Presenters

ULearn09 is pleased to welcome a range of speakers and guests to this year's conference. Find out more about some of those who will be presenting workshops at ULearn09 and check the conference programme for details about when their workshops are being held.

Marg McLeod is the project director of the national support services team for CORE’s contract for the New Zealand Ministry of Education's ICT Professional Development Clusters programme (ICT PD). With experience in successful school leadership and a variety of ICT initiatives Marg brings a wealth of expertise to the ICT PD clusters.

Marg has been interested in ICT and how it impacts on student learning for many years. As an English teacher in the 1980’s she researched the effects of word processing on student writing. In 1991 she helped deliver the first Ministry of Education contract in ICT professional development, moving computers across the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools in Nelson and Marlborough.

In her most recent role as Principal of Wellington Girls College, Marg has implemented change management for 21st century learning, emanating from the development of media rich environments and the examination of the impact they make. This experience has further reinforced her belief in the important role of senior managerial leadership in embedding changes in teacher practice. She is also keen to see school leaders move the education paradigm to a much more personalised approach.

Kathe Tawhiwhirangi-Perry trained at Wellington Teachers College between 1979-1981. She taught for 6 years in mainstream education, followed by 8 years in bi-lingual, before moving in to Kura Kaupapa Maori, where she has been for the past 12 years. In total, 26 years in teaching, with many more years of learning to be had!!

Kathe has been Deputy Principal at Te Ara Whanui KKM since 1996 and since 2000 has been responsible for the schools performance management programme. In 2008 ERO described this as; “This is quite an exceptional programme being run here. One that has not been seen before”

Between 2004 - 2006, the 3 kura in Wellington embarked on a 3 year connection with MoE through an ICT PD contract.
During that time Kathe was .4 DP at Te Ara Whanui KKM and .6 Facilitator for the cluster. Since Term 3 in 2007, she has been .5 DP at TAWKKM and .5 working with CORE-education as a National ICT PD Facilitator.

Stuart Hale is a primary trained teacher. He has specialised in ICT - eLearning for the last 30 years and has worked extensively with schools staff and students to explore the full extent that ICT can be integrated in a Teaching and Learning environment that is centered on the needs of the learner throughout New Zealand schools. To date he has worked with over 1500 teachers in hands on workshops that explored the creative application of today’s computers into the curriculum. Stuart has run photographic workshops with students and teachers throughout New Zealand.

Dr Maureen O'Rourke  is Executive Director of EdPartnerships International and has worked with systems of education in Australia and internationally (USA, China, India, Vietnam, Japan) to co-design and facilitate major innovation and change initiatives. She has also worked as a teacher in all sectors (early childhood, primary, secondary, specialist and higher education) and acted as principal for three years. Maureen brings a broad, practical perspective and partnership approach to her work with systems and schools, designing and facilitating highly regarded professional learning programs for educators over the last ten years. These include programs focusing on whole school change, building leadership capacity, effective professional learning, contemporary and powerful learning, multiliteracies, digital portfolios and pedagogical approaches to ICT use. She has participated in research projects and written publications focusing on technology and educational change, multiliteracies pedagogy and social ecology approaches to reform.  Maureen has a particular interest in improving the educational achievement of disadvantaged young people and contemporary/future oriented approaches to learning.

Lynn Davie is currently the eLearning Manager for the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Previously Lynn was Assistant Principal and Navigator School Project Officer at Essendon North PS.. She facilitated professional learning related to ICT and curriculum reform for national and international educators. Lynn has been recognised internationally for her work and believes that teachers need to see the possibilities that technology provides if we are to optimise its potential to teach new things in new ways.

Hey there, I’m DK, the founder of MediaSnackers—nice to e-meet you. MediaSnackers was a term I coined back in early 2006 whilst describing what young people were doing with media—the site was launched a few months later in June.
I have an educational background in communications and media, plus a professional background in local government (I was the UK’s first and only Corporate Youth Officer… oooh!)—I’ve done lots of things and had many roles, but my passion for working with young people (and youth professionals) has been my main focus for the past 9 years. MediaSnackers basically keeps me out of trouble.

(The DK comes from the initials of my old name. One of the first young people I started working with called me DK and it just stuck—I never liked my old name so I adopted it fully.)

Tony Ryan is a former teacher who is now an educational consultant and writer, and offers professional support to school organisations throughout the world on issues such as change leadership, lifelong learning and quality classroom practice. He has presented numerous keynotes and workshops at state, national and world conferences in the past 10 years.

He has been engaged as a teacher-in-residence in over 400 schools throughout several countries. In this role, he teaches extensively, and offers guidance to teachers with their everyday practice. Many of his ideas used in his work can be found in his blog at http://tonyryan.edublogs.org

Tony is a prolific author of books on effective thinking and learning. These books include The Ripple Effect, Thinkers Keys for Kids, Mindlinks, Brainstorms, Thinkfest and The Clever Country Kits. His latest CD-Rom features a comprehensive update of Thinkers Keys. His site at www.tonyryan.com.au contains numerous free downloads of his material.

Tony is a director of School Aid (www.schoolaid.org), a non-profit organisation that co-ordinates post-tragedy fundraising and social justice programs within 10000 schools around Australia.

Westley Field is the Director of the ‘Skoolaborate’ Initiative. He is also Director of Online Learning and Manager of IT at MLC School in Sydney.

Westley presents around the world on topics such as Education in Virtual Worlds, Making 1 to 1 work, Heuristics of implementing elearning, Educational Technology, Connecting Students in a Web 2.0 world and Leading in a Flat World.

In 2008, Westley received the ASLA John Lee Award for innovative us of IT in learning. Westley has previously received a Churchill Fellowship, Computerworld Honours (Smithsonian), Apple Distinguished Educator, Macromedia Ed Leader and Adobe Ed Leader for his work with schools and communities. Westley is also on the Board for the NSW and Sydney branches of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders.

Dr Wayne Mackintosh is a committed advocate and user of free software for education. He is the founder of WikiEducator (www.wikieducator.org), a website that provides open education resources (OER) that anyone can edit and use. He was also the founding project leader of New Zealand's eLearning XHTML editor (eXe) project ( www.exelearning.org)

Margie Carter has been a pre-school and kindergarten teacher and a child care director. When she is not travelling to consult and speak, Margie works side by side with directors and teachers in early childhood programs. Margie writes a regular column in Child Care Information Exchange, and in addition to the books she has co-authored with Deb Curtis, Designs for Living and Learning, Learning Together with Young Children, The Art of Awareness, and The Visionary Director. Her work can be found in her individually authored selection, Alike and Different: Exploring Our Humanity with Young Children and Growing Teachers: Partnerships in Staff Developments, and Beginnings and Beyond. Margie is also the producer of a number of early childhood training videos.

Joanna Bell has worked in the education field for over 35 years. She has a Diploma of Teaching in Primary Education and Teaching and Certificate 1V in Assessment and Workplace Training. Joanna has conducted professional staff development workshops for teachers and students in the use of LEGO® robotics as a teaching tool in the classroom for the last ten years. Joanna has been an active member of the RCJA NSW Robocup Committee for nine years and has been assisting the National Robocup Junior New Zealand Committee on behalf of MTA .

Sharon Friesen is a founding partner and president of the Galileo Educational Network and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

She consults on a wide range of teaching and learning topics related to curriculum reform and school reform. She is the recipient of numerous awards including: The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences 2007 Education Prize; 1999 Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence; and the 1997 Aoki Award for educational research.

Her research interests include 21st century learning, one-to-one laptop computing, curriculum inquiry, professional development, mathematics education, instructional leadership and school reform. She has co-authored three books: Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together, winner of the 2004 AERA Division B Book Award, Curriculum in Abundance and Back to the Basics of Teaching and Learning: Thinking the World Together 2nd edition.

David Anderson is a highly respected Australian teacher and educator who works nationally and internationally as a consultant, staff developer and project development specialist. Co-director of Hands On Educational Consultancy, he has worked by invitation across Australia, New Zealand, in the UK, and with schools and teachers in Turkey, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and The Philippines.
 
David is a former school principal and consultant for Schools of the Future, with an extensive background of experience in classroom teaching and special education, K-12. He has specific expertise in supporting whole school development, leadership coaching and in developing inclusive classrooms that challenge all students.
 
He believes that highly effective professional learning is a crucial element in improving a wide range of learning outcomes for students. To that end, he Joan Dalton have facilitated the highly successful Art of Facilitation Institute across New Zealand and Australia over the last two years.
 
David has a major commitment to working long-term with schools to build effective professional learning communities and authentic student learning communities, grounded in learning and teaching practices that prepare today's learners for tomorrow's world. He currently achieves this through his work with a number of NZ schools; both secondary and primary. In a unique partnering arrangement with Education Queensland, he and Joan have developed a dynamic and practical professional learning product (www.plotpd.com.au ) designed to bring this on-line to schools around the world.

Dr Julia Atkin is an independent education and learning consultant who works across education settings in Australia and internationally. Her work with educators over the past twenty years has focused their reflection and dialogue around two key questions: What is powerful learning? and What is it powerful to learn? Julia is passionate about developing educational services that:

• nurture the human spirit of individuals and the organisation
• are personalised and customised
• help the learner learn to think and learn to learn
• integrate the best of learning technology with information and communication technologies
• are collaborative
• result in learning that has deep personal meaning and is thus transferable from one context to another.

Julia’s work is characterised by an approach that bridges the gap between theory and practice. She has received a number of prestigious awards in recognition of her work. In 2000-2004 she was named a Distinguished Educator by Apple Computers Australia. In 2000, Julia was made a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and awarded the Sir Harold Wyndham Medal 2000 in recognition of the contribution her work has made to the learning of teachers and the children of Australia. In October 2003, The Bulletin named Julia as one of Australia’s Smart 100 – a list of one hundred people, ten in ten fields, making a difference to Australian society through innovation.

Christina Ward’s expertise with online forums or 'communities of practice' is being utilised to the full in her current role co-ordinating the Ministry of Education's New Zealand Curriculum Online. During the early phases of the curriculum project her role was to encourage participation in discussions about the redevelopment and to improve access to the information emerging from the curriculum project.

In the lead up to the launch of the New Zealand Curriculum last November, Christina reconceptualised and managed the redesign of the New Zealand Curriculum website on TKI.

In keeping with the move to broaden access to emerging information, and to support schools as they implement the NZC, Christina's focus is to develop this online environment and ensure the education sector can keep in touch with curriculum related information and to share their experiences with others.

Christina has been involved in a number of Ministry of Education projects, working on the exemplar project and Social Studies Online before her contract with CORE began at the beginning of 2004.

Mary Anne Mills is the curriculum project leader for CORE Education. From 2003-2006 she was the Ministry of Education project manager for the redevelopment of the draft New Zealand curriculum. She has been a secondary school history teacher as well as a lecturer in social sciences and professional studies in secondary pre-service teacher education.

Jill Hammonds is an ICT PD national facilitator working for Core Education. While much of her work relates to the cluster programme operating throughout the country, her real passion is to get with a group of teachers and share her love of learning in the 21st century. She has taught New Entrant to Year 8 classes and has lots of practical ideas and solutions to the barriers facing many junior class teachers, and will inspire and support those who are yet to believe that ICTs have an important role to play in the junior classroom.

Innes Kennard is an e-learning facilitator based in Masterton. Most of his teaching has been in rural areas, places as diverse as Eketahuna and Dunsandel. He enjoys getting into the classroom on a regular basis. Through his 23 years as an ICT adviser for Victoria he has had extensive involvement in the use of technologies in and around the classroom over many years and is constantly intrigued by the relationship between learning, thinking and ICTs. Innes enjoys poetry and mathematics and is especially fond of Jill and their two "digital native" children, and rather fond of cats, chardonnay and crayfish.

Lenva Shearing is the deputy principal at Bucklands Beach Intermediate School. She is the facilitator of the 2007-2009 Bucklands Beach ICTPD Cluster and an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Andrew Churches is a classroom teacher and ICT enthusiast. He passionately believes that to prepare our students for the future, we must prepare them for change, teach them to question and think, to adapt and modify, to sift and sort.

Andrew teaches at Kristin School, on Auckland's North Shore. Kristin is a school with a mobile computing program, that sees students with personal mobile devices, laptops. This approach reflects the future that our students and children will be entering into with ubiquitous portable computing and an increasing digital world.

Outside of school, Andrew is an outdoor instructor and an adventure enthusiast. He enjoy sharing and presenting his work, research, thoughts and musings. He is an edublogger, tweet, wiki author and innovator. In 2008, Andrew's wiki, Educational Origami, was nominated for the Edublogs Best wiki awards. He is a regular contributor to a number of websites and blogs including techlearning, spectrum education magazine and the Committed Sardine Blog, as well as his own edorigami blog.