NEX Buzz - June
Knowledge Building Community has been super busy with discussion leading into and on from their recent successful webinar. It is great to see such a wealth of experience being shared by teachers, leaders and researchers who have been active in this area for many years. There are interesting examples shared by teachers of how learners are engaging with Knowledge Building and discussions about student agency.
Languages Community have been sharing ideas and resources for International Languages week. These ideas for activities are also useful for implementing into our language programmes at any time. The language teaching strategy TPR is explored as being effective in the online learning environment and for online learners. What ideas would work well with your online learners?
Our NEX lead teachers continue to introduce themselves through sharing their challenges and problems of practice. Marina Krigsman explores Relationships and Learning and asks, "How can we work together as eDeans and eTeachers to enable each student to build the skills and dispositions that allows them to be a successful learner?" and finds that relationships are a key component of the online environment.
Ange Mitchell asks, "How can I support my students to develop key learning dispositions in the online environment?" and support and encourage learners to be resilient, take risks and learn new skills that enable them to be productive online learners.
In the Lounge, which is now the group for all general conversation, Rachel shares highlights of the VLN Primary Rural & Remote Schools camp to Wellington and considers the value of blending face to face experiences with online. How is this working for other online teachers, what blended experiences have you found successful?
New groups started up in the last month are:
Wrangling Technologies "We couldn't teach without it! We love it and we hate it. For the geeks who want to discuss emerging technologies and for all those just want to know how to do stuff." Recent discussion on features of the Zoom dashboard based on our recent webinar, and sharing some #cooltools for online teachers.
How do I know they are Learning " A group to discuss how educators capture evidence of student learning." What sort of informal assessment works for you and your learners?
Future Focused Community "How can we shape education so it reflects the world we live in now and realises the opportunities the future affords? What are the big questions? What role should technology and the internet play?"
Congratulations to our NEX promo winners who took home some cool spot prizes for their participation in our NEX online community: Jen Hammonds, Anne Williams & Ange Fox. Thanks to sponsorship from Moana Rd & Rocketbook.