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There is much to be learned from journeys. From stepping out of our doors and by placing one foot in front of the other making progress towards a planned destination. Journeys are a great metaphor for the challenges we face in our day to day lives and the parallels we draw may allow us to set a goal and achieve it despite the obstacles.

Recently I left the cold and dark of a Sydney winter and journeyed north to the warmer climate of Fiji. A jewel dropped in the warm waters of the Pacific, Fiji is a popular holiday destination for those looking for a tropical escape. This trip was very different from the norm. There would be no resorts, no five-star dining and my company was to be a group of 24 Year Nine students. It was to be a journey full of learning and insights into the challenges facing education. 

Blueback is a beautiful metaphor for life and particularly of the life we live in schools. When looked at close up, with an eye on the details, the experience of school is one of passing and recurring cycles. When looked at from a distance, with an eye on the whole, there are elements of constancy, the throughlines which bring meaning to our experience and which have as their consequence the residuals of education. 

"At its inception, the Ultranet represented the best opportunity for schools to tap into the ground-swell of technology acceptance that was coursing through society during the early/mid 2000′s. Somewhere along the journey, the Ultranet failed to live up to this lofty and ambitious goal."

At the heart of learning are the questions to which we do not yet know the answers and the journey to the questions we have not yet asked. Such simple truths and yet understandings that can have fundamental consequences for approach to learning and growth.

The maker movement and with it maker-centered learning brings new possibilities and challenges into the classroom. It has spawned makerspaces and students are busy designing and making products. The danger with all this frenzied making is that it is very easy to miss the point, to focus on the product and not the journey.  

"Whether you are just beginning your flipped teaching journey, or an experienced flipped teacher, YouTube offers a variety of ways to organize instructional videos for both teachers and students alike. Note taking with VideoNot.es is just one avenue teachers and students can explore to increase the benefits of video instruction."

My thought for this site is that you could use it to generate an interdisciplinary writing task with students. They select a starting location then find its opposite; the writing task is that they narrate the journey from the starting point to its opposite. They could research the different places they pass through and choose their own line of travel (making it either more realistic or fanciful). Integrated activities might include geography (different environments); mathematics (distance and measurement); science/physics (distance & displacement).

the journey taken by teacher and students out of the world of the classroom and into the global world of rich collaboration and knowledge creation. Jenny shows how she and her students have discovered and delighted in becoming members of the global learning community.

A blog about new tools for digital and online learning. One person's journey and perspective.

This website is aimed at high school students, as it is at this age that most children are affected. Students direct themselves on an interactive journey through a detective's office to learn more about cyberbullying. These young teenagers get to hunt and explore their way through a fun website uncovering clues and information about cyberbullying and how to recognise what to do.

This site was nominated for an Edublog Award. Has very specific entries that are relevant for the classroom teacher. Focus may be for primary students but concepts seem easy to transform for Years 7 - 10 students.

LANGWITCHES' Blog contains thoughts, ideas and projects on my journey as a Technology Integration Facillitator. My name is Silvia Tolisano. I was born in Germany, raised in Argentina and am living in the United States. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish with a Minor in International Studies and a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Technology. My areas of interest include technology in the classroom and multicultural and global education.

"This video highlights the growth and development of a Google Doc as an Elementary School student in Edmonton Public Schools takes us on a journey of how she collaborates with classmates and her teacher to create a finished piece of writing."

"This video highlights the growth and development of a Google Doc as an Elementary School student in Edmonton Public Schools takes us on a journey of how she collaborates with classmates and her teacher to create a finished piece of writing."

DIY PD - 10 tips and resources to help you along your lifelong learning journey...

One teacher describes her journey after her school decided to use Google Drive to host student portfolios. They began to piece together the steps necessary for this to be successful for all stakeholders: students, teachers, and parents/guardians. Including parents and guardians in the loop seemed more like an emerging trend. This is how they created and shared student portfolios using Google Drive. Student and teacher permissions are set to allow both viewing and editing of content in the folders, while parents and guardians are given viewing permissions. Also, parents and guardians DO NOT need to create a Google account simply to view contents of their child's portfolio folder.

Understanding the "Why" of any initiative should be a key step prior to implementation. Without a clear understanding of our "Why" how are we to judge the success of what we are implementing. How will we know which steps take us in the right direction if we have no concept of why we are journeying. In our implementation of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) and now Digital Technologies, a lack of clarity on the matter of "Why" has often been the most significant challenge to success. 

At the heart of all that we do as teachers lies the act of learning. Our hope is that our actions inspire our students to engage in a process that results in their acquisition of new knowledge, mastery of new skills and the development of capacities and dispositions which will prepare them for life beyond our classrooms. Increasingly our focus is on developing the skills and dispositions our students require to become life-long learners. We recognise that in a rapidly changing world, the capacity to take charge of your personal learning journey, to become self-navigating learners is essential. 

The landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars is an excellent catalyst for a discussion with students about the nature of Mathematics. It is a chance to inspire curiosity and wonderment and to do so through a mathematical lens.