Category Archives: Technology Enabled Learning

Connected Leader, Connected Learner, engagement, Leadership Perspective, ProfessionalLearning, SAMR, student voice, Technology Enabled Learning

Breadcrumbs and Ripples

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The 2015 WRDSB learning carousel day focused on  Innovative Change  was a great day of learning and connecting for me. I was impressed with the quality and quantity of the sharing sessions and loved the energy in the room.  As a reflection,  I wanted to share a few things that resonated with me by bringing together ideas from two conversations.

Each year, we have been purposeful about initiating targeted new projects to model change, inform our collective practice and leverage opportunities to share and role model.  Some of our projects from the last few years are captured in this whiteboard ‘clip’.

TELT-01

Along this journey, we have learned some important items or “breadcrumbs” as I like to call them,  that should be applied to new projects and scaling up strategies as we move our innovative change agenda forward.

Some of our breadcrumbs include:

  • learning IS messy. We need to accept this and continue to play in this space.
  • co-learning between teachers, and teachers & students is a really important element.  It is OK to fail.
  • shifting writing from paper to digital spaces makes a difference
  • student voice and choice are motivators in the learning process
  • using technology as an enabler creates new possibilities  to be explored in the context of the C’s and the  SAMR model.  Think about boundless and joyful learning.

breadcrumbs

In my view, as we look at a path forward, each of us has to own our piece of the collective through our own actions.  I like the question,  what is your next?  Creating a culture where:

  • conversations of change and identifying entry points are ongoing and natural
  • we celebrate small steps forward with joy and encouragement
  • the process of nudge, encourage, give/have  permission and expect is openly explored
  • we continue to be intentional and
  • we share our experiences in open and  easy to access ways

are all important elements in sustaining the synergy and  energy of forward movement.

ripple effect

Join the move to  innovative change and add to the ripple effect.  Learn, connect, reflect and share.

~Mark

Related Resources

The storify of the days twitter stream.

The ongoing twitter discussion at  #wrdsbchange.

The  Innovative Change  blog.

Digital Citizenship, GAFE, OSAPAC, OSSEMOOC, Presentation Resource, SAMR, Social Media, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

English Association Presentation Resources

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This post combines the slide decks and resources from the 2 English Association sessions on the April 17th professional learning session into one presentation.

~Mark

21st century learning, Connected Learner, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Forward Thinking with Jamie Weir

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At semester turn around I had a great opportunity to connect with WRDSB teacher Jamie Reaburn-Weir.  After some conversation about student voice, choice and assessment strategies, she kindly agreed to capture the conversation for wider sharing.

Enjoy Jamie’s forward thinking insights in this video.

I look forward to following along the journey where Jamie is leading her classes.

Follow Jamie on Twitter: Jamie Weir
Read Jamie’s Blog.

~Mark

21st century learning, GAFE, Interview, ProfessionalLearning, student voice, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Publishing Makes a Difference

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I recently had an opportunity to enjoy a site visit to John Mahood PS,  a WRDSB  K-5 school to see a their technology use in action.

Under the leadership of principal Tracy Tait, the staff has been working hard over the last 3 years to explore new effective ways to utilize technology to enable student learning in new ways, change and improve practice and share their successes.

The traditional lab at the school has been dismantled and the desktops have been redistributed throughout the school.  The mobile technology (iPads and Chromebooks) within the school has been allocated so that each classroom has a minimum of 6 to 8 devices to share among the students.  The lab space is now used as a “tech lounge” – more of a flexible creative work space.

In a site walk through, Tracy commented that she expects staff to integrate mobile technology into the learning environment as part of their daily practice.  I enjoyed observing a couple of classes during silent reading time and seeing that student had a choice in both what they read and HOW they read it: paper based, via iPads or Chromebooks. Talk about a great example of student voice and choice!

The school focus on choice for students is making a noticeable difference.  Several staff commented about technology options providing choice and independence for students.  In some cases, the use of technology created benefits in socialization between students both in and out of class.  In conversation, it was noted that technology use  improves the focus on learning which in turn impacts behaviour in a positive way. In some cases, the use of technology removes frustration when paper and pencil based tasks create an obstacle for students.  The result is increased  participation through differentiated approaches.

This video captures some of the observations and thinking of students and staff at the school.

[youtube http://youtu.be/eEDd5oOwI4k]

Ethan’s Story

Kyle’s Story

Samuel’s Story

Note: The video and story presentations are published with permission.

~Mark

Connected Learning, OSSEMOOC, PLN, Social Media, Technology Enabled Learning

Remix – Connect – Challenge

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As educators, we ofter hear that the  plan, act, assess, reflect (PAAR) cycle promoted as excellent professional practice.  Extend this to an online context:  the importance of sharing, telling your story, learning from each other (the smartest person in the room is the room),  building relationships,  leveraging online connections and opportunities and finally using technology tools to facilitate this process (don’t just focus on the technology itself),

I was struck by my reading experience this morning.  Call it what you will: growing awareness, synchronicity, convergence, coincidence  or perhaps some other term of your choice, but there certainly was an emerging theme.

remix

First,  I see an interesting Facebook post by Patrick Larkin,  a valued member of my Personal Learning Network (PLN) highlighting a position on school and system leader technology use by  George Couros.  George concluded is blog post with this powerful question: If the purposeful use of technology can enhance or accelerate those ideas above, shouldn’t more leaders look at how these tools can be used in their own practice?   Got you thinking?  Read George’s thoughts [here].

As I finish reading George’s article,  an alert pops up that a new OSSEMOOC  post called  How Do We Get There From Here?  has gone live. Perfect timing Donna.  Intrigued by the title, I decide to take a quick look. Talk about timely.

Leaders_Tech_good_bad.

You will have to read the post (How Do We Get There From Here?) to see the list 🙂

Now,  back to catching up on Facebook happenings … where did I leave off?   Timely:  Kathi Smith  has re-shared a Leonard Nimoy quote that really resonates with all of the reading I just finished.  Perfect!

spock_share

In some of my earlier thinking about this topic, I wrote “Allow the global community of educators the privilege of searching, finding, reading, re-reading, sharing, curating, linking and commenting on your blog posts.”  Read my full blog post:  Just Make It Public.

Consider your role in learning from other educators.  Take the challenge and make Spock proud!

Additional Resources

… from OSSEMOOC and Dean Shareski.

~Mark

Connected Leader, Connected Learning, Leadership Perspective, OSAPAC, Presentation Resource, ProfessionalLearning, SAMR, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Virtual Sharing with ADSB

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I experienced a wonderful virtual learning opportunity this week with some fantastic educators from ADSB.  Donna Fry, who was leading the learning sessions on site, invited me to provide a kick off presentation to their day.  My task was to ignite some change thinking by linking the areas of technology enabled learning, technology change and bringing collaboration into eLearning.

virtual keynote

virtualkeynotescreen

I loved the idea of doing a virtual keynote – what a perfect way to “walk the talk” in terms of connected learning and modelling what we need our students to do.

While there are a variety of tools one could use for this type of activity, we settled on Google Hangouts (GHO) for our session.

 

Of course, the technology all worked flawlessly <big grin!> – a good demonstration of technology creating a natural flow of sharing.

 

I really enjoyed being able to participate in a timed table talk opportunity following my presentation as Donna kindly relocated me from the “big screen” to the table.

I was certainly struck by the power of this. We collectively decided that this was a virtual F2F learning session.

ADSB_table_talk

Linking back to the theme of the day and my task with the opening kick off, I could envision a day when virtual F2F learning opportunities are normalized into  learning environments.  I look forward to learning with these educators as they develop their connecting and collaborating strategies.

~Mark

Resources:

Learn more about the background of the Futures Forum Project.

On the ground with Futures Forum.

SAMR examples from OSAPAC.

SAMR as a growth model

SAMR on scoop.it

BIT14, ECOO, Presentation Resource, Social Media, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

BIT14 Presentation Resources

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It was a pleasure for me to team up with  Jennifer Paziuk  to present on  Innovative Learning Opportunities. As promised, we are sharing the session resources.

Futures Forum Project -June 28, 2013  from  WRDSB Learning Services  on  Vimeo.

Additional blog articles about the  WRDSB Futures Forum Project.

~Mark & Jennifer

Connected Learning, OSSEMOOC, Presentation Resource, SAMR, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

WBE workshop session resources

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Thank you to those participants who attended my workshop presentations today. As promised, I am sharing the resources:

Conference Twitter feed  #wbecon14

Enjoy a free,  connected, self directed, professional learning experience through  OSSEMOOC  (blog) and/or connect to the OSSEMOOC  Twitter feed.

Additional resources are listed at the end of the slide deck.  Stay connected and continue to  share your learning.

~Mark

Connected Learner, GAFE, OSAPAC, SAMR, Social Media, Technology Enabled Learning, TEL

Social Media as a Writing Tool

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The other day I happened to catch a segment of The Current CBC broadcast as I was driving between school appointments. The topic was big data based the book Dataclysm, which certainly captivated my interest for a variety of reasons.

Dataclysm book cover

              Image from Amazon.com

I happened to tune in just at the moment the discussion was focused on analyzing data written in social media, Twitter in this case.   While many view social media communications as somewhat inane,  an in depth analysis reveals some interesting facts.

140-1

  • writing tends to be more sophisticated
  • word length is 20% longer
  • lexical density ,  the proportion  of meaning carrying words, is  higher than in many other forms of writing (email, magazines etc.  – perhaps opposite to what you would think)
  • with a limitation on the number of characters per message or post, 140 in this case,  people learn to improve word choices
  • in turn,  this improves editing skills

In the interview,  Christian commented that this type of analysis can and has been repeated.   This is not an isolated ‘one time’ look at this area.

When one considers the writing benefits summarized here,  I believe there is a strong case to incorporate  the social media writing medium in the school system.   Of course there are natural connections to digital citizenship, engagement, real world audiences etc.

140-2

As a classroom educator,  if you are already doing this, keep going!  If not,  consider giving it a try with an age appropriate system, a collaborative document with simulated limits  or even  offline.

Related Resources

Listen to the  CBC Podcast  with Christian Rudder on Dataclysm

Book:  Dataclysm  by Christian Rudder

Have a comment?   Please share.

~Mark

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

Sharing your Learning: Collaboration

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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.

moviephoto

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.

formula

~Mark