Category Archives: Leadership Perspective

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective, Social Media

Social Media: It is all about the spark

2 Comments

A little while ago, I had a chance to meet with Bill Lemon, Principal at Preston High School. Bill had agreed to give a perspective about students using social media tools to support their learning. As I anticipated, it was a great conversation, and I captured a great video clip to use at the upcoming CASA conference.

There were two ‘bits’ from our conversation that really stuck with me, and I have reflected on this many times since the meeting.

Bit #1 – Too many people do the ‘social media drive by’ – a quick look, a quick reaction and too often a typical “this isn’t for me”, “what can you really learn/share in such a few characters” or “who would want to get involved with these tools”.

In conversation with Bill, we agreed that the ‘social media drive by’ is a problem. The tools are in fact very deep. You have to learn the tools and spend time using them BEFORE you will understand the potential and impact of social media tools. The ‘social media drive by’ short circuits this process.

Bit #2 – The benefit of social media tools is not necessarily in the short post or tweet itself, but that one connection leads to another, a connection leads to a fact or resource and a fact or resource leads to the next. Stringing these bits together provide the impetus for learning: ideas, content, a new way of looking at something, comparisons and things to research or investigate. It is that spark that often keeps the learning moving along an individualized path that simply would not have been possible without leveraging the use of social media tools.

Lessons learned: Avoid the social media drive by and embrace the potential to make the spark that creates to impetus to learn.

~Mark

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective, Social Media, Web20

Skinny Down Your Technology

3 Comments

The other day I was reviewing some draft system communications with @maryhingley and she commented that we should “skinny this down” to a cleaner more streamlined document.  While the comment regarding the document  we were reviewing was bang on,  it also made a connection for me to an earlier conversation that day about the constant evolution of technology tools. The context of the technology tools dialogue was around the challenge of building capacity in teaching when the tools evolve so quickly.

Fact:  We are all on a continuous  learning curve, new technology,  new apps, new potential to improve improve learning. There is certainly plenty of discussion around the notion of welcoming teachers with this new ‘technology enabled learning’ world – online, web 2.0, anytime, anywhere, digital, shared documents, authentic audience (etc.).

As we become more thoughtful about professional learning, determining the best point(s) of entry and consider learning continuums for staff, there is a greater realization that it is too easy to overwhelm.  People need safe and doable entry points with high success rates.  The fact is, people do not need 100’s of tools to start on their journey.

Challenge:  a call to experienced teachers using web 2.0 and social media tools – skinny down your tool list

Categorize the software, apps and web 2.0 tools you use into the following categories:

a) must have, use daily, addresses some important need

b) use regularly (a few times a week but not daily)

c) once in a while (a few times per month)

d) tried it, don’t use it regularly at all

Skinny down your list and share your suite of must have tools in this google doc.  Include your name, twitter ID, blog/web site and must have list.

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Related Resources:

I just can’t imagine teaching without ….

Cross posted to VoicEd.ca

~Mark

Leadership Perspective, OntCL, Technology in Education

OntCL Twitter Chat primer

1 Comment

On Wednesday April 4th, the Ontario ConnectED Leaders will host their monthly Twitter chat at 8:00 p.m. (eastern daylight time). The topic will be BYOD: leveraging the benefits, getting ready.

Here are a very resources that might help prepare you for the chat topic. I hope to see you in the Twitter chat. Join in with hashtag #ontcl

Leveraging the ‘Instrumented’ Pocket & Backpack by @lisaneale

Intel: Teachers Engage

BYOD in primary

BYOD: What’s in a device?

From Scoopit: A Principal’s memo

From Scoopit: Using student owned devices in the classroom

Chat with PLP’s Periwinkle

~Mark

Note: Cross posted to OntCLC.ca

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective, VoicEd

Two Years, One change

Leave a comment

The question: Imagine one change in our education system that you feel would be both valuable and “do-able” in the next two years was posted on the VoicEd website, featuring voices in Canadian education. I have cross posted my thoughts on this question here and on the  VoicEd Blog

This is a great question to contemplate. After mulling this around for a few days, I keep circling back to 2 points.

1. How online engagement has changed my own learning and professional growth.

2. While the ideals of education and the qualities of graduates that should be produced by an educational system have, and may remain constant for the foreseeable future, what HAS changed is tools available to support learning and personal growth.

There is growing and strong evidence that students should be online for valuable and positive learning reasons: write, reflect, share, collaborate and establish, cultivate and maintain an appropriate online profile and participate in learning that involves an authentic audience.

Educators need to develop their own personal learning networks beyond their own schools and districts. Educators must experience learning in the same way our students should by role modelling: learning and collaborating online, sharing, reflecting and leveraging the tools of NOW.

This is the world in which we live – a technology enabled world. We need to leverage this to address critical questioning and thinking, engagement, collaborating in a more global sense and writing for a real world audience. Educational experiences need to be personalized and address the ‘anys’ – anytime, anywhere, anything learning for anyone.

As one considers the challenges of moving through stages of change: from the explorers, to early adopters to adoption by the masses and applying the educational context, I think this important shift is for everyone in education, not just the ones who choose this path. The path forward must include being online and connected.

My ‘one change’ would be for Boards of Education to establish personal growth frameworks to engage educators in this environment within the next two years.

~Mark

Note: Cross posted to VoicEd.ca

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective

OASBO IMPAC: The Cloud meets K12 Learning

3 Comments

I was invited to speak, along with Todd Wright and  Bill MacKenzie, at the March 30th OASBO IMPAC committee meeting on the topic of cloud computing and K12 education. My task was to kick off the session with a cloud computing 101 session. Todd (YRDSB) and Bill (UGDSB) followed with their Board’s experiences with online office suites. Their conversation framed the benefits of using online office suites as key tools in writing and collaboration.  Using tools of this type need to have good back end functions to make them worth while for teachers: ease of login (active directory integration), class management tools, the ability for the board to manage both the accounts and content as needed. Built into the strategy are the advantages of learning in the real world with an authentic audience.  The need to teach, embrace and role model good online ethics and digital citizenship were also highlighted.

Part of our role today was to set the stage for the important discussion of privacy and information management as it related to online student learning:

  • legal requirements
  • informed consent
  • protection of personal data
  • teaching students best practice for operating in these environments
  • training staff about the types of data suitable for authoring and storing in the cloud
  • raising awareness
All in all today’s session was a great conversation, with good discussion and excellent questions being asked and explored.  Finding that balance between legal, practical and leveraging the strengths of these online authoring and collaboration tools will be the goal as the IMPAC group looks at guiding the creation of appropriate board policies and/or guidelines.

My slide deck and presentation audio file are available below for your reference.


Presentation Voice File

Other Resources:

Google Terms of Service for Education
How iCloud Works
Evernote
Dropbox
Calgary DSB Web 2.0 Guidelines
UGDSB Cloud Video (youtube)
Google Security Video
IPC: Privacy in the Cloud
Learning in public online

~Mark

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective, PLP

Helping the Shift

1 Comment

Overview:  The Connected Educators is based on connected learning communities. Connected learning communities are a three-pronged approach to effective professional development using the local (professional learning community), contextual (personal learning network), and global (community of practice) environments. Connected learners take responsibility for their own professional development. They figure out what they need to learn and then collaborate with others to construct the knowledge they need. Connected learners contribute, interact, share ideas, and reflect.  The book draws heavily on the experience of the authors as members and leaders of connected learning communities.

An inside peak at the chapters:

1: sets the stage for understanding what it is to be a connected learner.
2: makes a case for connected learning in communities.
3: explores the importance of being a learner first, educator second.
4: looks at developing a collaborative culture and a mindset that supports connected learning.
5: invites readers to explore free and affordable technologies and virtual environments that support collaborative learning.
6: guides readers through the steps of implementing a connected learning community.
7: examines how to sustain the momentum of professional learning using scale as a strategy for co-creating and improving a learning community.
8: focuses on leadership system, school, and teacher leadership in a distributive
model.
9: looks at what the future holds for the connected learner and what being a
connected learner means for each reader.

I recently arranged to purchase a copy of this wonderful new resource for each of our (120) school libraries as a resource for all staff as we continue our journey of ‘shift’ along the technology enabled learning path.

Periwinkle sighting: PLP’s  Periwinkle with my Connected Educator book order.

Related Resources

Learn more

Buy a copy

Happy learning and connecting!

~Mark

Leadership Perspective, OntCL, Technology in Education

Blearning: #OntCL on Blended Learning

Leave a comment

Technology and learning keep evolving, and at a rapid pace these days. As educators, this means there is always something new to explore, new ways to engage students, collaborate and make learning an authentic experience.

The OntCLC live Twitter Chat las Wednesday (March 7th, 2012) provided a great opportunity to share current thinking on Blearning.

What’s Blearning?  Blearning seems to be the evolving new term to mean Blended Learning.  Lisa Neale prepare this blog post as a backgrounder for the discussion:  The What and Why of Blended Learning.

As anticipated, it the live Twitter discussion, yielded some great sharing of ideas, insights and reflections. You can check out the discussion stream at  #OntCL Blended Learning Twitter Stream (March 7, 2012 portion). This is also a great chance to meet and connect with some new educators and build your PLN.

Related Resources:   Ontario ConnectED Leaders Consortium

Next #OntCL Twitter Chat:  April 4th, 2012

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective

Leadership: Points of Reflection

Leave a comment

At a recent learning opportunity through the Abel program, I had the opportunity to hear Mary Jean Gallagher speak about leadership. As anticipated, it was a great presentation.

The session began with Mary Jean comparing developments from different time periods and the relative impact. She recalled the first main frame computers, and  Commodore 64’s on the scene and wonderment people had about how things would change. What would happen?

Technology is in a constant state of flux. How will leadership respond to technological change: Does a new technology present a promise  or a threat?

Questions to consider:  How do we embrace new technology in a time when people are concerned about ubiquitous  access and equity, AND  in the same context of parent concerns of  access, identity and privacy AND in the same context of: it is easier to be risk averse rather than push ahead.

It is human nature to pull back. How do we get people engaged in the change process? Perhaps a key role of a leader is to distress the comfortable, and comfort the distressed.  Todays leaders need to add disonance to our organizations sometimes and be less risk averse. Leaders don’t have to know everything, and that is OK. Leaders do need to model in visible ways. Leaders need to help organizations set policies that help organizations move forward by enabling rather than avoiding.

Her presentation concluded by identifying points for leaders to ponder:

  • Are you intentional about what you do?
  • Do you role model in visible ways?
  • Do you intentionally position things for change?
  • Where do you lean: towards anchors or change?
  • Are you reflective?
  • Do you engage with wider collaboration?
  • Do you model learning and inquiry?

I hope you find these points for reflection valuable. Enjoy your reflecting and learning — and happy leap year day.

~Mark

Leadership Perspective, Social Media

Educon reflection: learning in public online

3 Comments

Educon2.4 was, as anticipated, a great conference this year. There were many great sessions and conversations. This was my second time attending Educon, and I thought the conversations seemed richer both formally in the sessions and less formal hallway discussions. One topic that has stayed with me for reflection, is the idea of learning in public online.

I have been following the learning journey of Dean Shareski. Over the last few months, Dean has been studying the ins and outs of learning online in public, beginning with his own learning.  I admire Dean for putting his own learning and experiences ‘out there’ first. In the Learning Project, Dean posts a video online requesting help to learn to play the guitar. Through online connections, Dean eventually connected  with a music teacher who supported Dean’s learning request by having his students prepare videos to teach Dean various aspect of guiar techniques. The full project description is described here in the  The Learning Project blog post.

Dean’s project demonstrates a great example of learning of learning on line in public through network connections, collaboration tools such as skype, video resources personalized for the needed learning experience and shared through blog reflections.

As part of the presentation, Dean referenced  Shannon Smith who is also experiencing online public learning. Learn more about Shannon’s journey here: Clarinet lesson.  My family had the pleasure of dining with Shannon and Brent on Saturday night at the conference. It was a wonderful evening of conversation, in which we learned about our many musical connections and interests.

At Educon, Dean and Alec Couros led a discussion around this idea of learning online in public. There was a great discussion around the considerations that learning online in public raises:

  • when is learning in public appropriate?
  • what are the privacy implications for students?
  • how would any negative comments be received and handled?
  • how do we prepare pre-service teachers for this type of learning environment?
  • what are the benefits?
  • are there drawbacks?
  • how do we best teach students to manage their online profiles?
  • how do students best create and manage on online portfolio?
  • what else?

The framework of learning online and in public is here as demonstrated. Helping students to develop and manage a personal learning network is an important part of preparing students for the future. I believe the need to use online resources, connections and crowd sourcing to collaborate and problem solve is the way of the future. Simple tools such as a blog can serve as a personal portfolio for students to capture their journey, sharing and reflections.

While this seems like a natural direction or next step, there is much work to do. Many people are uncomfortable in this environments. We have to put strategies in place on overcome the fear factor.  Teachers must be able to put themselves in the place of the learner in this new environment. I believe significant change is needed in pre-service teacher programs to have new professionals ready and comfortable in this environment.

As a post conference follow up, I had the pleasure of assisting Shannon with her clarinet lessons by preparing a recording to assist in her learning. Thanks to the internet, distance was no barrier to providing assistance: a pdf of the music notation was exchanged by email, I recorded the music using an iRig mic on my iPhone e-delivered the audio recording back to Shannon.  I hope I can continue to be involved in Shannon’s music journey!

~Mark