#Edchatnz Conference

Yesterday I spent the day at the first #Edchatnz Conference in Auckland. It was held at Hobsonville Point Secondary School, which made for an excellent opportunity to have a look around another modern learning environment (MLE). I've been lucky enough to visit a few schools with modern learning environments over the past couple of years - Silverton Primary in Melbourne, Amesbury in Wellington, Elim Christian College, Stonefields and Hingaia Peninsula in Auckland. However; Hobsonville Point Secondary School was the first high school I'd visited with a MLE. Saying I was impressed is an understatement. Not only by the innovative learning spaces, but more so by how the teachers are using the spaces for teaching and learning. That's what is truly inspirational. 

A TED Talk about how to start a movement was shared with us in the first keynote. I definitely feel like the lone nut a lot of the time. It was so refreshing being surrounded by people who are on the same wave length as you. It was also awesome to be able to meet so many tweeps I've connected with online, face to face for the first time. 

Reid (@ReidHns1) and I ran a hands-on workshop on @Kidsedchatnz during the first session. While we have collaborated online for some time, we had only met an hour prior to presenting together! We had an awesome bunch of enthusiastic teachers to work with, which always makes it so much more enjoyable. A couple of them had joined in a @Kidsedchatnz chat before too. 

We spoke for roughly 15 minutes about what @Kidsedchatnz is, the purpose and benefits for students. Then got straight into the hands-on part. During this time Stephen (@Palmyteacher) moderated a live chat from Palmerston North. This provided an authentic opportunity for student voice and allowed the teachers to actively participate in a chat. We also helped others sign up, learn how to use lists and tweetdeck. We even managed to hatch a couple of eggs! 

Here are some of the tweets from the classes that participated in the @Kidsedchatnz during the conference. So proud of how far they've all come with their tweeting. 

The more I think about being a lone nut, the more I think there must be a lot of other lone nuts out there in Northland schools. With lots of lone nuts you can make peanut butter. As Scotty, our DP tweeted yesterday it's time to 'crack them open'.

And of course no workshop yesterday would have been complete without a grelfie!