TPACK: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
The WRDSB Responsible Use Procedure (RUP)
The WRDSB Library Learning Commons
~Mark
OCT Backgrounder
OCT Advisory
OCT Social Media video
My View
Todaysmeet chat
Panel Discussion Notes
TPACK: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
The WRDSB Responsible Use Procedure (RUP)
The WRDSB Library Learning Commons
Book: Stratoshpere by Michael Fullan
Book: from Fear to Facebook by Matt Levinson
Book: Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble and Gerald Bailey
Book: The Connected Educator – Learning and Leading in a Digital World by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall
~Mark
Here is a simple, yet powerful (Facebook) comment from my daughter, a grade 11 student.
What I know as a parent: My daughter is very passionate about this. She spends hours thinking, planning, writing and revising. When all is well, the posting moment happens with great excitement. Next there is the monitoring: who of my followers read it? any new readers or followers? Throw in a little advertising via social media tools (twitter and tumblr in this case). Wow! a few new readers and some great feedback. Well – better get going on my next post!!!
Lots of great enthusiasm here – passion, creativity, motivation, self directed learning, standards, authentic audience, and a social element to learning.
And now, to call the question: is there a spot for fan fiction writing in the curriculum?????
~Mark
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
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Ms. J. Weir’s classroom at WRDSB’s Southwood S. S. to meet her students and gather some feedback about their online writing project. I was immediately struck by the calm and trusting atmosphere in the classroom. It was obvious that the students were very comfortable in this learning environment — a wonderful tribute to the teacher! The dialogue flowed freely and students were at ease contributing to the conversation.
I posed the following guiding questions to the students to facilitate our discussion regarding the project:
The actual discussion happened in a rather free flow manner. I have grouped the responses to follow the question sequence outlined above.
Many students commented about the ability to ‘organize on the fly’ and being ‘in the moment’ when they write online because the process feels more natural. Capturing ideas and shaping them is much easier electronically. The students also made that point that they felt more ownership for their work.
When asked question 3, the responses were unanimous: removing the technology would be a step backwards, poorer organization, less motivation and anticipated drop in achievement.
In terms of back channelling and online forums, many students commented that the variety of options to contribute to class discussions (Face to Face (F2F), Edmodo, Today’s Meet and Twitter) enriched the discussion, drew more students into the conversation(s) and created a much stronger sense of community within the class. The students all indicated that having the comfort level to participate was a key ingredient to their learning.
In the area of challenges, a few things were identified. Access to resources is dependent on a wifi connection. We talked about the importance of wifi reliability and high levels of up-time. I was impressed by the fact that the iPads used for this particular project were set up with a small number of key apps that were aligned with class needs and learning goals. This was a welcome observation on my part as people often become app focused rather than learning focused. Well done! Students also talked candidly about the need for a level of self discipline. Having wifi enabled devices in the classroom certainly support student learning, and a more personalized component to the learning. Yet, the potential for distraction is still there — it must be managed.
I found this to be an excellent classroom visit. I appreciated the candid conversation with Ms. J. Weir’s class. The approach to learning in this classroom needs to be shared and replicated.
Related Resources
Ms. J. Weir’s Blog
~Mark
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
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:
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
Ontario ConnectEd Leaders (OntCL) Chat Highlights from 2012-01-25.
Topic: How are you currently using social media tools in your school/board?
Note: Future Ontario ConnectEd Leaders twitter chats will be scheduled for the first Wednesday evening of each month, 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and use the Twitter hash tag #ontcl
~Mark
I have had two great opportunities to talk about Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to support student learning — at the Brock U.Teaching with Technology Showcase (Brock U Faculty of Education) and at the Educon 2.4 event.
The discussions covered considerable territory – benefits, challenges and implications for both pre-service and existing teacher training. In my organization, BYOD is certainly a strategy intended to augment access and not replace Board owned equipment. From an IT perspective, building the right infrastructure with sufficient capacity is a critical path forward to support student learning.
There is certainly a wide range of devices that could support learning. I have been pondering the desired functionality needed in any device to support student learning. Here is my initial take on a function list.
Notes/read: take notes, read common file formats such as pdf and ebook files,
Web enabled: browse web (consume info, research), bookmark, interact with online databases, RSS
Share/Collaborate: write/publish a blog, support wiki use, google docs etc
Digital StoryTelling: capture audio, video, combine with text
Communicate: email, support for standard Social Media tools (FB/Twitter/G+) etc.
Other: good battery life, strong wifi signal
I need your feedback. How thorough is my list? What is missing? Should anything come off the list? What should be added?
Please leave a comment with your ideas, or share an idea with me on Twitter.
~Mark
Another great OntCL Twitter chat happened last night.
Topic: “Conquering your social media fears” – How did you? Are you doing it? Do you still have some fears?
Related article: Join In! Your PLP is waiting.
Highlights from the live conversation:
View the full Twitter Stream to check out the complete conversation and insights.
~Mark
~ Mark's Musings ~ blog.markwcarbone.ca 