Derek’s blog

Derek’s Blog, launched in 2003, serves as a platform for sharing thoughts and reflections related to his work. It offers over 20 years of searchable posts, categorized by the tags below. Feel free to comment, as your feedback contributes to ongoing reflection and future posts.

Blogs conference entry

Blogging as Professional Learning

July 23, 2006

Day two of the CEGSA conference went very well – all sorts of interesting workshops and presentations. A standout for me was a double act from Graham Wegner and Al […]

conference entry

CEGSA conference, Adelaide

July 20, 2006

I’m enjoying the sunshine in Adelaide a the moment, having just presented the opening keynote at the Computers in Education Group of South Australia (CEGSA) annual conference, being held at […]

Diary entry

DEANZ Award to LearnNow project

July 4, 2006

At the DEANZ conference today the biennial DEANZ award was awarded to Jo Gison for her work with the LearnNow project. I’ve been privileged to be associated with Jo and […]

Future Phone??

June 28, 2006

I was talking at a conference recently and using an illustration of what a future phone might look like – complete with “roller blind” screen – and to prove I’m […]

People Aggregator

June 28, 2006

New forms of social networking services are coming thick and fast at the moment – and here’s another, PeopleAggregator . PeopleAggregator is the product of 3 years of self funded […]

research and papers

Using Wikis in the Classroom – Innovate

June 26, 2006

The June/July edition of Innovate has just been released, and in it are several great articles that will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in the area of online […]

research and papers

Linking Thinking

June 25, 2006

Thanks to Jeremy Heibert for drawing my attention to a report from Australia titled Linking Thinking: Self-directed learning in the digital age (pdf) . It’s a pretty big volume to […]

Gliffy

June 25, 2006

There are many times that I have wanted to create diagrams similar to those that are created in Visio – for flow charts, floor plans, network diagrams etc. Today I […]

Default

Pedagogy

Social Constructivism

June 24, 2006

Wahoo! We’ve just updated our blog server at CORE to the recent version of Movable Type – ther are lots of interesting features that allow me to do interesting things […]

Default

research and papers

Social Software and Learning

June 24, 2006

Really interesting research paper from FutureLab in the UK titled Social Software and Learning . The paper is introduced thus: This paper is focused on exploring the inter-relationship between two […]

WetPaint : Wikis Evolve

June 20, 2006

Looking for a good Wiki tool that’s free and easy to use? Wetpaint has until now been available in beta form only, but this week they have launched to the […]

List of Social Networking Sites

June 20, 2006

At last – a list of Social Networking sites has made it onto Wikipedia! There are sixty examples listed at the moment – I’m sure more will be added to […]

Flock – latest release

June 16, 2006

I’ve just downloaded and installed the latest version of Flock – and boy am I impressed! Flock is a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share […]

Blogs

Improving Instruction Through the use of Weblogs

June 16, 2006

Anne Davis has developed a very useful and informative wiki titled Improving Instruction Through the use of Weblogs that provides anyone interested in finding out how blogs can be used […]

Social software – free book!

June 15, 2006

Amid all the hype and speculation about the use of social software in education Terry Freedman of ICT in Education fame has brought together the thoughts of 14 educators from […]

research and papers

eLearning – what’s hot?

June 14, 2006

Interesting post from the people at Kineo who’ve used Google Trends to provide an update on Trends in eLearning. Worth a read – some interesting trends associated with patterns of […]

“Safe” social software

June 13, 2006

With an increasing number of teachers and kids experimenting with the use of blogs and wikis there is a new wave of concern being expressed concerning the issues of privacy […]

Sketchup

June 3, 2006

I’ve recently been visiting my friend Paul who is in charge of ICT at a local secondary school. He has begun using a program called Sketchup with his students. Sketchup […]

Where our teens are surfing…

May 30, 2006

Want to know a bit more about the places that our teens are visitng on the net – here’s a comment from an article I came across this morning on […]

Social Software – so what?

May 29, 2006

??In the participatory era, media will no longer be delivered one way from a media company to an audience…but by audience members to other audience members. The distinction between content […]

Please get in touch to discuss your plans. FutureMakers is an approved provider of Ministry-funded, regionally allocated professional development (RAPLD). Search for Derek Wenmoth on the MoE website’s provider list when making an application.

What others say

The Learning Environments Australasia Executive Committee has received a lot of positive feedback, which is greatly due to your wealth of knowledge and information you imparted on our large audience, your presentation has inspired a range of educators, architects and facility planners and for this we are grateful.

Daniel Smith Chair Learning Environments Australasia

Derek and Maurie complement each other well and have the same drive and passion for a future education system that is so worthwhile being part of. Their presentation and facilitation is at the same time friendly and personal while still incredibly professional. I am truly grateful to have had this experience alongside amazing passionate educators and am inspired to re visit all aspects of my leadership. I have a renewed passion for our work as educational leaders.

Karyn Gray Principal, Raphael House Rudolf Steiner

I was in desperate need of a programme like this. This gave me the opportunity to participate in a transformative journey of professional learning and wellbeing, where I rediscovered my passion, reignited my purpose, and reconnected with my vision for leading in education. Together, we got to nurture not just academic excellence, but also the holistic wellbeing of our school communities. Because when we thrive, so does the entire educational ecosystem.

Tara Quinney Principal, St Peter's College, Gore

Refresh, Reconnect, Refocus is the perfect title for this professional development. It does just that. A fantastic retreat, space to think, relax and start to reconnect. Derek and Maurie deliver a balance of knowledge and questioning that gives you time to think about your leadership and where to next. Both facilitators have the experience, understanding, connection and passion for education, this has inspired me to really look at the why for me!

Jan McDonald Principal, Birkdale North School

Engaged, passionate, well informed facilitators who seamlessly worked together to deliver and outstanding programme of thought provoking leadership learning.

Dyane Stokes Principal, Paparoa Street School

A useful and timely call to action. A great chance to slow down, reflect on what really drives you, and refocus on how to get there. Wonderful conversations, great connections, positive pathways forward.

Ursula Cunningham Principal, Amesbury School

RRR is a standout for quality professional learning for Principals. Having been an education PLD junkie for 40 years I have never before attended a programme that has challenged me as much because of its rigor, has satisfied me as much because of its depth or excited me as much because of realising my capacity to lead change. Derek and Maurie are truly inspiring pedagogical, authentic leadership experts who generously and expertly share their passion, wisdom and skills to help Principal's to focus on what is important in schools and be the best leader they can be.

Cindy Sullivan Principal, Kaipara College

Derek Wenmoth is brilliant. Derek connects powerful ideas forecasting the future of learning to re-imagine education and create resources for future-focused practices and policies to drive change. His work provides guidance and tools for shifting to new learning ecosystems through innovations with a focus on purpose, equity, learner agency, and lifelong learning. His work is comprehensive and brings together research and best practices to advance the future of teaching and learning. His passion, commitment to innovation for equity and the range of practical, policy and strategic advice are exceptional.

Susan Patrick, CEO, Aurora Institute

I asked Derek to work with our teachers to reenergise our team back into our journey towards our vision after the two years of being in and out of 'Covid-ness'. Teachers reported positively about the day with Derek, commenting on how affirmed they felt that our vision is future focused. Teachers expressed excitement with their new learning towards the vision, and I've noticed a palpable energy since the day. Derek also started preparing our thinking for hybrid learning, helping us all to feel a sense of creativity rather than uncertainty. The leadership team is keen to see him return!

Kate Christie | Principal | Cashmere Ave School

Derek has supported, informed and inspired a core group of our teachers to be effective leads in our college for NPDL. Derek’s PLD is expertly targeted to our needs.

Marion Lumley | Deputy Principal |Ōtaki College

What a task we set Derek - to facilitate a shared vision and strategy with our Board and the professional and admin teams (14 of us), during a Covid lockdown, using online technology. Derek’s expertise, skilled questioning, strategic facilitation and humour enabled us to work with creative energy for 6 hours using a range of well-timed online activities. He kept us focussed on creating and achieving a shared understanding of our future strategic plan. Derek’s future focussed skills combined with an understanding of strategy and the education sector made our follow up conversations invaluable. Furthermore, we will definitely look to engage Derek for future strategic planning work.

Sue Vaealiki, Chair of Stonefields Collaborative Trust

Our Principal PLG has worked with Derek several times now, and will continue to do so. Derek is essentially a master facilitator/mentor...bringing the right level of challenge, new ideas & research to deepen your thinking, but it comes with the level of support needed to feel engaged, enriched and empowered after working with him.

Gareth Sinton, Principal, Douglas Park School

Derek is a highly knowledgeable and inspirational professional learning provider that has been guiding our staff in the development of New Pedagogies’ for Deep Learning. His ability to gauge where staff are at and use this to guide next steps has been critical in seeing staff buy into this processes and have a strong desire to build in their professional practice.

Andy Fraser, Principal, Otaki College