I have flown over 26,000 miles across 3 continents on 10 airline flights. I never missed a single connection, but the social connections that I made are the ones I want to highlight as the most valuable aspect of my tour. I presented 4 keynotes, 5 invited workshops (image above taken at my keynote speech in Christchurch for Ulearn 2010) and 2 refereed papers and also recorded an Ed Talk for Core Ed, but those I met and talked to during this time will remain the most valuable experiences and best memories of my time downunder.

During my tour downunder, I have met many old friends, and made many new ones, and have shared some amazing experiences with them. I have previously argued that social media are more about connections than content, and these last 3 weeks have affirmed it for me. Here's to my old friendships renewed in Australia including: Philip D. Long (@radhertz), Larry Johnson (@Larry_Pixel) and Alan Levine (@cogdog) the latter two with whom I spent an excellent evening out on the South Bank of Brisbane. I also spent some time with Carol Skyring (@carolskyring) and met up with several of my colleagues from IFIP including Anna Grabowska, Andy Schaer, Phillipa Gerbic and Johannes Magenheim (@_jsm). In New Zealand, I strengthened existing friendships with Joyce Seitzinger (@catspysjamasnz), Jedd Bartlett (@Jedd), Derek Wenmoth (@dwenmoth) Kristina Hoeppner (@anitsirk), Carol Cooper (@TheELsite), Stephen Heppell (@stephenheppell) and Richard Elliott and we had a lot of fun and laughs along the way.

I also encountered many other 'old friends' from Twitter face to face for the first time including Steve Hargadon (@stevehargadon), Toni Twiss (@tonitones), Jenny She (@jshe), Helen Otway (@helenotway), Chris Betcher (@betchaboy), Robyn Pascoe (@serendipitynz), Michael Fawcett (@teachernz) and Erin Freeman (@efreeman). It never ceases to amaze me how much you can get to know people through social media without actually meeting them face to face. When you eventually do, you feel you know them quite well and get into deeper conversation quicker because the ice has already been broken (image on the left taken during my workshop at Waikato University).

It was also great to make so many new friends, including Mark Neal (@markneal100), Nigel Robertson (@easegill), Mark Northover (@kiwimarc), Lane Clark and her partner, Brett and Di Lee, Mary Welsh, Allanah King (@Allanahk), Jane Nicholls (@janenicholls), Jo Fothergill (@dragonsinger57), Megan Iemma (@megsamanda) and Teresa Gibbison (@ To all of you, and those who I have inadvertently left out of this list, thank you for making my stay downunder memorable.

More images of my trip can be found at this Flickr site. Images above courtesy of Kristina Hoeppner and Teresa Gibbison

Here's to the connections by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

On my last leg

Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been one long week since my last blogpost. I've been busy, is my excuse. I'm having a wonderful time here in New Zealand. It's an awesome, heartbreakingly beautiful country, rich in culture and with plenty to see and do. I have been pretty busy touring around the North island speaking at various events, but over the last two days I have had some down-time to spend with my family in Auckland (City Centre pictured left). I have seen some breath taking sights and some spectacular views of the city from atop Mount Eden. I also took a short trip across by ferry to see the namesake of my own birthplace - Devonport - and I was impressed by how similar the two towns are. I have now arrived in Christchurch, on the South island, on the last leg of my tour, and I have to admit that I am a little weary of travel. I'm staying just across the road from the Convention Centre where Ulearn 2010 will kick off on Tuesday.

We are expecting quite a crowd of tech-savvy teachers for Ulearn - around 1800 have registered according to one of the organisers I spoke to. Stephen Heppell is flying in tonight to join us, and we also have Lee Crockett and Lane Clark to make up the foursome of keynotes for the event. All of the keynote abstracts and the entire programme can be found on the conference website. I'm going to be speaking on transformational change in education, and will touch on social media, new teacher roles and a host of other related topics in my own keynote on Wednesday afternoon. It seems, from talking to teachers here in New Zealand, that their local education problems are just the same as anywhere else the world over. Whilst this is reassuring in one way, it is also distrurbing to think that governments across the globe all treat education the same way. They throw some money at it (usually in the wrong places) and then expect the issues to go away. Teachers are hard pressed enough to do their jobs, without having to worry about issues of behaviour management, standardised assessment processes, and all the attendant paperwork that comes with the job. It's often a thankless task, and when it all goes wrong, guess who gets the blame - the teacher, of course.

Look, I don't want to start on a rant, but I am increasingly frustrated about the lack of resources most schools suffer from. Schools with technology that is dated so much, children would rather use the kit they have at home - which is often more up to date. There are practitioner issues too of course. Why the majority of teachers in schools I visit across the world use interactive whiteboards as presentational tools is beyond me. Let's get the kids up and using them too shall we? And when it comes to new and emerging technologies, there are still many barriers up against using social software - YouTube is filtered out, yet contains some incredible learning opportunities for language, music, history, science and sport. And Mobile phones are still banned by most schools and limited to a few isolated activities under strict supervision. All of these issues will be touched upon in my keynote on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to engaging with the audience and hope we can have some useful dialogue.

More pictures like the one above are online.... here's a link to all the photos people have taken of the events during my New Zealand tour.

On my last leg by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

@timbuckteethnz

Well, here I am in New Zealand. Thanks to the crafty footwork of Robyn Pascoe (@serendipitynz) I'm here in Hawke Bay, Napier, to present the first keynote for the New Zealand Applied Business Education Conference (#nzabe10). It's a gathering of further and higher education business studies educators from all over New Zealand. Robin convinced conference organiser Professor Mark Neal (another Brit @markneal100) that I was just the kind of guy he needed. He asked her where she had met me, and she replied 'on Twitter'. Well, we finally met face to face last night for the first time in a Thai restaurant, in the excellent company of Joyce Seitzinger (@catspyjamasnz) who is also acting as a sort of minder for me. A lot of Kiwis (for that is what they call themselves) use the suffix 'nz' in the Twitter names. Perhaps I should do the same. Let's see - @timbuckteethnz. Er... no, perhaps not. Makes me sound as though I'm still jetlagged and snoring quietly in the back row of a cinema.

Anyway, I have just watched the sun rise over the placid bay and the photo above is one of the shots I took to capture the moment. New Zealand is certainly one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and it's also a happy place. Most of the people I have met so far have been bright, smiling and very friendly.

At the conference today I'm going to talk about - yes you've guessed it - social media and how it can, and will, transform many practices in further and higher education. I'm going to approach it from both perspectives - teacher and student. I want to highlight the problem that faces all teachers - how can we prepare young people for a world of work we cannot clearly describe? Change is rapid and merciless, and we simply cannot accurately predict what the job market will look like in 3 years time. All we can hope to do is examine the trends, and try to ensure that students are encouraged to be as flexible, creative and adaptable to learning as they can possibly be. It's learning to learn - and it's a lifelong deal. This means examining their expectations of education, and how this contrasts to what they actually need to succeed. How they manage their own learning through the use of social media will be important. So will the choices they make. I will discuss the range of new digital literacies they will need to acquire and master to survive. How will they make sense of their subject in an increasinglu complex connected world? How will they manage their impressions and maintain their digital identity? Avoidance of the time when they apply for their first job, and their potential employer checks them out on Google, and comes across Facebook pictures of them falling out of a nightclub at stupid o'clock - will not be standard recommended social media practices. Rather, it's a managed, professional and scholarly impression they need to garner in their personal shop windows we call social media.

So I'm enjoying my 2 days stay down here in the Hawke Bay area - and I will blog more from my tour of New Zealand as the days unfold.

@timbuckteethnz by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.