The InterfaceXpo series for 2014 kicked off yesterday in Wellington with a great buzz. Delegates were welcomed to the day in the Soundings Theatre of Te Papa by Greg Adams, the editor of Interface Magazine, before other organisations were given the chance to speak. Our own Andy Schick spoke to the delegates about what Network for Learning was doing these days and the progress of the Managed Network. When the educators in the room saw a snippet of Pond’s potential, their interest was piqued. This spike in interest meant that the first chance these people got, they were ditching their afternoon workshops in favour of coming to the Pond workshop and becoming Pioneer Educators.
In the hands-on Pond workshop most newly appointed Pioneers were jumping into Pond without any worries, however a few were tripped up by not having the right entitlements on their ESAA profile or by not having the right level of security (for example, their ESAA accounts were self assigned for TKI which means they lacked the right level of evidence of identity to access Pond). Once the majority were floating in Pond, we were off – exploring search results, building profiles and looking through the community. Excitement was growing and teachers were able to see the merits of Pond.
All of the feedback received by the large group was positive as they had their wishlist questions addressed by Ian Allan, lead in the development team, and he pointed out that most of the features they would like added were in fact on their way. Attendees were also able to see the necessity for N4L to use ESAA to verify accounts and profiles to ensure a secure environment. Finally, teachers were talking about returning to their regular e-learning meetings to share the power of Pond and to get others excited about the opportunities it presented.
As excited as the delegates were coming into the workshop, they were even more excited when they left. At the end, bubbling amongst the N4L staff were a number of enthused educators thrilled to get into Pond and start exploring the possibilities it meant for their planning and resourcing.
Welcome, new Pioneer Educators, we’re looking forward to seeing the ripples you make in Pond.
