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E-Learning Fellows’ Mid Year Reflection on Progress As a result of your experiences at school since the last visit and in this week at CORE: 1; Develop Understanding of “Effective E-learning” In what ways has fellowship experience since the last CORE visit fostered this? It has allowed me to confidently “evolve” the ICTs from what I expected initially would be used. Initially I had thought that all my e-learning would be web-based but it has not turned out that way. I have been able to look at the whole idea of e-learning and turn it around to accommodate the circumstances of the children in my sample groups. 2: Sharing with A, the fellowship group What has happened for you in this regard since the last CORE visit? It was beneficial to do the 5 slide presentation which was a more formal way of presenting what we are doing than the previous workshop. The discussions within the group are extremely useful, even though the projects are all very different and at different places in the research. B, the wider community List what you have done since last time Gazette article. I have met with my local paper and had an article published. Flute Focus magazine article published. NIE article published. Formed some connections with the local college – by discussion with some teachers about the project. 4: Increased Critical Reflection of own Practice. Comment on what you have achieved or learned or realised since the last visit? There have been some real successes with the research group as I watched them engage in their learning after observing them in their normal classroom situation. I have learnt heaps about bi-lingual classes as compared to mainstream classes. I have realised that I cannot assume people have access to either computers or the web (either at home or at school.) Hence the need to adapt the ICTs. 5: Increased understanding of research. Do you feel adequately prepared to do next stage of the research? Yes – and my contact with my supervisor is frequent and profitable as well so feel confident to go to the next stage. 6: Goals a). Have you achieved the goals you set for this part of the fellowship year (ie: from your last CORE visit till now)? No- it is taking longer than I thought to gather the data. This is mainly for logistical reasons – trying to organise liaisons in 2 schools and also issues with computer access. b) What are your main goals for the period from now till the end of the next CORE visit? Get the rest of the data, sort the data, analyse the data. See if my suspicions were correct!

1; Develop Understanding of “Effective E-learning” In what ways has fellowship experience since the last CORE visit fostered this? This term has allowed me to experiment and reflect on my own E-learning pedagogy. I would normally not have the time to do this as effectively or to the extent that I have. Getting into the classroom and doing what I have read about has been powerful. To be able to try different teaching styles and use a variety of ICT tools in different ways has been great. 2: Sharing with A, the fellowship group What has happened for you in this regard since the last CORE visit? I have been involved with a few conversations on Interact. I talked or emailed regularly Lyn and Jo and have meet with David. B, the wider community List what you have done since last time q Interview with AUT journalist that published in the Western Leader (West Auckland newspaper paper). q Education Gazette article by Sarah Feltham. q Visit to Kamo Intermediate to view Music Technology suite and discuss my research with the lead teacher. q Conducted research at Rutherford Primary. 13 Lessons. 4: Increased Critical Reflection of own Practice. Comment on what you have achieved or learned or realised since the last visit? I have been reminded of how unique every child is and how as teachers we need to accommodate for differences . Enthusiasm I have found is often linked with personality. I couldn’t group children and say they were enthusiastic just based on a few indicators. More extroverted behaviours are often linked to enthusiasm but I realised that long periods of focuss and engagement are also signs of enthusiasm. In reviewing video footage I realised that I tend to speak quite monotonously. I need to be more expressive and use my voice more effectively at times to induce enthusiasm. 5: Increased understanding of research. Do you feel adequately prepared to do next stage of the research? I have not met with Michael yet so I would have to say no. I think though once I have chatted to him and have looked at things like the format I will feel more prepared. I still feel that I have a lot of info that needs to be grouped, organised and analyzed further. 6: Goals a). Have you achieved the goals you set for this part of the fellowship year (ie: from your last CORE visit till now)? Yes I feel I have. I wanted to have taught all 13 lessons that I had planned and have collected the majority of my data. b) What are your main goals for the period from now till the end of the next CORE visit? q Work out themes and subheadings. q Analyize data further q Have a follow up lesson with the sample group – use the Smartboard and collect in parent surveys. q Take a staff meeting to show the teachers at Rutherford, working towards answering my last sub question (developing effective teaching resources).

1; Develop Understanding of “Effective E-learning” In what ways has fellowship experience since the last CORE visit fostered this? Has given me the opportunity to spend quality time with individual children and seeing where their learning can go to, exploring the possibilities – often what happens in ECE is that there is not enough time to go into as much depth as I have been able to do . 2: Sharing with A, the fellowship group What has happened for you in this regard since the last CORE visit? I have met fairly regularly with Mark and David but it has been a difficult term to arrange meetings as we have all been so busy with gathering our data. This is the same as for interact, I have just not had the time to contribute on a regular basis. Been great to have some contact with Blair from the 04 group too. B, the wider community List what you have done since last time I have shared some of my work at four regional days for the exemplar project, in Northland, Auckland, Palmerston North and Nelson. 4: Increased Critical Reflection of own Practice. Comment on what you have achieved or learned or realised since the last visit? I suppose the biggest thing for me is letting children work at their own pace and not thinking too much about the product but focussing on the process. It has reinforced for me my perception of children being competent and capable learners and letting them drive their own learning has given them the opportunity to come up with things that I would never of thought of. 5: Increased understanding of research. Do you feel adequately prepared to do next stage of the research? Yes. This week has certainly given me a clearer direction of what is expected in the interpreting and writing up of my data. 6: Goals a). Have you achieved the goals you set for this part of the fellowship year (ie: from your last CORE visit till now)? Yes, I am very happy with the way my term has gone and the data I have collected and feel that I a now at a good point to begin my writing up. b) What are your main goals for the period from now till the end of the next CORE visit? I would like to have written up the bulk of my research and be at a point where I can begin to put it together in a way for sharing collaboratively.

As a result of your experiences at school since the last visit and in this week at CORE: 1; Develop Understanding of “Effective E-learning” In what ways has fellowship experience since the last CORE visit fostered this? I feel more comfortable with expressing my thoughts on it now and arguing the context in which I believe teachers can foster it 2: Sharing with A, the fellowship group What has happened for you in this regard since the last CORE visit? The 2K5 ownership of hot seating has meant I offer up more formal interaction B, the wider community List what you have done since last time Staff meetings and emailing local school about project 4: Increased Critical Reflection of own Practice. Comment on what you have achieved or learned or realised since the last visit? I have a lot of problems grappling with the very small aspect of my research, now I celebrate that it’s so small because in reality the process is so big. I am passionate about ICT and it’s use in the classroom and it was hard for me to realise that my project wasn’t about ICT use but the talk of the students. I’m now happy with researching what talk happens in the presence of the box rather than the box. 5: Increased understanding of research. Do you feel adequately prepared to do next stage of the research? Oh yes! I understand the process and the time management involved. The writing side is flowing and that was the part I was worried about. 6: Goals a). Have you achieved the goals you set for this part of the fellowship year (ie: from your last CORE visit till now)? I would have liked to have finished all the transcribing of my recorded data, however I feel confident being 3 quarters the way through. I am over the moon with making that step to having my ‘peers’ read my writing so far. b) What are your main goals for the period from now till the end of the next CORE visit? To have finished my Introduction and Methodology through emailing with Sandra. Completed the analyzing of data. Have the chapters for the areas of talk written with the analysed data supported with children’s quotes, with video and voice recording noted as footnotes ready for web document. Videos and voice recording underway in preparation for web document. Navcon presentation ready to run through with e-group.

Been great to have an injection of postmodern discourse from Indira and imbibing the e-fellow experience. (-: Great to have a focus.... Can't wait for September in Melbourne but there is a lot to do between there and here.

During the last term I have been working with students and developing my ideas through my action research project. I feel I have deepened my understanding of e-learning and its relationship to excellent teaching and learning in the primary classroom. Here are some of the things I have learnt over the year... I have learned about the difficulties of working with students in an authentic way whilst at the same time trying to gather useful data. I have learned about how much we can learn when we take the time to really talk with students and listen to them. I have learned a lot in relation to my research questions, and have developed further questions. I have learnt some new ways to use ICT’s with young students that they find engaging and exciting. I have learnt about how students feel about using ICT’s and how they can respond to questioning by the teacher. I have learnt about indicators for autonomous learning and how students can learn when they have an understanding of these indicators. I have learnt too much to list here! Thanks for the ChCh fun! See you all again soon.

I have been reviewing the sub-questions from my research question as they were only answerable from the post interviews and were not relating to the data collection sessions. Here are the new and improved visions... What evidence is there that using ICT enhances children’s talk when forming intentions to write? What types of talk do children use when forming intentions to write? How do the children articulate their understanding of the writing process trough talk? In what ways do children demonstrate their use of Higher Order Thinking skills through talk? What is the role of the voice recorder in enhancing talk?

Hi, my name is Vaemu Fidow and I've helped to set this blogsite up for the eFellows for 2005. The site is designed to give readers a view of whats going on for each researcher involved in the innovative eFellowships programme - their highs, lows, fears, trials and tribulations...basically a log of their journey throughout the year! So enjoy your time here, feel free to have a look around! And don't forget to add your comments by clicking on the 'add your comment' link below - even if its just to say hi!