Category Archives: Develop

The messy stuff of developing something that works

Supporting learning in unexpected spaces.

By Derek | Published: August 27, 2010
I’m in the business of assisting academics and teachers to electronically develop their courses. I work alongside them and systematically we design learning experiences. The ideas that I tout are often responsible for reshaping or traversing classroom walls. By installing new technologies into existing classrooms or introducing new virtual environments, I may be [...]
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Generating ambient intimacy

By Derek | Published: June 25, 2010
Maybe it sounds a bit too touchy feely, but I’ve been thinking more and more that there’s a need for a place in an educational setting where there are opportunities for students and faculty to create a feeling of connectedness, a spot for sharing and belonging. The hyper public world has created such places. Intimate strangers [...]
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An inspiring knight in Cape Town

By Derek | Published: May 14, 2010
Schoolnet and the Commonwealth of Learning invited me (and a variety of highups in Education)  to a day long seminar in Cape Town around the topic of  ICT integration and teacher training. The key note speaker was the inspiring knight, Sir John Daniel. Not only did he take 25 years to complete a part-time Master’s [...]
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Connecting the dots

By Derek | Published: May 4, 2010
I’ll come to listen to your parade of movers and shakers, spend the night comfortably cosseted in clean linen. Thanks for the food, flight and great speakers. You’re obviously serious and I must admit, I’m flattered that you want me to come to your do. Although it makes me sound a bit ungrateful (and I’m [...]
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Differentiated Tasks

By Derek | Published: February 25, 2010
William M. Ferriter’s article is Why Teachers Should Try Twitter is more about differentiated instruction than Twitter. When I read it, I thought – here’s a note to self – time to explore how technology can be leveraged so that  “students of different abilities, interest or learning needs” can use  different learning paths so that [...]
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Does it have to be so hard?

By Derek | Published: February 11, 2010
Hostname, username, computername, network, password, submit – are words that I see everyday and respond to without thinking. This jargon however, is a foreign language to a person on the other side of the digital donga. Yet the terms are thrust as a greeting at the struggling “digital immigrant”, aware of an information avalanche, threatened [...]
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Personal Learning Networks

By Derek | Published: January 29, 2010
“All of your knowledge won’t amount to much if you don’t have a network of people to share it with and enough compassion for the people in that network to understand that your success is a direct result of their success.” Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo I’m in education because I want children to be [...]
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Modelling Technology

By Derek | Published: January 26, 2010
Motivational speakers usually don’t impress me. Brought in by a well meaning leader, the “You can make a difference” inspirational monologue, usually leaves me more dispirited than before. “Do what I’m doing, stand in my shoes for a week, and then make this speech”, has always been my internal mantra to their 20 minute routine. Computer [...]
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Web Wednesday Chit Chat and Workshops

By Derek | Published: January 5, 2010
I’d like to experiment with hosting and running a set of alternate bi-monthly chit chats and workshops for people that want to share their digital stories and extend their use of the net. These events will take place on the first Wednesday of the month and will collectively be known as WebWed. Chit Chat At these [...]
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Testing times for an oEmbed ignoramus

By Derek | Published: January 4, 2010
Derek Keats is testing Chisimba, oEmbed and Wordpress and I’ve offered to get my hands dirty and assist. I’m officially an oEmbed ignoramus (remember, I’m an ex-history teacher). But I’m also a networked learner. Search engines have allowed me to almost instantly explore an array of unknown fields, modular Word Press Plugins make me feel [...]
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