TUANZ Education Conference 2005
in association with 
To mark the TUANZ Education Conference’s 10th Anniversary, we had two outstanding keynote speakers and 24 workshops to choose from in each venue!
Our keynote speakers were:
Dr Jason Ohler, President’s Professor of Educational Technology, University of Alaska.
David Copeland, Director and Educational Innovator of CWA New Media, Wellington
Download a copy of the 2005 Education Conference Poster and Registration form.
The conference was attended by more than 1000 people over seven days. We visited:
Canterbury - Thursday 10 March - Community Sports Stadiums, Aorangi Park, Morgans Rd, Timaru. Bus to and from Christchurch
Marlborough - Friday 11 March - The Marlborough Centre, Arthur St, Blenheim. Bus to and from Nelson
East Coast - Monday 14 March - Tolaga Bay Area School, Resolution St, Tolaga Bay. Bus to and from Gisborne
Hawkes Bay - Tuesday 15 March - Hawkes Bay Opera House, Corner of Hastings & Heretaunga Streets, Hastings. Bus to and from Taupo
Taranaki - Wednesday 16 March - Plymouth Hotel, Corner of Courtenay & Leach Sts, New Plymouth. Bus to and from Wanganui
Auckland (Secondary Schools) - Thursday 17 March - Centra Auckland Airport Hotel, Cnr of Kirkbride & Ascot Roads.
Auckland (Primary Schools) - Friday 18 March - Centra Auckland Airport Hotel, Cnr of Kirkbride & Ascot Roads.
Keynote speaker biographies and abstracts:
Dr Jason Ohler, President’s Professor of Educational Technology, University of Alaska
"The goal is the effective, creative and wise use of technology...to not only know how to use technology, but when and why. To bring together technology, community and learning in ways that work. And while we are at it, to have fun."
Dr. Jason Ohler has been a keynoter, writer, teacher and consultant in the area of Digital Living and Learning for two decades. His unique voice comes from a life that integrates many areas: professional development and research, distance education and the Internet, educational technology and learning, innovative program development and assessment, business and e-commerce, teaching, art, music, writing and speaking.
Jason helped create one of the first teacher education programs in the United States in response to the personal computer revolution that was devoted to effective educational practices using technology in the classroom (The Educational Technology Program at the University of Alaska in Juneau). It offers onsite and distance-delivered competency-based endorsement and master’s degree programs that are widely regarded for their quality and innovation.
As a distance educator Jason had more than 1,500 online students before the Internet existed. He served as the Educational Technology Program's Director for nearly two decades until his appointment as a President’s Professor of Educational Technology for the University of Alaska. The Educational Technology program is delivered at a distance on the web.
Jason has counseled and consulted to many teachers, schools and districts—as well as government agencies and businesses—about navigating the potential and pitfalls of living, learning, and doing business in the Digital Age. As a web developer, composer and writer, his activities are placed within the larger perspective of business, community and the arts.
Presentation abstract: Then What?
In an age of "No Child Left Behind," what is technology's role? Should we go digital? Or go ditch it all?
After gobs of glizty digital gear, endless excruciating software upgrades, computers that teach us math and robots that clean house, Then What?
Listen to the story of William Tell, hero of my novel about living and learning in the Digital Age. Then What? is a fun, serious, rollercoaster of a story about a computer savant who tries to find a path with a heart in a plastic and silicon world gone crazy with innovation. It is the story of personal transformation as William goes from geeker, to seeker, to teacher, to innovative designer of new schools for new times. It is a story about how we absolutely must re-think our schools if we are going to prepare our kids for the lives they will live, rather than the lives we are used to.
Then What? is also a story about the importance of teachers throughout our lives-- school teachers, parents, friends, mentors at work, and everyone else who has enriched our lives by teaching us something important and new. It is about how life is a constant source of new experiences that will teach us as much as we will allow them to.
Above all, it is a story about you and your struggle to understand the rapidly changing times in which you live. It is about how to help you connect to life in the Digital Age with friends, co-workers, community and family. It is about how to become empowered by the technology that is now a part of your every day life, regardless of what you do. It is about how and why we should all use the tools of the Digital Age to tell our stories.
David Copeland, Director and Educational Innovator of CWA New Media, Wellington
“I see new media not as a stainless steel, hard-edged, gee-whiz bunch of technologies, but rather as tools to enable us all to do what we do best as people — to share, communicate, and participate.”
David Copeland brings a deep understanding of the psychology inherent in the interaction between ordinary people and technology, and the roles that enablement and empowerment play in engaging the learner.
David’s passion is to convey the role of innovation in education, and to encourage his audiences to leap into the future with him, anticipating what may lie beyond. In recognition of his contribution to thinking in this field, David was recently made a fellow of the prestigious World Technology Network, in San Francisco.
Established in 1994, David’s company, CWA New Media has consistently been at the forefront of marrying pedagogy and technology in learning environments. Its work has been acknowledged widely, demonstrated by awards as diverse as a Japan Prize for Excellence in Educational Broadcasting, a TUANZ Award for Enabling the Knowledge Economy, the Vincitone Global Challenge Award, and most recently an award from the Australian Telecommunication User’s Association for it’s Digital Conversations work.
CWA is an active participant in the research and tertiary sectors, with partners who are leaders in academic educational research and classroom practice. This foundation ensures that CWA’s work continues to be informed by national and international best practice, thinking and experience.
Presentation abstract: Lost in e-Space - A search for life,learning and meaning
David Copeland and his creative team at CWA New Media have been pushing the boundaries of e-space for ten years now.Their commitment to find "a place for humanity within cyberspace" has resulted in a widely regarded range of innovative elearning developments from cyberlibrarianship to e-communities to learning objects to shared e-Space Stations.
In this presentation David explores "the very nearly final frontier.......New Zealanders boldly going where no one has ever gone before" and he finds an elearning landscape populated by a growing number of kiwi learners.
"e-Kiwi's are a practical and friendly bunch....they are very willing to share their experiences and it is this sense of community,of contribution, which is behind our most exciting developments."