Think E-Learning

We’ve just sent out our latest newsletter, packed with the latest updates from Think e-Learning, including exciting ventures for 2025! At Think e-Learning, our goal is to create newsletters that are motivational, educational, and anything but boring. We’re all about providing valuable resources for busy teachers, kaiako, and ICT leaders in schools and kura. You can look forward to info, advice, and best practices that are research-backed, easy to digest, and practical to apply. You can sign up here ⬇️

Stephen McConnachie had the opportunity recently to catch up with familiar faces and make new friends at the NZARE - New Zealand Association for Research in Education conference in Hamilton. Thanks to The University of Waikato for hosting; there was lots of great kōrero in the presentations and amazing kōrerorero between presentations. He appreciated the strong threads relating to how #AI can take learning and assessment deeper when used carefully, and how to better support middle leaders. There's more: Stephen was also voted onto the NZARE Council for 2025! He will continue in his roles as Co-Convenor of the Educational Leadership SIG with Miranda Makin, and Co-Convenor of the Assessment SIG with Robyn Caygill. https://lnkd.in/giFmvET5

The support that Think e-Learning provides to schools and educators is: Locally based; by a New Zealander and for New Zealanders. Based in experience; from a former teacher who has held many roles within the NZ education system. Delivered with empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by those championing digital technologies. We can help you to make sense of it all, create and manage change in your school or organisation, and employ digital tools effectively and constructively. Get in touch: thinkelearning.nz/contact

Our director Stephen shared some thoughts with Leadership Lab in 2021, and they continue to ring true today. In fact, engaging as a treaty partner is even more important in the current climate. “One area in which I have been trying to be more vulnerable is my ongoing journey as tauiwi (non-Māori) engaging with Te Tiriti. As a Pākehā, I have found that engagement with Te Tiriti is a journey that demands vulnerability. If I am to honour the process and honour the people – tūpuna as well as current colleagues and friends – then I must be real about my failings in the past, and the lessons I learn along the way.” We should be making sure that all learners are getting what they need, and that means doing the work to get there. It’s not only nice but necessary—one of the competencies in the Educational Leadership Capability Framework is ensuring culturally responsive practice. You can take a look at the literature on that for more guidance. Read more:

AI will only continue to evolve! What's the plan for educators? Stephen shared with Breakfast some of the promising approaches being taken and research being done here in Aotearoa (and pulled out his Dad joke skills, too 😅). #education #onlinelearning #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teachers #artificialintelligence

How is AI affecting educators, in reality? Stephen shared the two main areas of concern he's noticed in his work with schools and universities.

Our director Stephen was recently asked to appear on Breakfast, where he spoke with Jenny-May Clarkson and Daniel Faitaua about a topic close to our hearts: AI and how it's changing the landscape of assessments. Concerns about the potential for cheating are at the forefront, particularly in the tertiary sector. Stephen addressed these concerns with a nuanced perspective on what the future might look like as AI becomes a part of our everyday digital landscape. We'll be sharing some more clips here, so stay tuned! First up: we love an interviewer who asks the right questions. Check out what Stephen had to say about getting the balance right when it comes to digital assessments vs pen and paper methods.

We're getting revved up for Energise 2024, billed as "the most EPIC conference in education"! This 2-day hui from the 30th September - 1st October is hosted by impactED and Digital Story Telling Aotearoa and offers more than 20 workshops equipping educators in the areas of leadership, effective pedagogy, and digital integration. Two of those workshops will be led by our director Stephen McConnachie: one on change management and leadership, and another on AI. ⬇️

An enormous congratulations to our wonderful Elle Archer who was honoured in the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards 2024. She won the “Inspiring Individual” category, and we at WDEN can attest to the truth of that title. Elle inspires our team and many others through her mahi fostering Māori excellence in the technology sector. 📸 credit: @Te Hapori Matihiko

A recent change in the Ministry of Education’s PLD priorities has seen digital fluency and cultural capability take a back seat. If you’ve been following us for a while, it’ll come as no surprise that we consider those to be essential learning areas for educators. This is particularly true as teachers settle into the new DTHM curriculum areas and in the wake of a recent ERO report which identified that 38% of new teachers felt unprepared to teach technology. If you have PLD goals which fall outside the narrowed priorities from term two onwards, here are a few suggestions for finessing proposals: • Reframe proposals if necessary, so it includes, honestly and legitimately, the new focus areas (primarily structured literacy). • Keep in mind that the narrowed focus will be reviewed and may open up again next term. Digital fluency for teachers will prepare them to teach the current generation and the ones that come after.