Welcome and Introducations

[Learning 2.008 Conference]

Welcome to Learning 2.008! Please Introduce yourself here.

[Dennis Harter]

Not presenting this year...but would be happy to meet and talk.

Unconference perhaps...or maybe just over coffee or drinks?

Looking forward to it.

[Tracie]

G'Day! This is my first Ning experience, and I am looking forward to finding out about current best practice for online learning, particularly for Workplace Training for adult learners. I coordinate online programs for Wide Bay TAFE for the Australian Water Industry. We use Janison as a Learning Management System, allowing training to remote regions of Queensland. And the whales are currently off-shore migrating north!

[Paul McMahon]

Hi All,

My name is Paul McMahon and I work in Hong Kong and the region as a freelance educational technology consultant (read that as mostly unemployed as many of you probably know that there is a lot of talk about using ICT for learning in the region but a big lack of funds for conferences/PD/Workshops etc).

I was delighted to be able to work with Peter Woodhead of the ESF earlier this year to host the first 21 st Century Learning @ Hong Kong conference. This brought together educators from around the region and keynotes from New Zealand, the USA and the UK and was a great success and an indication that schools are beginning to "get it" here in Hong Kong. Naturally we have a long way to go as we failed to attract backing from the organizations backing this conference and with a registration fee of only US$100 for the two day event, some schools here suggested that it was too expensive!

I have been fortunate to have the backing of 3 vendors that I have worked with on behalf of schools in the region to be able to attend this conference and contribute in a small way to its costs. I will be conducting workshops for the vendors describing how their products are being used to transform learning in some schools in the region. As a teacher of over 25 years of classroom experience, much of it in integrating ICT into mainstream learning, I am trying to make sure that these sessions are informative and beneficial for teachers rather than just marketing exercises.

I hope to meet as many of you as possible.

Regards

Paul

[Tony Searl]

G'day,
Tony Searl from Great Lakes College on the mid north coast of New South Wales Australia. A secondary teacher keen to hear what the world has to say re 21st Century learning. Would love to visit China again, an excuse to visit family is always good, but my contributions in 2008 will be virtual.

As a relative newcomer to all things web2.0ish, I have much to absorb, but my passion for learning has not diminished one iota in 25 years of teaching.

I expect the conference will kindle the fire rather than fill the vessal, so I'll sit down, hang on and come along for the ride, hopefully contributing a few salutary down under flavoured posts as I go.
cheers
Tony

[Simon Brown]

Hello. I'm Simon - I teach stonemasonry skills at SkillsTech Australia in Eagle Farm, Brisbane I'd like to follow Learning 2.008 activities from where I am.

[Vu Lam]

Hi there,

My name is Vu Lam and I am a first grade teacher.
I am new to Learning 2.0 and am excited about meeting some new people and eager to learn something new. I am sure this is going to be an amazing opportunity.

Vu

[Candy Lin]

Hi all,

So excited to be involved here. My name is Candy.lin from Xiamen , an amazing small island , China. I work in Xiamen International School as a IT Instruction Assistant. This is my first job after my graduation . This is also my first experience to meet you all this great event . So I am sure It's a good opportunity for me to learn something new technologies and your different cultures. Let's share and enjoy these wonderfull three days!

Regards!
candy.lin
Lin Yi Hua (my Chinese name)

[Warren Apel]

I'm the Director of Technology at the American Embassy School in New Delhi India. I enjoyed the conference last year so much that I invited a fairly big group of teachers and administrators from my school to come this year. Our ES and HS principals will be there, as well as our K-3 computer teacher and one of our technology-forward teachers.
I'll be presenting a session on Data Driven Decision Making in Session 9 on Saturday. (It's actually more interesting than it sounds. . . . )

I'm really looking forward to re-connecting with people I met last year, as well as people that I know mostly through email.

[Matthew Chadwick]

Hello, I'm Matthew Chadwick. I teach 7th, 8th computer studies at the International School Manila. I'm looking forward to taking control of my learning and planting the seeds for my PLN at this conference.

[Adam Held]

My name is Adam Held and I am from Chicago where I spent the past five years teaching physics and chemistry at New Trier HS. I am on a two year leave of absence to teach in China, where I currently work at Shanghai Community International School. This is my first year teaching internationally - and I am looking forward to meeting people from all walks of life and all corners of the world.