Today was the official launch of the Ultranet and despite not being able to log in for any length of time, we still had a full day of learning. Completing the treasure hunt using the Ultranet teacher’s manual went well… and showing the video, ‘The Ultranet in Plain English’ was fantastic – such a clever, explicit and visual teaching tool.
Our staff completed a ‘Headline’ reflection activity after our morning session and I’ve included samples. They were asked to provide a Headline – (short text) for today’s newspaper. We watched a number of videos, and completed another treasure hunt using the training modules instead of online. Some teachers were able to access the Ultranet and quickly ‘got the hang of’ using some of the tools. I was impressed with what they were able to do in such a short time.
There were a number of prizes throughout the day, which were particularly sought after. I’ve included pictures – the Ultranet tribe tattoo arm sleeve. As a staff, we ventured into FUSE – visited wikis and played with Voki. Voki was used for our final reflection (hilarious). Actually having the time to explore these sites was excellent… and we also enjoyed a fantastic Indian lunch.
It was a pleasure to spend the day with my colleagues, and despite the obvious problems, they were engaged and enthusiastic.
Cheers Nina
Nina Davis: Teaching & Learning in Australia 
Sounds like you had an amazing day! Although we to started the day with frustrations unfortunately it ended up team leaders taking their teams for planning time. I was a little disappointed that this happened but in hind site it shows me the confidence level of our staff and how quickly they wanted to revert back to what they knew rather than exploring something new. I know we have a long journey ahead of us but some of your ideas from today sounded great and hopefully I can convince our school to be incorporating some of those into staff meeting time.
Hi kellie,
Even though the Ultranet did not work properly, we did have a good day. Teachers are time poor, so it was a great opportunity to explore the web as a staff. It is a shame that your staff didn’t grab this opportunity to explore.
Exploring highlights what a fantastic resource we have at our fingertips. Just time to look a FUSE, some wikis and VOKI was great. We also viewed ‘inspiring’ videos and there are 3 proud staff wearing the Ultranet tattoo! What more could you want than that?
Cheers Nina