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.

Off to Nepal!

September 17, 2005

In a few week’s time I’m off to Nepal to join an international group to climp to Everest Base Camp as part of a fund raising effort organised by Global […]

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Katrina Insights

September 9, 2005

The catastophic affects of a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans are difficult to appreciate – especially for school-aged students. I was talking with my kids about it […]

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research and papers

Internet use by U.S. college faculty

September 9, 2005

A recent paper appearing on First Monday reports on findings from a nationwide survey of Internet use by U.S. college faculty. The survey asked about general Internet use, use of […]

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Midnight Assembly

September 8, 2005

MIDNIGHT ASSEMBLY is a fascinating web site developed, I am informed by my colleague Derek Chirnside, by a 17 year old student living in Whangarei, NZ. The opening page reveals […]

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Technology in schools – children and computers

September 5, 2005

Earlier this year I had the privilege of travelling to India to attend a meeting of the secretaries of education for each state organised by the National Institute for Open […]

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research and papers

Computers in schools but not always for teaching

August 30, 2005

Here’s an interesting piece of research that we should be taking notice of as we (in NZ) are reviewing our ICT/eLearning strategy for schools. “A new study indicates that computer […]

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Pedagogy

A Distance Education Reader

August 30, 2005

Whether you’re new to teaching and learning online, studying online – or have been teaching online for some time, the recently released e-book titled A Distance Education Reader: Insights for […]

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21st Century Literacy

August 30, 2005

On April 26-28, 2005, a group of leading authors, researchers, policy makers, educators, and artists from around the world met in San Jose to discuss recent developmetns in the areas […]

Protopage

August 19, 2005

I’ve been having a play with a new product called Prototype – a Java-based webpage-creation tool that allows you to quickly create a web page as a series of panels. […]

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Smart Classrooms

August 13, 2005

Speaking of vision – I’ve been looking at the Smart Classrooms site from Queensland. The Smart Classrooms strategy brings together the future perspective and the momentum established by the 2002-2005 […]

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Information Literacy

August 10, 2005

In recent weeks I’ve encountered several conversations about what it means to be “literate” in a digital age. While notions of literacy have existed for as long as schools, our […]

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Podcasting takes off!

August 10, 2005

News from “Stuff” this morning… “Technology experts who predicted that podcasting would “take off” have been proven right, literally, with a Discovery shuttle astronaut transmitting a message from space. While […]

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Without a vision the people perish!

August 7, 2005

What is our vision for education in New Zealand in, say, ten years? What sort of picture do we have for how learners will be learning, what they will be […]

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Free online journals & resources

August 4, 2005

With PBRF being a focus for many tertiary educators, I’m often asked about where to find up to date professional journals where articles and reserach efforts may be published. Here […]

Boundary Workers

July 30, 2005

Yesterday I spend an illuminating time in a workshop with Etienne Wenger , considered one of the founding fathers of Social Learning Theory and the concept of ??Practiced Communities??. The […]

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Diary entry

SLANZA conference

July 13, 2005

I’m in Auckland this week, attending both the ULearn05 conference at the Sky City convention centre, and the School Libraries Association of NZ Aotearoa (SLANZA) . In this morning’s keynote […]

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Open Source – Open Mind?

July 8, 2005

An interesting release sent to me today by my colleague Sandy Britain. Having discussed the issue of open source and open standards at length during our trip to Alt-i-lab together, […]

Diary entry

Hi from Kuala Lumpur

June 29, 2005

I’ve just spent the last two days in the Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, participating in a seminar titled “Advancing e-Education: Sharing NZ and Malaysian Experiences”. The two days were […]

Diary entry

Back in Chelmsford

June 25, 2005

Having left Sheffield this morning I made my way to Chelmsford this afternoon and had a great catch up with old friends at Ultralab. The photo is of the group […]

ePortfolio Workshop

June 23, 2005

Thursday at the Alt-i-lab conference in Sheffield Today I’m attending a full day of workshops on ePortfolios – this morning is with the team from the Open Source Portfolio Initiative […]

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