Category Archives: Connected Learning

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, Digital Citizenship, GAFE, Social Media, TEL

Meet the Teacher Night Tech Slam

September 9, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

At this point in my life I find myself with one university graduate and one in first year and on the way. It has certainly been a long time since I attended an elementary school meet the teacher night.

In a recent summer conversation with WRDSB teacher Alison Bullock, my interest in the parent aspect of school year startup was rekindled. Alison was enthusiastically sharing about her plans to provide parents attending with a fast paced “tech slam” – a quick tour through many of the different online services students would be using in their learning journey with her. I approached Alison about attending meet the teacher night, and I was thrilled that she readily agreed.

On parent night evening, I arrived at portable 4 to find an energized room of parents and students. Students were eagerly leading parents to their seating area.

On the top of each desk was a QR Code that linked to a personalized welcome video for each parent. Students were visibly excited to show their parent(s) how to access the video and have them watch it.

Now it was time for the tech slam.

Wow – actioned packed, filled with key learning statements and clearly highlighted the connected learner robust technology enabled approach to be used in the classroom.

Casual conversation with parents afterwords showed excitement and interest about the approach to learning their child would participate in.

If I had elementary school aged children, this is the type of classroom learning experience I would want them to have.

Related Resources:

Follow Alison’s class on Twitter: ESTP4.

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, PD, ProfessionalLearning

Sharing Your Learning CATC Camp Style

August 26, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

In recent months, I have taken note of emerging strategies for sharing your learning. One example that really struck me as powerful is the making of a story telling video where participants share an important learning, experience or perhaps credit someone for supporting learning or changing thinking.

I personally enjoyed participating in the video made after Dean Shareski’s session at Connect 2014. Check out two good examples shared by Donna Miller Fry in her blog posted titled What did you learn? Who did you learn it from?

Watch our #catccamp14 sharing video.

Related Resources

CATC Camp Storify Day 1
CATC Camp Storify Day 2
CATC Camp Storify Day 3

Reflection by Kimberly Flood.

Keep the learning and sharing going!

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, PD, PLN, ProfessionalLearning

Learning at CATC Camp Day 3

August 16, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

[View the story “Learning at CATC Camp Day 3” on Storify]

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, GAFE, PLN, ProfessionalLearning

Learning at CATC Camp Day 2

August 15, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

[View the story “Learning at CATC Camp (Day 2)” on Storify]

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, ProfessionalLearning

Learning at CATC Camp (Day 1)

August 14, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

[View the story “Learning at CATC Camp (Day 1)” on Storify]

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, ProfessionalLearning

Connected Learners Need Connected Leaders

July 13, 2014 markwcarbone 3 Comments

Todays connected learners need connected school and system leaders. Further to the presentation prepared for TEDxKitchenerED about the work that is/needs to be done in the area of personally owned, self directed learning opportunities for school/school board leaders to build awareness and capacity in this area, Donna & I are pleased to announce that the official TEDx video is now online.

~Mark

21st century learning, Connected Learning, Leadership Perspective, ProfessionalLearning, Social Media, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Sharing your Learning: Collaboration

June 24, 2014 markwcarbone 1 Comment

This year, WRDSB teachers Alison Bullock and Andrew Bieronski ran a very successful cross curricular and cross panel collaborative project with grade 4 and grade 10 students.

Full project details may be read [here]. A “quick peek” overview of the project is included below as a point of reference.

The Collaborating

The grade 10 students will provide mentorship to the grade 4 students as they research, plan and write the scripts needed for the audio guided tour files. Students will be collaborating through the WRDSB Google Apps for Educators (GAFE) environment. The role of the grade 10 students will be related to their civics and English courses.

All students, in both grades, will share about their experiences in this collaborative learning project through their blogs. Blogging platforms may include Google, WordPress or Weebly.

As part of the professional learning with this project, Alison and Andrew met with me for a live streamed interview to share their learning and reflections on collaboration, student voice, engagement and professional practice.

~Mark

21st century learning, Connected Learning, ProfessionalLearning, Technology Enabled Learning

UnGoogleable Questions

June 19, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

Today’s post is a reblog from my original “picture and post” on OSSEMOOC.

Part of my weekly routine is to check out the Twitter #cdnedchat hashtag stream. I have learned that there is always something interesting to check out.

The words “UnGoogleable Questions” in this post seemed to jump right out at me. While Google is a great tool that provides almost instantaneous access to limitless information, it is important to pause and recognize that this is just the beginning in the context of a learning journey.

What does the notion of “UnGoogleable Questions” mean to you in terms of asking, inquiry, probing and going deeper with learning? How might this impact your professional practice?

Resource: Link to Nancy’s full blog post.

Ask great questions!

~Mark

Connected Learner, Connected Learning, PLN, ProfessionalLearning, Social Media

Celebrate and Share with Twitter

June 12, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

June is always a busy month in education, but last night a number of WRDSB staff found time to participate in a year end Twitter Chat to celebrate successes in the 13/14 school year.

I was struck by the richness of the discussion, and the level of openness. You can share in the learning by reviewing the Storified capture of the live chat [here].

I look forward to continuing the sharing of our learnings through these chats next year.

~Mark