This October marks the launch of the second annual Connected Educator NZ (CENZ) initiative.
Beginning today (28 September), CENZ15 has been designed to help educators broaden their approach to professional learning by bringing networking, knowledge, professional development and community together online for free.
CENZ is a cornucopia of online events and activities including forums and conversations with experts, webinars, virtual guided tours, Māori and Pasifika learning, live streams from the ULearn15 educators' conference and more.
The events are pulled together in a collaborative, online calendar that connects schools, kura and early learning centres with thousands of like-minded educators from around New Zealand and the world.
The initiative gives Kiwi educators the opportunity to engage in professional learning conversations in safe online spaces, helps to develop online and digital skills, including the ability to transfer that knowledge back to their own learners and colleagues, according to a statement.
CORE Education, coordinators of CENZ, and N4L, the event's national partner, are encouraging those interested to add their own event to the collaborative calendar.
Any online event or activity focusing on education can be included, including those that share and promote educational stories and resources, and those that raise awareness about particular services.
Organisations, educators and leaders can use this as an opportunity to showcase their professional learning online, according to CENZ.
The CENZ team has created a tips and advice page to help in planning an event.
According to CENZ, the month long event is ideal for a range of educators, but primarily beginners who want to learn about digital technologies and use them more effectively.
The Starter Kete/Kit is a 31 day online beginners tool to teach educators about the basics of connecting, creating networks, understanding the lingo (wikis, blogs, hashtags and more) as well as how to tell a story using digital tools or use YouTube effectively.