Tag Archives: Dean Shareski

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

Remix – Connect – Challenge

March 1, 2015 markwcarbone Leave a comment

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.

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.

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!

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 Learner, Leadership Perspective, OSSEMOOC, ProfessionalLearning

Connect2014 Reflections

May 12, 2014 markwcarbone Leave a comment

The day I spent at Connect2014 last week was very valuable. I really enjoyed reconnecting F2F with so many online colleagues at Dean Shareski’s session where he lead a two hour in depth discussion on the topic of connected learning.

The discussion was rich as educators shared personal stories of making connections, the impact of the connections in terms of learning, sharing, collaboration and changed practice – talk about POWERFUL!!!

One idea that captured my interest from the session was the idea of recording a learning or change and attributing the connection that “made it happen”. Attendees joined forces to illustrate the power of helping people with professional learning this video which was produced that day during our time together.

Learn, connect, reflect and share !!!

~Mark

21st century learning, Leadership Perspective, TEL

That! is a blog post

September 8, 2013 markwcarbone 2 Comments

This blog post has been in draft mode since I attended the CASA13 conference in July. Every time I sit down to work on it, I think of another angle, write a bit more, and things stay in draft mode. Today, I read Choose to Write by Angela Maiers via Facebook. I would call that synchronicity given the topic. So, finally, here we go.

I had the pleasure of seeing presentations at the CASA13 conference by George Couros and Dean Shareski as well as having personal conversations with them – always interesting and enjoyable. Dean raised a great point in his closing keynote. “Is the best PD process as simple as choosing something to learn and blogging about your experience?” WOW – great question, great insight.

Relating to his Huffington Post article “Want to create better teachers?” Dean states that ” The reflective writing has been valuable but definitely the nearly 4,000 comments have been even more of a learning experience. This is the single best professional development experience I’ve had. Dan Meyer, a Mathematics teacher in California writes: … blogging was the cheapest, most risk-free investment I could have made of my personal time into my job.” I suggest you read the full article here.

Next, I decided that I would gather material related to this topic by watching what my online professional learning network (PLN) was writing about it. I have selected a variety of blog posts related to the value of online writing that I became aware of over the 2013 summer. Please take a moment to check out the insightful comments they shared about blogging and the learning that resulted from the process.

1. What’s the big deal about blogs by @ColleenKR.

2. The Reach of Education Blogging by @SheilaSpeaking

3. What are you Thinking by @fryed (Donna Miller Fry)

4. The Benefits of Blogging by @PeterMDeWitt

5. Challenge: Five things I’ve Learned by @fryed (Donna Miller Fry)

6. Why My Six Year Olds Blog and Yours Should Too by @KathyCassidy

7. How Blogging Can Help Reluctant Writers/ by @DRPconsultants (Patricia Fioriello)

Now, coming full circle, the conversations around the value of blogging come to life again with the beginning of another school year. But, what does it take? There is a journey for each of us to travel:

finding your ‘online voice’
being comfortable with who you are online (you must be yourself)
settling on your own writing style
recognizing that you have experiences and insights to share
you never know who you might help

As we settle in for the 13/14 school I challenge you to be observant, look for that opportunity to reflect and share, dig in, find your online voice and BLOG!