Earlier this year, I found myself trying to re-learn chemistry in order to teach a group of at-risk students at my high school. After hunting down a number of resources, I found myself on YouTube, where I was entranced by a number of friendly and easily understood online lessons by Salman Khan.
Almost immediately, I found myself learning from, and teaching with, a faceless colleague. Even though I was captivated by his chemistry lessons it wasn't until I saw a tweet from Dean Shareski earlier this week, that I became aware of the rich body of work Khan has posted to his website: Khan Academy.
With over 1200 Creative Commons licensed videos available for sharing, re-publishing, and remixing, Sal Khan is well on his way to realizing a lofty goal: "Using technology to educate the world".
Find out why learners worldwide are discovering new avenues for teaching and learning at the Khan Academy. You owe it to yourself, and your students, to discover a master teacher for the 21st Century, Sal Khan.
Showing posts with label e-learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-learning. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Thursday, February 26, 2009
1 Teacher: 3 Schools: 2 Cool
I recently had a chance to visit with Chris Gagnon to see how the District School Board of Niagara's VLearning project is bringing widely scattered students to a common classroom for math instruction in HD. This podcast is a condensed interview that outlines the project which is supported by the technology in the accompanying photos. (Click for an enlarged view.)
Subscribe to past or future podcasts via iTunes.
Subscribe to past or future podcasts via iTunes.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Twitter for Teachers: The e-Book
How would you like to co-author an e-book?
Yesterday afternoon, after purchasing the domain www.twitterforteachers.com, I began framing a wiki to host the development of a resource for teachers new to Twitter. Now that the site has begun to take shape, you are hereby invited to share your ideas as a member of the collaborative that will draft this e-learning resource.
Yesterday afternoon, after purchasing the domain www.twitterforteachers.com, I began framing a wiki to host the development of a resource for teachers new to Twitter. Now that the site has begun to take shape, you are hereby invited to share your ideas as a member of the collaborative that will draft this e-learning resource.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Same as it ever was...
Last week, I had the chance to join a few e-learning colleagues for a tour of Pelee Island School in support of teachers and students who are piloting an e-learning project. Even while technology is being used to address unique educational challenges, our trip was in many ways, like stepping back in time...
Get your bearings... Pancake flat in the middle of Lake Erie, Pelee Island is the southernmost land mass in Canada.
The island is populated almost exclusively along the coastline, with the Pelee Island Winery, bed and breakfast accommodations, estate homes and more, readily accessible by automobile or bicycle.
The MV Jiimaan is one of two ways to get to the island in good weather. Once winter weather sets in (November-April?), you'll need to book a flight to reach this jewel. With room for up to 40 vehicles and 400 passengers, you'd be wise to have a reservation.
Calm weather meant our 8 a.m. departure and 4 p.m. return could run right on schedule, with each trip taking 90 minutes to/from the Leamington dock.
You can't make this stuff up! Our hosts kindly left their vehicle waiting at port for us to drive out to the school. The Rolling Rock sign in the front windshield of our loaner van, boasted ""Same as it ever was...". You can imagine our response when the first lines we heard on the radio were: "Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was..." from "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. We thought, nice, they left us a CD or audio tape... but no, it was playing on the radio!
Heading north from the ferry dock towards the school, we learned to return the waves of oncoming drivers before being greeted by the "shoe tree". Clearly we were in a different place!
The three room school house sits beside the now closed Pelee Island high school, and at the time of this photo, a rope in the entrance way was being pulled to ring the bell at the top of the photo, announcing a recess break for the 11 students.
Supported by teachers who live on the island, these multi-grade classrooms might sit anyplace in North America. One key difference, class size in this academic year is almost always less than 5.
A historic plaque commemorating the Battle of Pelee Island some 170 years ago stands on the school grounds in stark contrast to the recently added high speed wireless tower that makes it possible for grade 9 students to take their secondary school courses on the island. Historically, the only only alternative has been for high schoolers to billet with mainlanders in order to take classes at Leamington District Secondary School.
Great food, original music, and a colourful dining environment at the Anchor & Wheel Inn, hinted at the uniqueness of island accommodations.
An afternoon tour of the island, included a visit to Pelee Island Heritage Centre and the pheasant farm. The annual island pheasant hunt is a lucrative economic event for islanders.
Even our return to the mainland reminded us what a special day we'd had. While the uniqueness of this island is best experienced in person, travelers should consider bringing Tim Horton's coffee for themselves and for the islanders. Some things aren't readily available when you're living in another time and place...
Get your bearings... Pancake flat in the middle of Lake Erie, Pelee Island is the southernmost land mass in Canada.
The island is populated almost exclusively along the coastline, with the Pelee Island Winery, bed and breakfast accommodations, estate homes and more, readily accessible by automobile or bicycle.
The MV Jiimaan is one of two ways to get to the island in good weather. Once winter weather sets in (November-April?), you'll need to book a flight to reach this jewel. With room for up to 40 vehicles and 400 passengers, you'd be wise to have a reservation.
Calm weather meant our 8 a.m. departure and 4 p.m. return could run right on schedule, with each trip taking 90 minutes to/from the Leamington dock.
You can't make this stuff up! Our hosts kindly left their vehicle waiting at port for us to drive out to the school. The Rolling Rock sign in the front windshield of our loaner van, boasted ""Same as it ever was...". You can imagine our response when the first lines we heard on the radio were: "Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was..." from "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. We thought, nice, they left us a CD or audio tape... but no, it was playing on the radio!
Heading north from the ferry dock towards the school, we learned to return the waves of oncoming drivers before being greeted by the "shoe tree". Clearly we were in a different place!
The three room school house sits beside the now closed Pelee Island high school, and at the time of this photo, a rope in the entrance way was being pulled to ring the bell at the top of the photo, announcing a recess break for the 11 students.
Supported by teachers who live on the island, these multi-grade classrooms might sit anyplace in North America. One key difference, class size in this academic year is almost always less than 5.
A historic plaque commemorating the Battle of Pelee Island some 170 years ago stands on the school grounds in stark contrast to the recently added high speed wireless tower that makes it possible for grade 9 students to take their secondary school courses on the island. Historically, the only only alternative has been for high schoolers to billet with mainlanders in order to take classes at Leamington District Secondary School.
Great food, original music, and a colourful dining environment at the Anchor & Wheel Inn, hinted at the uniqueness of island accommodations.
An afternoon tour of the island, included a visit to Pelee Island Heritage Centre and the pheasant farm. The annual island pheasant hunt is a lucrative economic event for islanders.
Even our return to the mainland reminded us what a special day we'd had. While the uniqueness of this island is best experienced in person, travelers should consider bringing Tim Horton's coffee for themselves and for the islanders. Some things aren't readily available when you're living in another time and place...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Academic Integrity in Online Learning
In a regional professional development session held earlier today, online teachers were asked to consider academic integrity through the lens of both student and teacher. Integral to our understanding of the issues related to honesty of networked learners, are a number of cultural and technological trends. Following a review of the realities of the remix generation, I shared my contention that teachers can 'cheat-proof' learning tasks through the use of freely available e-learning tools and differentiation.
Following on the heels of Alec Courosa's presentation at the University of Saskatchewan's Academic Integrity Awareness Week, I was happy to attribute the ideas in my presentation to those who have most influenced my thinking on this topic.
You may be interested in reviewing Michael Wesch's "Anthropological Introduction to YouTube"; Lawrence Lessig's TED talk on how modern creativity is being strangled by the law; the work of my colleague, Suzanne Riverin, who condensed key learnings of Bonk and Zhang's "Empowering Online Learning"; and the 'non-traditional' scripted "Late Night Learning with John Krutsch".
Thanks to a tweet from Clint Lalonde, I also had the opportunity to share a highly entertaining 'how-to cheat' video. Beyond highlighting the ingenuity that can be harnessed by motivated learners, this video models what a rich learning task might look like in a tech design or media production course!
The next few editions of the Teacher 2.0 Podcast will focus on Academic Integrity.
Following on the heels of Alec Courosa's presentation at the University of Saskatchewan's Academic Integrity Awareness Week, I was happy to attribute the ideas in my presentation to those who have most influenced my thinking on this topic.
You may be interested in reviewing Michael Wesch's "Anthropological Introduction to YouTube"; Lawrence Lessig's TED talk on how modern creativity is being strangled by the law; the work of my colleague, Suzanne Riverin, who condensed key learnings of Bonk and Zhang's "Empowering Online Learning"; and the 'non-traditional' scripted "Late Night Learning with John Krutsch".
Thanks to a tweet from Clint Lalonde, I also had the opportunity to share a highly entertaining 'how-to cheat' video. Beyond highlighting the ingenuity that can be harnessed by motivated learners, this video models what a rich learning task might look like in a tech design or media production course!
The next few editions of the Teacher 2.0 Podcast will focus on Academic Integrity.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Massive Multiplayer e-Learning
At lunchtime yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with Peter Purgathofer from the Informatics Faculty at the Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology in Vienna Austria. After some evening editing, I pared our conversation down to this 22 minute 'lesson' on Slidecasting 2.0, an interactive technology in its infancy, that encourages lecture audiences to be active learners, by engaging attaching comments, links, references, and questions to the presenter's slides. The resulting 'rich notes' are then available online for further editing and sharing. If this open source project goes global, PowerPoint lectures may soon be recognized as interactive events!
Peter is truly an engaging teacher, and this while this video is narrow in scope, it was my great pleasure to participate in a conversation with such an enthusiastic teacher-learner. I've included an additional snippet of our conversation on the most recent Teacher 2.0 podcast.
Peter is truly an engaging teacher, and this while this video is narrow in scope, it was my great pleasure to participate in a conversation with such an enthusiastic teacher-learner. I've included an additional snippet of our conversation on the most recent Teacher 2.0 podcast.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
You Call 'This' a Normal Day?!
I was just reflecting back on the different applications I've used today... pretty much a normal day, and I'm coming to the realization that there are many tools that are a normal part of my workflow. Consider the following rough timeline:
Midnight: Access my Del.icio.us bookmarks to find the name of the 'wakeup call' website I'd recently bookmarked.
12:02 a.m.: Set up a 7 a.m. wakeup call at http://www.wakerupper.com/
7:00 a.m.: Awake to the sound of my cell phone ringing... Upon answer, a mechanized voice reads back to me the message I'd posted 7 hours earlier.
7:10 a.m.: Load Camino web browser and with one click, open my 'Daily' bookmarks folder to read the news of the day.
7:20 a.m.: Quick check on Twitter to see who was up to what last evening...
8:00 a.m.: Early arrival at the workshop site provides me with time to a few recent skating photos from iPhoto to my Keynote presentation
8:10 a.m.: My district e-learning contact is not yet on site, so I decided to select a topic from my Xpad notebook and to record a quick little Podcast using Garageband
8:18 a.m.: Convert podcast to MP3 format in iTunes.
8:20 a.m.: Upload podcast to Libsyn and ping the iTunes server.
9:00 a.m.: Share Keynote presentation with workshop attendees (various 'photos of ice-skating', zamboni, shovel man... as a metaphor for e-learning).
9:15 a.m.: Open multiple tabs in Camino to highlight e-Learning tools in Ontario. Work with participants on course customization in their browser of choice: MS Explorer (yuck!)
10:30 a.m.: Highlight for participants how Flickr and Audacity can be used to create more memorable communications in the online course environment.
11:00 a.m.: Tweak 'how to' documents in ScreenSteps and send PDF versions to participants via First Class
11:45 a.m.: Check on my work mail for urgent messages via First Class
1:00 p.m.: Assist district ICT consultant in mini-workshop to tame Google Documents, and Wet Paint wikis as places to host online course materials. My take is that these tools can be leveraged by students for electronic portfolios.
1:30 p.m.: Assist district e-learning contact in enrolling students in courses by using an Excel spreadsheet (csv format)
1:45 p.m.: Phone Desire2Learn to investigate internal email issues in the learning management system.
2:00 p.m.: Partner with district ICT consultant to highlight how Google Analytics tracks web traffic (my RPT site has hits from 162 countries to date!)
2:30 p.m.: Review evening ice skating in Komoka movie created in iMovie and uploaded to blip.tv to complete the metaphor: "If you build it, they will come."
2:45 p.m.: Time to drive home... Catching up on my favourite CBC podcasts on the 2 hour drive
7:00 p.m.: Visit the recording of an Adobe Connect e-learning session on 'course customization' that I missed while driving home
7:20 p.m.: Open Flock to check on my 'network' of education bloggers, twitterers, and social learning networkers
7:40 p.m.: upload new links to my my Del.icio.us bookmarks
7:45 p.m.: type this blog entry in Flock
8:20 p.m.: upload blog entry to Blogger
There is nothing exceptional about this day... in most ways it is a mirror of my 'normal' working day. My exposure to multiple applications the past ten years or so make this seem all so natural and seemless. I'm sure that this is far from a 'normal' day for a teacher, but with the way my day flows, I rarely reflect on the apps I'm using. Then again, maybe I'm just a 'geek'?
Does anyone else think about their daily workflow in terms like these?
Midnight: Access my Del.icio.us bookmarks to find the name of the 'wakeup call' website I'd recently bookmarked.
12:02 a.m.: Set up a 7 a.m. wakeup call at http://www.wakerupper.com/
7:00 a.m.: Awake to the sound of my cell phone ringing... Upon answer, a mechanized voice reads back to me the message I'd posted 7 hours earlier.
7:10 a.m.: Load Camino web browser and with one click, open my 'Daily' bookmarks folder to read the news of the day.
7:20 a.m.: Quick check on Twitter to see who was up to what last evening...
8:00 a.m.: Early arrival at the workshop site provides me with time to a few recent skating photos from iPhoto to my Keynote presentation
8:10 a.m.: My district e-learning contact is not yet on site, so I decided to select a topic from my Xpad notebook and to record a quick little Podcast using Garageband
8:18 a.m.: Convert podcast to MP3 format in iTunes.
8:20 a.m.: Upload podcast to Libsyn and ping the iTunes server.
9:00 a.m.: Share Keynote presentation with workshop attendees (various 'photos of ice-skating', zamboni, shovel man... as a metaphor for e-learning).
9:15 a.m.: Open multiple tabs in Camino to highlight e-Learning tools in Ontario. Work with participants on course customization in their browser of choice: MS Explorer (yuck!)
10:30 a.m.: Highlight for participants how Flickr and Audacity can be used to create more memorable communications in the online course environment.
11:00 a.m.: Tweak 'how to' documents in ScreenSteps and send PDF versions to participants via First Class
11:45 a.m.: Check on my work mail for urgent messages via First Class
1:00 p.m.: Assist district ICT consultant in mini-workshop to tame Google Documents, and Wet Paint wikis as places to host online course materials. My take is that these tools can be leveraged by students for electronic portfolios.
1:30 p.m.: Assist district e-learning contact in enrolling students in courses by using an Excel spreadsheet (csv format)
1:45 p.m.: Phone Desire2Learn to investigate internal email issues in the learning management system.
2:00 p.m.: Partner with district ICT consultant to highlight how Google Analytics tracks web traffic (my RPT site has hits from 162 countries to date!)
2:30 p.m.: Review evening ice skating in Komoka movie created in iMovie and uploaded to blip.tv to complete the metaphor: "If you build it, they will come."
2:45 p.m.: Time to drive home... Catching up on my favourite CBC podcasts on the 2 hour drive
7:00 p.m.: Visit the recording of an Adobe Connect e-learning session on 'course customization' that I missed while driving home
7:20 p.m.: Open Flock to check on my 'network' of education bloggers, twitterers, and social learning networkers
7:40 p.m.: upload new links to my my Del.icio.us bookmarks
7:45 p.m.: type this blog entry in Flock
8:20 p.m.: upload blog entry to Blogger
There is nothing exceptional about this day... in most ways it is a mirror of my 'normal' working day. My exposure to multiple applications the past ten years or so make this seem all so natural and seemless. I'm sure that this is far from a 'normal' day for a teacher, but with the way my day flows, I rarely reflect on the apps I'm using. Then again, maybe I'm just a 'geek'?
Does anyone else think about their daily workflow in terms like these?
Blogged with Flock
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Let's Ban Chalk!
This weekend, I got to thinking about how history measures time periods. Knowing that the Three-Age System subdivided pre-history based on the material make-up of tools (the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age), I'd like to propose a system of 'ages' as a lens through which we can view classrooms in recent years.
In considering the 'tools' that have been mainstays in classrooms from the time when learning moved indoors in North America, we can frame education into three eras:
The Slate & Chalk Age (mid 1800's - present)
Characteristics: records are temporary; memory is necessary
The Paper & Pen Era (1900's to present)
Characteristics: records are semi-permanent; memory for homework is possible
The Web & Keyboard Period (2000's to present) Characteristics: records are of multimedia and may be historic; searchability makes memory less critical;
In looking for links to support these time periods, I stumbled across a wonderfully concise explanation courtesy of PBS.
In identifying the Web & Keyboard Period, I'm naming the period after the tools used to write, but the implication is that we have to consider this to be a period where students produce content in as many varied mediums as they experience. The true tools would include microphones, cameras, and other evolving input devices, well beyond the keyboard and mouse. Remember, in 2006, YOU were being named TIME's Person of the Year, not for your reading and writing, but as part of "a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before."
But many educators are still tied to both chalk/chalkboards; and paper/pen remain the preeminent classroom tool. In order to hasten the arrival of School 2.0, a time when the norm for classrooms is for the world wide web to be ever-present as the 'chalkboard', "I propose we Ban Chalk!"
While initially tongue in cheek, this proposal is one that would demand teachers change their practice. We may eventually want ban or put strict limits on paper, but I believe that the fist step is to change the blackboard. The physical space that makes up today's classroom, is reflective of rooms over 100 years ago. Changing the blackboard to a projection screen or SmartBoard, makes a dramatic statement to students and educators that the game has changed.
The day when it is 'normal' for classrooms to harness the power of global networking by using the read/write web along with a range of multimedia tools can only become a reality when the environment is reflective of the learning that takes place within the space.
The Stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone, it ended when people abandoned stone tools in favour of a better product. If teachers can teach this historic concept, surely we can live it!
"It's time to step away from the chalkboard and to step into the present!"
My "Down with Chalk!" mini-rant began on the Teacher 2.0 Podcast.
In considering the 'tools' that have been mainstays in classrooms from the time when learning moved indoors in North America, we can frame education into three eras:
The Slate & Chalk Age (mid 1800's - present)Characteristics: records are temporary; memory is necessary
The Paper & Pen Era (1900's to present)Characteristics: records are semi-permanent; memory for homework is possible
The Web & Keyboard Period (2000's to present) Characteristics: records are of multimedia and may be historic; searchability makes memory less critical;In looking for links to support these time periods, I stumbled across a wonderfully concise explanation courtesy of PBS.
In identifying the Web & Keyboard Period, I'm naming the period after the tools used to write, but the implication is that we have to consider this to be a period where students produce content in as many varied mediums as they experience. The true tools would include microphones, cameras, and other evolving input devices, well beyond the keyboard and mouse. Remember, in 2006, YOU were being named TIME's Person of the Year, not for your reading and writing, but as part of "a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before."
But many educators are still tied to both chalk/chalkboards; and paper/pen remain the preeminent classroom tool. In order to hasten the arrival of School 2.0, a time when the norm for classrooms is for the world wide web to be ever-present as the 'chalkboard', "I propose we Ban Chalk!"
While initially tongue in cheek, this proposal is one that would demand teachers change their practice. We may eventually want ban or put strict limits on paper, but I believe that the fist step is to change the blackboard. The physical space that makes up today's classroom, is reflective of rooms over 100 years ago. Changing the blackboard to a projection screen or SmartBoard, makes a dramatic statement to students and educators that the game has changed.
The day when it is 'normal' for classrooms to harness the power of global networking by using the read/write web along with a range of multimedia tools can only become a reality when the environment is reflective of the learning that takes place within the space.
The Stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone, it ended when people abandoned stone tools in favour of a better product. If teachers can teach this historic concept, surely we can live it!
"It's time to step away from the chalkboard and to step into the present!"
My "Down with Chalk!" mini-rant began on the Teacher 2.0 Podcast.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Top Ten Tech Tools
In reviewing the year-end posts of some of my favourite bloggers, I have encountered a few folks reflecting on the most effective tech tools they've been using, and others like Gary Woodill thinking deeply about which tools are likely to be the most transformative in 2008. That's all the motivation I need to share my favourite tools for designing within e-learning environments.
Rodd Lucier's Top Ten Tech Tools (in no particular order):
ScreenSteps: This is superior and simple to use tutorial creation utility. Great for creating software 'how to' documents as either PDFs or HTML pages.
http://www.screensteps.com/
iShowU: A simple to use, customizeable screen capture utility. Great for creating movie-style demos and tutorials.
http://www.shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html
Keynote: Oooh-la-la! Stunning graphics, transitions and exports to clickable movie files, what more could you ask for in presentation software?
http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/
G-Mail: Simple, reliable, sortable, with effective filters (including spam filters) and plenty of room for large files and archives.
http://mail.google.com
Google Reader: While I used to use Bloglines, I find the Google franchise provides a common look/feel for my daily work.
http://reader.google.com
Picturesque: This Mac-simple graphic editing tool allows the user to quickly transform photos to round-cornered, 3-D reflective images.
http://www.acqualia.com/picturesque/
Camino: As a browser on the Mac platform, it simply loads faster than any others... significantly so on my machine.
http://caminobrowser.org/
Hemera Photo-Objects: Now only available via eBay (thanks to the success of online subscription models), the 100,000 photos in versions I and II offer a fantastic variety for logo creation. (Version III is on a different interface)
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/stockphotovendors/gr/photoobjects1-2.htm
Adobe Connect: This tool is provided to Ontario educators by the provincial Ministry of Education and is an amazingly flexible user-friendly tool for hosting collaborative meetings online.
http://www.adobe.com/products/connect/
iPhoto: I love creating photobooks... and this tool does an amazing job of it. (I had to include one tool for sheer expression and creativity!)
http://www.apple.com/iphoto/
This is by no means a complete list, rather, these ten tools are ones that I enjoy using the most. I also collect links to a variety of Web 2.0 tools and keep them updated here: http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/web2.0. If you'd like to share your own top ten list, feel free to post below, or join a number of educators who are sharing their opinions at the UK Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.
A more 'enthusiastic' podcast version of this post will soon be available at the Teacher 2.0 Podcast, now available on iTunes.
Rodd Lucier's Top Ten Tech Tools (in no particular order):
ScreenSteps: This is superior and simple to use tutorial creation utility. Great for creating software 'how to' documents as either PDFs or HTML pages.
http://www.screensteps.com/
iShowU: A simple to use, customizeable screen capture utility. Great for creating movie-style demos and tutorials.
http://www.shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html
Keynote: Oooh-la-la! Stunning graphics, transitions and exports to clickable movie files, what more could you ask for in presentation software?
http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/
G-Mail: Simple, reliable, sortable, with effective filters (including spam filters) and plenty of room for large files and archives.
http://mail.google.com
Google Reader: While I used to use Bloglines, I find the Google franchise provides a common look/feel for my daily work.
http://reader.google.com
Picturesque: This Mac-simple graphic editing tool allows the user to quickly transform photos to round-cornered, 3-D reflective images.
http://www.acqualia.com/picturesque/
Camino: As a browser on the Mac platform, it simply loads faster than any others... significantly so on my machine.
http://caminobrowser.org/
Hemera Photo-Objects: Now only available via eBay (thanks to the success of online subscription models), the 100,000 photos in versions I and II offer a fantastic variety for logo creation. (Version III is on a different interface)
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/stockphotovendors/gr/photoobjects1-2.htm
Adobe Connect: This tool is provided to Ontario educators by the provincial Ministry of Education and is an amazingly flexible user-friendly tool for hosting collaborative meetings online.
http://www.adobe.com/products/connect/
iPhoto: I love creating photobooks... and this tool does an amazing job of it. (I had to include one tool for sheer expression and creativity!)
http://www.apple.com/iphoto/
This is by no means a complete list, rather, these ten tools are ones that I enjoy using the most. I also collect links to a variety of Web 2.0 tools and keep them updated here: http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/web2.0. If you'd like to share your own top ten list, feel free to post below, or join a number of educators who are sharing their opinions at the UK Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.
A more 'enthusiastic' podcast version of this post will soon be available at the Teacher 2.0 Podcast, now available on iTunes.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
New Conversations for a New Year
Many forward thinking educators find themselves teaching with their classroom doors closed in order to avoid conflict with their colleagues who are teaching in more 'traditional' ways. If you are a teacher who would rather have the students speak, than have your own voice be heard; If you are a teacher who would rather have students work on engaging cross-curricular projects, than turn pages in textbooks; If you are a teacher who would rather provide access to a real world audience for student work, than grade and return student assignments, then there is a high probability that you are in need of opportunities to connect with like-minded educators!
The reality in the many schools I've taught in, and visited, is that teachers who strive to engage their students in engaging projects, often run the risk of being seen by their teaching collagues as 'rebels' or worse yet, teachers who lack 'discipline'. The fact that a teacher might have students up and out of their desks, speaking with other students, and demonstrating learning with tools other than pencils, pens and books, must be threatening to those who have only experienced working with compliant students sitting in rows and following the lead of the 'sage on the stage'.
Rather than engaging in meaningful collaborative learning with neighbouring teachers (whose doors might also be closed... if only to keep their students from seeing your active learners), educators on their way to becoming 'Teacher 2.0', might be better to open discussions with peers whose classrooms are undertaking similar transformations: moving from the teacher-directed model to more constructivist, project-based learning approaches. Luckily, many of these teachers have opened virtual doorways to their classrooms via the World Wide Web.
While you may or may not have your students use read/write tools like Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts, you might well find inspiration from seeing the work of others who are leveraging these tools to engage in global conversations. I know that many of these classrooms/teachers are looking to network with other classrooms from around the world, so by all means, consider participating in the discussion!
Conversation Starters:
View some Teacher/Classroom Blogs: http://classblogmeister.com/
EduBlog Award Nominees: http://edublogawards.com/
Educational Podcast Network: http://www.epnweb.org/
A few Folks you might want to meet/read:
Wesley Fryer: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
Will Richardson: http://weblogg-ed.com/
Bob Sprankle: http://www.bobsprankle.com/welcome/welcome.html
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Let's Meet Them on the Hills
I'd like to share with you a metaphor for Web 2.0 and other e-Learning tools:
The story begins in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario, where late in the summer of 2007, city workers saw the need to remove the lone hill in Memorial Park. Those unfamiliar with the geography of southern Ontario, might be interested to know that the extreme southern leg of the province is FLAT. Thanks to the same glaciation that fed the great lakes thousands of years ago, the land is flat, but fertile.
So flat is the area, that the city council had more calls in sadness and frustration at the loss of the hill, than had been experienced by elected officials in recent memory... Which is why, in the fall of 2007, the hill was rebuilt!
To me, the interesting thing about this hill, is that it drew people to the area. It is no coincidence that this photo taken shortly after the hill was rebuilt, has been christened with a picnic table (no doubt by energetic teens in the neighbourhood).
FACT #1: E-learning tools, Social Networking sites and Web 2.0 products draw people to use the World Wide Web. Whether out of curiousity, or as a meeting place, these 'virtual hills' serve important purposes, and as soon as they are built, people find them, and begin using them! It's a fact that the first reaction of 'supervisors' to new technologies is to block access; but eventually, (too often after a number of years!) the value of the tool seems to win out.
Hills seem to draw attention and people no matter how large or small. in August of 2007, the pile of dirt pictured below was added to the park across the street from my home. Within hours, young people from the neighbourhood had built a motocross challenge area. Taking the picnic table and spare planks from garages nearby, the park had a new, 'most popular spot'. Even though this park boasts a soccer field, a baseball diamond, a soccer pitch, a child's playground and tennis courts, the final weeks of summer saw young people gravitate to the small pile of dirt in far greater numbers than any of the other attractions.
FACT #2: No matter how insignificant technological learning tools appear to adult educators, young people will enthusiastically join in using these tools... Often to the point of ignoring all types of traditional learning resources.
Now that winter has come to Canada in the form of great amounts of snow, the community toboggan hill has become the recreation centre for the community. Now that the patches of dirt can no longer accommodate bicycles, the 'X-games' fans decided that hills could benefit from the addition of some creative accents.
Fact #3: The use of the Read/Write Web can be hazardous! One should not dive into using evolving e-learning tools until he/she has taken the time to use the tools... and perhaps the more basic tools that might lead one to consider newer tools. Beyond the risks teachers need to take in trying new 'tricks', these new Web tools pose perils of which we need to be aware. These hazards are often the ones that grab the most headlines, even though the rich learning opportunities afforded by these tools are worthy of their own attention.
Hills and e-Hills were both meant to be climbed. When new hills or e-hills pop up on the horizon, they will draw the attention of young people in particular. Educators need to be prepared to meet the students who attempt to scale these hills. Now that I think of it, maybe it was a teacher who chose to put that picnic table on top of the hill in Memorial Park...
The Podcast version of this story is now available in iTunes! You can also click here to access the Teacher 2.0... the audio version!
The story begins in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario, where late in the summer of 2007, city workers saw the need to remove the lone hill in Memorial Park. Those unfamiliar with the geography of southern Ontario, might be interested to know that the extreme southern leg of the province is FLAT. Thanks to the same glaciation that fed the great lakes thousands of years ago, the land is flat, but fertile.
So flat is the area, that the city council had more calls in sadness and frustration at the loss of the hill, than had been experienced by elected officials in recent memory... Which is why, in the fall of 2007, the hill was rebuilt!
To me, the interesting thing about this hill, is that it drew people to the area. It is no coincidence that this photo taken shortly after the hill was rebuilt, has been christened with a picnic table (no doubt by energetic teens in the neighbourhood).
FACT #1: E-learning tools, Social Networking sites and Web 2.0 products draw people to use the World Wide Web. Whether out of curiousity, or as a meeting place, these 'virtual hills' serve important purposes, and as soon as they are built, people find them, and begin using them! It's a fact that the first reaction of 'supervisors' to new technologies is to block access; but eventually, (too often after a number of years!) the value of the tool seems to win out.
Hills seem to draw attention and people no matter how large or small. in August of 2007, the pile of dirt pictured below was added to the park across the street from my home. Within hours, young people from the neighbourhood had built a motocross challenge area. Taking the picnic table and spare planks from garages nearby, the park had a new, 'most popular spot'. Even though this park boasts a soccer field, a baseball diamond, a soccer pitch, a child's playground and tennis courts, the final weeks of summer saw young people gravitate to the small pile of dirt in far greater numbers than any of the other attractions.
FACT #2: No matter how insignificant technological learning tools appear to adult educators, young people will enthusiastically join in using these tools... Often to the point of ignoring all types of traditional learning resources.
Now that winter has come to Canada in the form of great amounts of snow, the community toboggan hill has become the recreation centre for the community. Now that the patches of dirt can no longer accommodate bicycles, the 'X-games' fans decided that hills could benefit from the addition of some creative accents.
Fact #3: The use of the Read/Write Web can be hazardous! One should not dive into using evolving e-learning tools until he/she has taken the time to use the tools... and perhaps the more basic tools that might lead one to consider newer tools. Beyond the risks teachers need to take in trying new 'tricks', these new Web tools pose perils of which we need to be aware. These hazards are often the ones that grab the most headlines, even though the rich learning opportunities afforded by these tools are worthy of their own attention.
Hills and e-Hills were both meant to be climbed. When new hills or e-hills pop up on the horizon, they will draw the attention of young people in particular. Educators need to be prepared to meet the students who attempt to scale these hills. Now that I think of it, maybe it was a teacher who chose to put that picnic table on top of the hill in Memorial Park...
The Podcast version of this story is now available in iTunes! You can also click here to access the Teacher 2.0... the audio version!
Teacher 2.0
It's about time... We've heard the phrase Web 2.0 for next generation software for the past few years and in 2007 more and more people began using the term School 2.0. I particularly like David Warlick's take on the differences between this 'new' school and School 1.0: "School 2.0’s greatest affect on teaching and learning is that it empowers both roles with a Yin and Yang affect. Teacher’s become learners and learners become teachers, and each side is empower with conversation, control over their information landscape, and connections with each other — with almost no constraints of hierarchy."
So as the year winds down, maybe this is the best time for 'individual teachers' to consider where they fit into the new paradigm... What is Teacher 2.0?
I really think that the many changes taking place revolve around how willing and able teachers are to make use of the e-learning tools at their disposal. After all, knowledge creation is no longer about learning for oneself, but rather, it is about moving communities of learners forward, and sharing the experience with 'outsiders'.
As classrooms continue to evolve, I believe that the changing of the blackboard has the greatest potential for engaging learners. Although interactivity is important, I'm not speaking of the use of SmartBoard technology, or even as Will Richardson reports: the evolving Wii-Mote controlled screen as created by Johnny Lee
Rather, I'm thinking about any technology that brings the world wide web to the blackboard. Tradition might say that the 'Web on the Wall' is equivalent to putting global knowledge on the wall, considering Web 1.0; but putting the Web on the Wall to me, means providing a large shared window through which your learners can interact with others around the world; and through which other global students can have virtual 'window-seats' in your classroom. Once the Web is on the wall, the interactivity and networking among global classrooms becomes the dynamic by which teaching and learning have no choice but to change.
So what are teachers to do? I contend that teachers need to commit themselves to becoming e-teachers by becoming familiar with one technology at a time. For a given school year, a teacher might focus on "How to engage presentation tools (PowerPoint; Keynote; Corel Presentations)"; or "How to leverage one of many available communication tools (e-mail; blogs; wikis...)"; or "How to have students produce content and products for a global audience (podcasting; video production; online publishing". Today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast is a brief call-to-action along this line of thinking.
So as the year winds down, maybe this is the best time for 'individual teachers' to consider where they fit into the new paradigm... What is Teacher 2.0?
I really think that the many changes taking place revolve around how willing and able teachers are to make use of the e-learning tools at their disposal. After all, knowledge creation is no longer about learning for oneself, but rather, it is about moving communities of learners forward, and sharing the experience with 'outsiders'.
As classrooms continue to evolve, I believe that the changing of the blackboard has the greatest potential for engaging learners. Although interactivity is important, I'm not speaking of the use of SmartBoard technology, or even as Will Richardson reports: the evolving Wii-Mote controlled screen as created by Johnny Lee
Rather, I'm thinking about any technology that brings the world wide web to the blackboard. Tradition might say that the 'Web on the Wall' is equivalent to putting global knowledge on the wall, considering Web 1.0; but putting the Web on the Wall to me, means providing a large shared window through which your learners can interact with others around the world; and through which other global students can have virtual 'window-seats' in your classroom. Once the Web is on the wall, the interactivity and networking among global classrooms becomes the dynamic by which teaching and learning have no choice but to change.
So what are teachers to do? I contend that teachers need to commit themselves to becoming e-teachers by becoming familiar with one technology at a time. For a given school year, a teacher might focus on "How to engage presentation tools (PowerPoint; Keynote; Corel Presentations)"; or "How to leverage one of many available communication tools (e-mail; blogs; wikis...)"; or "How to have students produce content and products for a global audience (podcasting; video production; online publishing". Today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast is a brief call-to-action along this line of thinking.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Teacher 2.0: The Podcast
This has been one interesting week!
With two of my brothers very much 'into' podcasting, it was only a matter of time before I got the bug. While the motivation hit me on a few consecutive 'very snowy evenings', I managed to record the first of what I hope to be a number of short conversation starters.
I've decided to post my content at libsyn.com (the liberation syndicate) and after learning a bit about hosting and linking, I've made an attempt to attach my introductory 'Teacher 2.0' podcast. You can also access the audio by clicking the title of this post. With any luck this podcast will make effective use of RSS and fingers crossed, will soon be available via iTunes.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Why "The Clever Sheep"
For starters, find Harold, the clever sheep at two minutes in to this Monty Python Sketch:
It's an easy metaphor to apply to schools. Many teachers and students take the easy route in complying to the demands of their 'keepers'. Rather than simply following, the 'clever sheep' is prone to ask "Why are we doing this?".
David Warlick in a recent post makes reference to the importance of discernment, which is rarely the focus of the flock: "I think that if we want our students to become discerning consumers, we need to make them discerning learners. ..and I do not think that we can do this simply by teaching lessons on evaluating content. I think that we have to work as discerning teachers. Put those textbooks and other packaged teaching materials away, and teach from the real world of content."
The clever sheep in the Python sketch knows his plight, and is 'set on the idea'r of escape'. I think our cleverest students are the ones who challenge us to ensure our lessons are relevant; while our cleverest teachers are those that challenge the status quo by engaging evolving technologies.
Whether teacher or student, all 'sheep' benefit by exposure to rich, relevant learning experiences. My hope is that this blog will expose educators to an ever-changing menu of e-learning tools, inspiring the 'cleverest sheep' among us to fly!
It's an easy metaphor to apply to schools. Many teachers and students take the easy route in complying to the demands of their 'keepers'. Rather than simply following, the 'clever sheep' is prone to ask "Why are we doing this?".
David Warlick in a recent post makes reference to the importance of discernment, which is rarely the focus of the flock: "I think that if we want our students to become discerning consumers, we need to make them discerning learners. ..and I do not think that we can do this simply by teaching lessons on evaluating content. I think that we have to work as discerning teachers. Put those textbooks and other packaged teaching materials away, and teach from the real world of content."
The clever sheep in the Python sketch knows his plight, and is 'set on the idea'r of escape'. I think our cleverest students are the ones who challenge us to ensure our lessons are relevant; while our cleverest teachers are those that challenge the status quo by engaging evolving technologies.
Whether teacher or student, all 'sheep' benefit by exposure to rich, relevant learning experiences. My hope is that this blog will expose educators to an ever-changing menu of e-learning tools, inspiring the 'cleverest sheep' among us to fly!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
