Personalising Learning: iNET Student Online Conference
STUDENT ONLINE CONFERENCE DATE: Monday 6 March to Friday 17
March 2006
ESSAYS/PAPERS & PHOTOS: To be submitted to brydon@cybertext.net.au
by: Monday 23 January 2006
SCHOOL WEBSITE PRESENTATIONS: should be completed and ready for
viewing by: Monday 6 February 2006
TO REGISTER STUDENTS FOR THE STUDENT ONLINE CONFERENCE:
http://www.cybertext.net.au/studentreg06.htm
TO REGISTER ADULTS FOR THE POST-CONFERENCE ADULT REVIEW
WEEK: http://www.cybertext.net.au/adultreg06.htm
Educators world-wide are warmly invited to enrol their students (primary
and secondary) in iNet’s first online conference for students. The aim of the
conference is to seek students’ views of each of the nine gateways to
personalising learning, as described by Professor David Hargreaves (UK)
in his recent book, Personalising Learning: Next Steps in Working Laterally
(2004). After the student conference has concluded, adult educators and
school governors will have a chance to review what the students have
written, and discuss this online, during an Adult Review Week. Online
registration websites for both the Student Online Conference and the Adult
Review Week are provided above.
Students are invited to participate in several ways. First, they can write an
essay-style paper, which will be published on the online conference website.
Second, as a group, they can prepare a presentation on one of the nine
questions we’ll be addressing in the conference and mount it on your school’s
website (the questions are provided below). Third, they can volunteer as Online
Discussion Moderators, whose role is to encourage online discussion by other
participants. Fourth, they can volunteer to be part of a small Student Evaluation
Panel that selects the most interesting paper each day and writes a very short
report explaining the decision. Fifth, they can volunteer to host a ‘hot seat’,
where an inspirational guest (yet to be selected) will answer questions from all
online conference participants over three four-hour sessions. Sixth, they can
simply participate by reading the other students’ papers and website
presentations and then engage in the daily online discussions. All of these
activities can be undertaken by individual students or teams of students
OR be offered by teachers as supervised classroom-based activities.
SECURITY. For security reasons, students’ full names will not be published
on the online conference website. Students will be required to identify
themselves simply by their first name, their age, their school and their country,
e.g., Mary, 18, St Matthews RC Primary School, United Kingdom. Although ‘head
and shoulders’ photos are permitted, students’ email addresses or other personal
contact details will not be published, under any circumstances, on the website.
TEACHERS TO REGISTER STUDENTS. Teachers are invited to register
students aged 18 and under (only) as online conference participants
(students MAY NOT register themselves). An Adult Review Week will be held,
for teachers, headteachers, governors and principals, after the student-only
online conference has concluded, with an online forum to discuss what can be
learned from the students.
The Student Online Conference will be active 24-hours a day for nine week days,
with an extra reading-only day provided at the end. We are hoping to feature a
wide range of papers to stimulate online discussion and debate. Each day
participants will have the opportunity to discuss papers and website
presentations online. Each day we will focus one of the following questions
and there will be an associated 24-hour online discussion on that question.
1. STUDENT VOICE: Why is student voice important? What difference will
giving students a voice make? Monday 6 March 2006
2. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING: Feedback on how to improve is more useful
than a mark or grade. Do you agree? Tuesday 7 March 2006
3. LEARNING TO LEARN: How do you learn best – do you know? Is it
important that you know? Wednesday 8 March 2006
4. NEW TECHNOLOGY: What new opportunities does technology bring for
learning? Thursday 9 March 2006
5. CURRICULUM: What do you think should be learnt in school? Friday 10
March 2006
6. SCHOOL ORGANISATION AND DESIGN: In an ideal world how would
schools be designed and organised? Monday 13 March 2006
7. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENTS: Other than teachers – are there other
‘educators’ that could play a significant role in your learning? Tuesday 14 March
2006
8. MENTORING AND COACHING: What support do you think you should have
to guide, advise and assist you in your learning? Wednesday 15 March 2006
9. ADVICE AND GUIDANCE: The choices you make early in life are important
and can shape your future – what advice and guidance do you need, who should
give it and how should you access it? Thursday 16 March 2006
READING ONLY DAY: Friday 17 March 2006
ADULT REVIEW WEEK: Monday 20 March – Sunday 26 March 2006 (24 hours
a day)
HOW TO SUBMIT A PAPER FOR POSSIBLE PUBLICATION
Essay-style papers from 500 to 2,000 words are invited from primary and
secondary students in all countries.
These should be emailed directly to the Online Conference Manager, Ms Debra
Brydon, at: brydon@cybertext.net.au by Monday 23 January 2006. Papers
should be provided either as plain email text messages or as attached Word
documents (not html). Papers should not include any formatting, such as
columns or boxes. Text can include italics and/or bold but should not use
capitalisation, coloured text or underlining for extra emphasis. The use of tables
or graphs should be avoided altogether, with the relevant information being fully
explained as text. The titles of papers should be kept reasonably short and
should seek to provide readers with a clear indication of the paper’s content. A
synopsis of the paper at the beginning is not mandatory but would be
appreciated. References, where necessary, may be included at the end. Please
do not use footnotes.
Students who submit papers are encouraged to email a ‘passport style’
‘head and shoulders’ colour photo of themselves for publication with the
paper. All accompanying graphics or photos must be attached separately as
JPEG files and not embedded in the text file.
Student art-work can be also sent with the essay/paper, so long as it is sent
separately as a high resolution JPEG file (not embedded in the text).
Essay-style papers must not include identifiable references to individual
teachers or other students or any information that would provide the
writer’s personal contact details (other than the name of the student’s
school and the country it is located in).
DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? For further information on submitting a
paper to the student online conference or your participation in the Adult Review
Week, please contact the Online Conference Manager, Ms Debra Brydon, at:
brydon@cybertext.net.au. If possible, PLEASE CONFIRM that your
students are able to provide an essay/paper by the deadline or are
considering submitting one.
PREPARING A SCHOOL WEBSITE PRESENTATION FOR THE iNET
STUDENT ONLINE CONFERENCE
There is plenty of scope for much more creativity here. Your presentation on your
school website must address one of the key nine questions above and must be
ready for checking by Monday 6 February. The section of the school website
where your presentation is located must also be maintained for the entire
duration of the online conference. All you need to do is to forward us an
explanatory note (from a teacher at the school) – and the website address where
your presentation is located – and we will publish the link as part of the online
conference. Remember that no students’ full names must be identified as part of
the website presentation.
HOW TO REGISTER STUDENTS FOR THE iNET STUDENT-ONLY ONLINE
CONFERENCE
To register for the iNet Student-Only Online Conference, please log on to
the internet and visit website:
http://www.cybertext.net.au/studentreg06.htm
To register for the Adult Review Week, please log on to the internet and
visit website: http://www.cybertext.net.au/adultreg06.htm
* It’s best to ‘cut and paste’ these website addresses into your internet-connected
browser.
When you register online, you will be sent an automatic confirmation email. You
and the students you have registered will be emailed individually a few days
before the online conference or Adult Review Week begins. Teachers who
register students for the student online conference will automatically
receive the website address but may not enter the live online discussions,
as this is a student-only e-vent.
SECURITY STATEMENT
All of the Online Conferences in this series will be monitored 24 hours a day
throughout the entire online conference period. Extensive filtering mechanisms
will be in place, along with designated individuals monitoring discussions as they
take place. Inappropriate comments in the online discussions will be removed
without consultation.
THANK YOU
Six students from the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, in
the UK, who will be liaising closely with us to develop the design and
structure of this website. We are looking forward to your creative input!