**Skype Conference Call Rules**

This evening at about 9.40pm (10.40am Wednesday in New Zealand) I had a very interesting chat with 2 teachers from New Zealand in a 3 way skype conference call orgnised again by Allanah in Nelson. The other participant today was Jane Nicholls who podcasts under the IT Ucan name ( I was obviously tired because I didn't realise that I have listened to Jane's podcasts for quite a while - so apologies if you read this Jane for not realising who you were!!!)The conversation was conducted entirely via Mac technology and we all used Sound Recorder to make a copy of the conversation ( Hence probably - 3 very similar podcasts of the conversation very soon... watch this space)
Jane is based very much south in Dunedin South Island NZ, while Allanah is up at the top of South Island in Nelson - I was the odd one out sitting in a cold and wintery Wales ( I could almost fell the sunshine, which was quite frustrating !!).
Spread across the world as we were made no difference to the meeting of minds as 3 committed users of web 2.0 technology discussed how we began with the technology and also how easy it has become to make links across the globe, and more importantly to use the technology as a means of not only extending our pupils experiences, but also to improve the quality of the work that they produce.
We also discussed how some of our pupils 'get it' and seem to treat the new technology as their own, often becoming able to teach teachers how to use the various 2.0 programs. We also touched on the fact that the pedagogy of the classroom has to change in order to use web 2.0, it is no longer the case that 'teacher hands down the facts' and child learns the facts. Often when podcasting or blogging or using wiki's we are all learning together. This is often difficult for less confident teachers to accept and use, as you have to give over some/quite a lot of control to the pupils for their own learning - I think that Terry Freedman would appreciate this as a mainstay of 'Every Child Matters' where the pupils take responsibility for their own learning.
The conversation will undoubtedly make it to a podcast very soon, thank you very much to Allanah and Jane for a thought provoking conversation, I look forward to this happening again in the near future.

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Enjoy! -- Paul Harrington