Category Archives: Events

Events

We host a Teachmeet @MHS #tmmelb

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Last Saturday we hosted a TeachMeet in the school library. A TeachMeet is an informal gathering of people working in the education sector coming together to share ideas and expertise. It’s a great way to hear about what educators are doing in the primary, secondary, tertiary and public (eg museums) sectors. TeachMeets happen all over the world and meetings are held wherever people are happy to host. The format is simple – you can turn up or you can volunteer to present for either 3 or 7 minutes. There is usually a break for refreshments halfway through and it’s also customary for the hosts to suggest a nearby venue for drinks or dinner after the Meet. And it’s free!

Using bots to teach kids coding (Steve Brophy)

You can see in the wiki that we had a decent number of people attending, from a range of educational backgrounds. I always find that, as a secondary school educator, I learn so much from the primary teachers, from e-learning leaders, from people who work in public libraries and museums. And since the sharing sessions are so short, there is time for what’s most important – the conversations. Many people are also on social media so it’s a good chance to keep in touch later on Twitter or through their blogs, for example.

Order of presentations (see TeachMeet link for shared presentations):

Steve Brophy @stevebrophy Ivanhoe Grammar School K-12: Paper and programming

Bernadette Mercieca @bernm9  Xavier College E-Learning coord/teacher: What are we doing to help early career teachers flourish?

Eleni Kyritsis @misskyritsis Firbank Grammar School: Student Inquiry

Jan Molloy @janpcim Immigration Museum P-tertiary:   #AskACurator Sept 16 Getting involved

Catherine Morton @gorokegirl Melbourne High School Teacher Librarian and Fiona Matthews Whitefriars College Lead Coach – Learning, Teaching and Technology : One Conversation at a Time: Peer Coaching

Kim Yeomans @kimyeo St Martin of Tours primary TL: Connecting with authors via Twitter.

Tania Sheko @taniatorikova Melbourne High School How to really get to know people online.

Mel Cashen @melcashen Princes Hill: My reflection from camp

Kristy Wood @Kristy_M_Wood Primary teacher K-6: Teacher wellbeing

If you are interested in learning more about the presentations – since you can’t really get much from the titles – I would encourage you to go to the wiki where some people have already shared links to their presentations next to their names in the program. I’m sure there will be more shared later so check in again.

When I wrote a blog post about my talk – how to really get to know people online – I shared it on Twitter with a few people whom I’d met in an online course (MOOC), Rhizo15. These were people I had mentioned in my post. The morning before the TeachMeet I noticed some feedback from these people (none of them in Australia) which I was able to quickly add to my slide presentation. It was a lovely example of how these relationships continue to evolve long after the course (MOOC) has finished. After the TeachMeet I noticed Kevin Hodgson had even created a comic for us – very special.

The best way to see some of the ideas and passion shared on this day is to look through the Storify below which captures some of the tweets and photos on Twitter.

View the interaction about this TeachMeet on Twitter (Storify).

Events

Zines, visual summaries and other makery things #getotlau

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I said I’d come back and share the zines we saw yesterday at the unconference at The Library at the Dock and a few snaps of the workshop.

Ashley and Sarah are very creative and ran the zine workshop as well as doing the infographics (not sure what you actually call these visual captures that evolve during a talk). You can see more of their lovely little books/zines on their website.

We have  a few ideas about how to use zines in our own library. There’s something lovely about handmade, small booklets for things like promotional material. It would also be nice to offer a zine making session for our students.

And since we are on the topic of making things…

Some of the 3D printed artifacts. These bunnies have the best view.

And here are the visual summaries created by Ashley and Sarah during the talks and performance at the unconference. I’ve just found out it’s called sketchnoting.

Some great captures of Abe’s most compelling messages.

The whole day was a visual feast – with the gorgeous views

and beautiful library displays.

 

 

 

 

21st century learning, Events

Connected – the film and the Melbourne event @slv

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An email from Hamish Curry got me interested in a film called Connected: an autoblogography about love, death & technology which is screening at the State Library of Victoria (Village Roadshow Theatrette) on 23 November 2011 at 6.30 – 8pm. Well if Hamish is gushing about it, then I must see it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rUBjnk_9n8Y#!]

Here’s the info Hamish sent in his email:



What does it mean to be living in a hyper connected world? How is it changing the way we communicate, relate, work and consume, and what impact is this having on our well-being and that of the planet around us? In this entertaining, exciting, and emotional film, director Tiffany Shlain takes audiences on an exhilarating roller-coaster ride to discover what it means to be connected in the 21st century. Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. A personal film with universal relevance, Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead. (Dir: Tiffany Shlain, unrated, 2011, 80 mins)




This event is highly recommended for those with interests in education, social media, communications, technology, sustainability, history, science, and culture. We have a special ‘Connected: Educator’s edition boxset’ to give away on the night.


Book online here – https://register.eventarc.com/event/view/6099/tickets/connected-an-autoblogography-about-love-death-technology-23-november


For those with a stronger interest in education, we’re planning to have a meetup prior, for an opportunity to share some of the programs and strategies that are changing the way we think about education.


This will also be at the Village Roadshow Theatrette from 4:30 – 6pm.


Please email me directly if you’d like to part of this informal meetup (HCurry@slv.vic.gov.au)


I look forward to having a diverse, passionate, and open-minded crowd on the night, and for us all to feel a little more connected.




Thanks, Hamish, I look forward to the whole event – film and discussion. So many good things happening in Melbourne lately in terms of meetups and good conversation.


 




	

	
	




	
	

				

			Events, Uncategorized
		

			
Trends, transformations, and change in libraries – David Lee King and Hamish Curry at the City Library

		

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Thanks to my colleague Denise at my new school third term ended nicely with an excuse to revisit the City Library and come together with a largish group of people for an injection of ideas mixed with wine and a very impressive spread. This is what we attended –


David Lee King – Digital Branch & Services Manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Freak Out, Geek Out, or Seek Out: Trends, Transformations, and Change in Libraries


Hamish Curry – Education and Onsite Learning Manager at the State Library of Victoria

Putting IT back in Reality


When: 2.00pm to 5.00pm on 23 September 2011.


Where: The Majorca Room, City Library, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Victoria 3000


Between them David Lee King and Hamish Curry gave us enough food for thought to last for a long time but for some reason two things pushed their way into my mind and disabled all the rest – risk and fun. This is something which has been on my mind for a while. Thinking about the library as a space, a service, a hub, a resource, and everything else that it encompasses, I agree with Hamish that people coming into libraries should be surprised. And once they get over the shock of finding the unexpected in a library, they will look around and discover things they never noticed before. Smart thinking, Hamish. By the end of the day, when Denise and I took our conversation into The Journal Cafe, we were scheming like school girls, imagining a night-time event in a large, mysterious library to rival the night game conducted in the New York Public Library earlier this year, imagining our library elevator door decked out like Dr Who’s time-travelling police box, and an installation taking shape from the Lego blocks we planned to drop on the reference shelves at the disposal of creative students.


For those who would rather know about what David and Hamish actually talked about yesterday, here are some links.


Firstly, a Twitter steam (mine are missing – don’t know how to search a hashtag which includes my own tweets) –






Here is Hamish’s multi-dimensional slideshow – he just kept coming out with more and more ideas and things to blow up anything old and tired as far as libraries and librarians go:


Putting IT back in reality [slideshare id=9384759&w=425&h=355&sc=no]



I couldn’t find David’s slideshow but here is his Slideshare page with previous presentations.


Actually, I have been mulling over more than fun and risk in libraries, in fact, David’s examples of the potential of libraries’ digital presence resounded in me, and I agree that we should be providing services within the types of online spaces and networks our customers usually frequent.


Altogether, a great afternoon and excellent finish to the term. Thanks!




	

	
	




	
	

				

			Events
		

			
David Astle is puzzled

		

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Last night I travelled to another planet. Sitting in a long, narrow room bursting at the seams with puzzle and palindrome addicts, I wondered where these people had been hiding? Out of body experience? No, just another Wheeler Centre offering. I had come to the session David Astle: Confessions of a Wordaholic.


Father holds six over least arrangement. (5, 5) A gibberish sentence for many of us, but an irresistible clue for those in the thrall of cryptic crosswords. And in the Australian scene, there are none more cryptic, more revered and more dastardly than the man known as DA.


To celebrate the launch of his new book Puzzled, meet David Astle and find out why Geoffrey Rush calls him the ‘Sergeant Pepper of cryptic crosswords’.







As Harriet Veitch said in her Sydney Morning Herald article:


It’s scary inside David Astle’s brain. It’s stuffed full of words endlessly doing things. Palindromes and semordnilap run back and forth, spoonerisms climb up and own, thickets of anagrams form and reform and the tendrils of double meanings reach out to trip the unwary.


Even Astle occasionally wants to get out. “If anyone finds the exit, could you let me know? I’d like a rest sometimes.”


Despite the fact that I am not a puzzle person, that even when shown the answer , I remain puzzled, it was an immensely enjoyable and mentally exhilarating hour. I had expected David to be – dare I say it – more of a geek, considering the intensity of his word obsession, but in fact, he is  very sociable and entertaining, with a sharpened intellect and almost incapable of leaving a word alone, set on automatic pilot to continuously pull words apart, stretch them into new meanings and possibilities. In David’s own words, his gift for word play is ‘like synesthesia, only instead of seeing colours, I just see acrobatic letters’. 




David’s new book, Puzzled, is surprisingly thick. Apart from chapters of clues, Puzzled is also a insight into David’s life and ‘how a seemingly normal boy from Sydney’s northern suburbs turned into a man whom people curse on a regular basis’ (Harriet Veitch).


In researching for this post, I discovered David Astle’s website and blog – both which have been added to my RSS now for titilating reading.


Thankyou, Wheeler Centre, for providing the opportunity to meet in person so many diverse and fascinating people. For free!