What is best practise?  Facilitated by David Jakes and Clarence Fisher during a Learning2.0 Conference unconference session.

The conversation was rich, it was real and it was authentic.  There were lots of questions, lots of discussion, not lots of answers.

Is it making the task authentic?  Is it making the teaching and learning transparent?  Is it building relationships? Is it collaboration?  Is it using the right tool for the job?  Is it establishing the climate?  Is it transferring knowledge?  Is it accepting the differences?  Are you applying technology in the right way?

It doesn’t matter how you engage the kids – the key thing is that you are actually engaging the kids.  But is there a danger that it’s easy thinking?  Thinking of the guy that just lectures and the kids dig it!  I bet he’s passionate!

Teachers telling teachers what they are doing?  Find out what others are doing – are we overburdening our students?

If we make a list will that lock down what best practise is?  Is this dangerous?  Isn’t best practise really about meeting the child where they are at and moving the child on?

A conversation participant mentioned location – what was best practise in a classroom in Africa where she was teaching before is certainly not best practise in the International School classroom she is in now in.

We looked at Darren Kuropatwa’s blog to see the practise that he has going on in his class through technology. Building a community.  Megacognition – Scribepost – I want to look at that.  The blog has feed windows brings in classrooms from around the world.  His kids can virtually visit other classes.  All of Darren’s classes are podcasted – whiteboard work has been uploaded up to slideshare.  He has 4 of his own children, so this is not a man that spends all his time on the computer! It obviously has to be dead-easy system- apparently he has it set up so that this takes about an extra 10 minutes of his day.  All the work of the class is on the web.  Accessed and re-accessed anytime, anywhere.

So is best practise about offering the tools that are right for each student’s learning?  What does this mean for the teacher that is not comfortable with all this technology?  What if you think these are really great ideas and you strive to be the best teacher you can be and you just don’t know how to do this stuff?  I really admire the work of Darren Kuropatwa – but I don’t know how to begin with half of the stuff he’s doing?  I know that I have the resources at my fingertips and the personal learning network to learn how though – and is that really what best practise is all about?

So is best practise whatever engenders our students to learn whatever it is that they need to learn both within their own communities, and outside those communities?

At the end of the day does best practise mean it’s all about the relationships we build both inside and outside the classroom?

Posted by email from teachingsagittarian’s posterous

I have to keep pinching myself because it seems so far-fetched that I’m flying to Shanghai, China in 6 days to attend the Learning2.0 Conference beginning with Edublogger Con on Thursday 18th September AND I get to fly with two fabulous friends and awesome bloggers Kim Cofino and Tara Ethridge AND catch up with fellow NZder Simon May who lives and teaches in Shanghai.

This is an amazing opportunity to catch up with invited guests David Warlick, Ewan MacIntosh, whom I have the absolute pleasure to meet and listen to already, as well as the chance to meet and listen to Clarence Fisher, Brian Crosby, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Alan Levine and David Jakes.  That in itself just makes me incredibly excited.

My twitter network was a-twitter last week with questions of “Are you going to Learning2.0?”  My excitement was pushed three more steps up as I began to discover that many of the amazing people in my twitter-network were going to Shanghai also. I’m looking forward to meeting lots of fellow educators/bloggers from Australia and Qatar (can’t wait to meet you finally Julie!).  There’s going to be so much meeting and greeting – I was beginning to wonder when we might get time to attend a conference?!

Who would have thought that my excitement could step up a notch after all that? I didn’t think it was possible, but Jeff Utecht made it so.  He asked if I would be interested in doing a 45 minute presentation at Learning2.0 Shanghai!  Oh my goodness!  Are you kidding me?  Me?  Present? With all those famous people you already have lined up?  What a fabulous chance to give something back to the very community that got me started on this amazing journey of Web2.0 in the classroom.  Thanks for the opportunity Jeff!

So here’s the blurb for my presentation ……….  now I just need to put the finishing touches on it.