A very special “lunch with an author”

For 10 weeks during September, October and November, a group of 9 students who wish to pursue their love of writing would assemble in the school library on a Wednesday lunchtime to linkup with Christopher Herz, an author from Brooklyn, New York. See more at Lunch with an author – a reflection. Christopher would set them tasks each week. The following week, he would discuss the progress of students on an individual basis and set the next task.

As we completed the sessions in 2011, Christopher’s new novel, Pharmacology, was released. He asked whether I thought the students would like a copy and I said I am sure they would love it. The only concern was that it  had been written for  the older teenager. In January, whilst we were on summer holidays the box of novels arrived. As first term was crazily busy and there were different students away from school on most weeks, we delayed the ceremony until Thursday this week. I wanted Christopher to give each student their copy virtually and combine it with a special celebration.

Students, teachers, parents and Christopher

Parents were invited and special permission letters went out to ensure parents were happy for their child to receive the novel (as some students were in their early teens. They all agreed to the signed book being given to the students). Students were asked to bring a plate to share, with drinks and hot nibbles provided.

As the day drew closer, Christopher and I ensured we had the right day for each of us and the correct time as we had finished daylight saving. On Wed night at 11:00pm for Christopher and Thursday afternoon at 1:00pm for us, we assembled in the library. Unfortunately, two students were absent due to school commitments and illness.

The highlights:-

1. Four parents attended to watch and feel the excitement of these linkups
2. Students were excited and nearly drove me mad with questions etc prior to the lunch.
3. Each student came up closer to the web camera to receive their book from Christopher. Christopher called up each student one at a time and made a great speech about each student and their progress with writing over the 6 months, encouraging them to continue on.
4. Christopher had signed each copy with a motivational comment on the front page of each book.
5. The video over skype was crystal clear as was the audio. It was as though Christopher was in the room with us. Thank you so much, Christopher for these amazing connections!

The challenges:

1. Despite logging into skype 30 minutes prior to the linkup, there were technical issues. Unfortunately, the microphone would not work. As 1pm approached, we asked our technician to come in and help us solve the problem. We had to swap from the front usb port to the back one, and then update the software which seemed to take hours!
2. I set mylaptop up on a chair at the front of the tables laden with food, so that we could communicate with Christopher and start the videoconference. At 1:10pm, skype on the interactive whiteboard was working. The sound was much clearer for Christopher as some students still speak very quietly.
3. How to share our food and drinks with Christopher – but he seemed happy with his apple juice.
4. The session was recorded with video and microphone. Photos were taken. A podcast will be created when time permits.

Where to from here? It is hoped to commence linkups at lunchtimes towards the end of this term or the beginning of next term. Instead of assignment style work, images and videos may be used to trigger writing tasks. I wonder how many of these students we will keep. I wonder whether more students will come on board!

A parent thanks Christopher

What do you think of this kind of activity? How could we include more students from across schools and the globe in such activities. Imagine if students of different cultures all created a character and others involved grabbed some of these characters to include in their stories. How can we publish student stories online? What tools are available?  So many questions, so much learning still to be done!

Read what the students have to say:-

1. Georgia
2. Kim

If you have any questions, please email me at innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com or please add a comment below.

Developing a Learning Network with Classroom 2.0

A question is often asked of me as to how I make global connections. Developing a learning network or PLN (personal learning network) is essential in getting globally connected. A great place to start is to join one of the biggest classrooms in the world – Classroom 2.0!

Things were getting frantic – with just two hours until interested grade prep to 6  parents were to assemble in  our school library for our Technology Showcase,  videos would not display on our new iPod touches. One excited class had been busy making videos and they were to show them using the iPod touches.

Urgent messages for help were sent out to all and any email lists.  In sheer desperation, a discussion item was also placed on Classroom2.0. Within 10 minutes, we had the answer – not from anyone in Australia or our emailing lists, but from Matthew Needleman, in the USA. Following his instructions the videos displayed to a library overflowing with parents, grandparents and students.  The showcase was a great success!

This was my first taste of the power of networking and its ability to provide information NOW from anywhere across the globe! (It needs to be noted that I teach at Hawkesdale P12 College,  a small rural, geographically and culturally isolated prep to year 12 school, in South Eastern Australia.)

Four years ago, I joined classroom2.0 a ning set up by Steve Hargadon of USA. At that stage there were 3,000 members from all levels and tiers of education, all passionate about the use of technology in education.  Today there are more than 466,000 members and I am proud to be a welcoming host on this ning.

Wordle from current classroom2.0 page

The above word cloud was made by highlighting the screen of classroom2.0, copying and pasting into wordle.

Why join Classroom 2.0?:-

• It is free
• It is a space to make global connections and friends
• Empowers teaching and learning
• Allows discussions/forums. There are many active discussions over the years, many still applicable today.
• Keep up to date with the latest developments in education
•  Share learning and join in conversations
• Publish and read members’ blog posts
• Search for discussions, tags etc on tools, subjects, areas of personal interest
• Mailing list updates on upcoming free webinars and events
• Share and peruse photos and videos
• create or join in collaborative global projects
•  There is are easy search features on previous discussion topics, technology tools, subjects, areas etc

Where can such membership lead? Here follows some memorable stories  of classroom2.0 friends, connections and just some of the rather amazing  outcomes for my classes.

1. Chrissy Hellyer from New Zealand  taught us how to create a wiki, sharing the power that interactivity, connectedness and collaboration can bring. See anzacconnection
2. Lorraine Leo of USA,  introduced me to the power of  virtual classrooms using discoverE. Over the years, we have taught each others’ classes despite teaching at different age levels and living in different time zones. We have shared colleagues, photos, videos, experiences, festivals, celebrations and cultures. Lorraine has brought the following virtually to our school: a research scientist from her tent in Antarctica and Rich Wilson, a US sailor and his quest in sailing solo around the world. (Listen to Skipper Rich). Her  grade 6 student  spoke about Halloween to my fascinated students and Lorraine organised a  student of Dean Shareski from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada,  to speak to  my accounting students and much, much more. We have been part of exciting pioneering three to five way linkups, connecting a classroom in the Phillipines with mine plus teachers from three other continents, all in the one classroom.  We have worked on voicethreads together – a  firm favourite being “My question of you” where Lorraine’s  grade two students asked a question and my year 7s replied to them. Teaching and Learning Across the Globe is a recorded joint presentation for the online Global Education Conference 2010.
3. Ekaterina from Russia:- We have videoconferenced together using skype  (our classes were televised on Russian television as a result), shared student surveys eg Climate Change Questionaire, developed an  Across the World wiki together etc.
4. Govinda Panthy- an amazing educator from Nepal who has become e-connected and painstakingly, patiently and with great determination brought global awareness to the plight of his school and students in Nepal. Govinda would awake at 4:30am in order to skype because his power is frequently cut off during daytime working hours. With the aid of friends made on classroom 2.0, Our Open World Project is now raising funds to bring several computers to SAV school and much needed physical library requisites. Make sure you visit the Open World Project site to see the real power, empathy and learning that can extend from membership.
5. Alison Saylor -  We worked on google docs together and co-surveyed our students on their ownership of personal gadgets. Students in a school from Jerusalem were also surveyed. Students from each school  mapped the results in a spreadsheet for comparison.  The project  raised extensive local classroom discussion and provided many teachable moments.

There are  many, many  more wonderful stories that could be shared.

The long tail!:

1. In 2010, I was proud to be  the Australasian mentor for the innovative online Global Education Conference which connected educators from across the globe in a free three day online conference – a direct result of my membership at classroom 2.0.
2. Through the resultant friendship with Steve Hargadon, he encouraged Carole McCulloch and myself to be a moderators and organisers of eT@lking, an online webinar using Blackboard Collaborate for the  Australia Series. This has led to even further connections and networks.

Tips for successful membership of Classroom2.0 or other similar networks

1. Ensure your profile has enough information to encourage others to consider and add you as a friend
2. Lurk, lurk and lurk! Watch the discussions, search the tools, subjects or areas that you may be into help,  network and share existing knowledge.
3. Introduce yourself on the  Introductions  discussion.
4. Watch the discussion thread on “Introductions” and befriend some of the others who may be like-minded across a number of countries.
5. Make friends where possible.
6. When confident actively join in the conversations and discussions.
7. Add your own discussion topic
8. Write some blog posts (these can be cross posted from your existing blog).
9. Set up an RSS feed for the discussions you are interested in.
10. Return regularly

The networked teacher has the power to transform learning and education in directions that are only ‘dreamed about’! Together we can make the ‘dreams’ a reality!

What spaces or tools have helped you build a learning network? Are you a member of classroom 2.0? If so what experiences can you share?

Any questions can be directed to innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com or add a comment back here.

Please note that this blog post was written for the Edublogs Challenge on Developing a PLN. There are many other great posts to be found here.

Hello Little World Skypers Group

One of my favourite memberships is with a group called Hello Little World Skypers (HLW) Group. This group was started in Skype in Education by Katherine Zablatnik from the alps of Austria. Her passion for videoconferencing with others around the world has been joined with many like minded educators. This group has members from many countries – some highly skilled in technology and some not. All have a strong desire to bring the world into their classroom.

Australian time zones are one of the most difficult for connecting and videoconferencing with English speaking countries eg UK and USA, but ideal for communication in real time with Asia. This group includes educators from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Sth Korea, China etc.

The chat in skype is automatically saved and available for researching back in time. Conversations while I am asleep are accessible in my waking hours. A call will go out to see whether someone is available to videoconference with skype. If anyone is able to skype a class, they will respond in the chat. Videoconferencing with another class can take from 5 mins through to a formal presentation of 30 minutes or more.

Following are some of the elements of the group chat conversations in the last 24 hours :-

1. From Govinda in Nepal, “Any one love to say Hi to my students now? Waiting” (A teacher in Taiwan helped him out.)
2. rs-sundern  “anybody else free for a “just to say hello!”- meeting?” I responded to this one.  See more details below.
3. HLW skypers cook book: Collaborating with the world – one recipe at a time. A recipe book is being compiled from across the countries on google documents. I Love some of the comments on these recipes: eg “ armandovezza: @Theresa- there’s one ingredient in your sugo recipe tht surprised me -vinegar!! Being of Italian origin, I’ve seen my mother make sugo all my life and never seen or heard of her doing that!” and another:- Added a recipe for “Rougail Saucisse” a Creole dish from the Reunion Island. “The Curry Peach soup looks nice, think I’ll try that soon!”
4. A request from  mariam: hello,every one. If some body knows an address for skypers who r interested in graphic and computer art design .thank u in advance

Global collaborative projects are discussed, technology tips/ resources are shared and there is often sociable chat helping us get to know each other better. Sebastian from India has taught my IT class about vedic maths, using Blackboard Collaborate. I have spoken to students from India about our farm and where I live. Students from Katherine’s class in Austria are intrigued by our Australian farm and its size etc. They were taken aback with our eating habits of eating the biggest meal of the day at night time! British students who were studying the weather asked me what the weather was like where I live and much, much more.

Tonight, and within three minutes of responding to re-sundern that I was available to skype with his class, I was transported to Germany via the web camera to talk to year 7 students about our drinking water on the farm. Water was their topic of study. I had a glass of our fresh rain water, on hand to show via the web camera.

Again the students were intrigued with our farm and the kangaroos. They had many questions, were really well behaved and spoke English with flair. Every now and then the conversation lapsed into German to interpret more closely what I was saying. The connection was not strong, so I had to drop my video at times and make use of the chat for clarification.

Learning really is NOW! Read the press release for HLW Skypers on their first birthday. It explains why such a group is of such high importance for its members.

How have you used teachable moments? Do you use skype for videoconferencing? Have you used groups? What can you share? Are you a member of HLW skypers group? What questions do you have? Email any questions to innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com

Global Projects for the Early Years – K2 Building Bridges

I have been given the challenge of teaching ICT to prep/ones this year for one lesson per week. Having been part of the Flat Classroom Projects for the past 5 years, I was keen to join in the  pilot K-2 Building Bridges project  for early years’ students which started in February, 2012.

The key question of this project is:- Can very young students effectively connect, communicate, and collaborate in a global project? Read further aims of this trial project.

Demand to be involved was strong from across the world was strong. Numbers were capped due to its trial nature with 44 schools represented. Here is how it works:-

1. A ning is used for networking
2. A google group that  allows regular updates, questions, issues, discussions etc
3. Blackboard Collaborate is used for regular online meetings
4. A wikispace featuring our groups, outcomes etc
5. Trello for the work flow

The workflow:-

1. Classes are divided into groups, comprising four different schools, including at least one from another country.
2. Each class shares a ‘handshake’  introducing themselves to their group.
3. Each group is given a topic to collaborate on. These topics were brainstormed and collaboratively setup at an online meeting. Our group is number 9 and the topic is “Part of a Family”
4. Views from our windows – the thoughts are that we create an online book that features “views from our windows” to show the diversity of our locations etc. Discussion is centring around what this means, but it could include anything that represents our school, neighborhood, city/town that reflects some of our similarities/differences or maybe how geography impacts where we live.
5. The next step is to work on our collaborative group topic.

A voicethread was used for our handshake. Most of my students used MS Paint to draw an avatar. This was cropped, saved as a  jpg and uploaded onto a voicethread. Year 7 and 9 students helped the young ones record “What I like!” as an audio file to their avatar. The voicethread was shared by grabbing the code and embedding it on the wiki. There were a great variety of handshakes, many really creative and innovative. Each school has shared their handshake on the bottom of their group wikipage.

Here are some creative handshakes

1. A puzzle of students by Mrs Jolley’s class. This involved the use jigsaw planet, diigo and google docs
2.  A handshake by Ms Tong’s class in China, using the iPad app ‘Puppet Pals’  Introducing Ourselves where students tell their names and favourite place in China.

Highlights of being involved:-

• Working with a team of like minded teachers
• Having a global support group when I am new at teaching this age group.
• Witnessing the enthusiasm, creativity and innovativeness of teachers of the young, where there tends to be greater flexibility with the curriculum.
• Noting that my students cope well with the nature of the project. They are really engaged watching the other handshakes and using the different media involved.
• The teachable moments that arise – where is this country, why does that child speak differently, why do their locations look different etc
• The extension activities that occur. eg Once our voicethread went up, an email was received from one of our partner schools in the USA, asking us so many questions about Australia. They had researched so much about Australia. They had lots of questions of us eg re our unique animals, the aborigines etc As my time is limited with the classes, the classroom teachers will now also need to get involved.
• Mentoring, sharing and teaching each other our favourite online tools.
• Learning, learning always learning
• But……. Best of all there are so many ideas coming from so many people, from so many countries, that we push the innovation and creativity beyond our own personal ability and act as one ‘collective and digital brain’, advancing learning further.

What do you think? Can the young collaborate on a global scale? What questions do you have? This post was written as part of my role asInnovator of the Month. Please email any questions to innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com

The Netgened Project for newbies

As part of my Innovator of the Month Award, I shall be writing about some of the innovative projects that I am involved in. Please note that the current netgened project is work in progress, so keep checking out the wiki to see how it transforms. (The above wordle summarizes this post in a word cloud.)

The Flat Classroom Projects were founded by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis. There a variety of different projects, aimed at all school year levels . These projects are great to get involved in, especially as many educators prefer to join in existing and established global projects where :-

1. The pressure of organizing is on the shoulders of experienced technology users and project managers.
2. Risk taking is shared in a caring environment.
3. A global network of educators, with similar interests and passions, can be tapped into and extended/maintained beyond the project itself.
4. The Flat Classroom projects come with an amazing support base and a history of more than 5 years of learning and sharing collaboratively. Previous projects can still be explored and researched. There is a comprehensive teachers guide.
5. There is full support from weekly online meetings to boot camps, keynote speakers, student project managers, teacher mentors, a social networking site for teachers and for students/teachers.
6. There are expert advisors from across the globe for students and experienced expert teacher mentors for new teachers and much, much more
7. Any issues and challenges that do arise especially when students, different cultures, religions and ideologies are involved are worked through with the teacher cohort. There is no feelings of blame if netiquette rules are breached, just teachable moments that are shared and solved collaboratively.
8. Allowances for differing time zones and school years etc with some projects being offered several times per year.

The netgened project is aimed at senior students. Following is what it looks like from the student point of view:-

1. Students socialize on the Flat Classroom Projects ning with teachers and expert advisors. They get to know each other, (especially their own team members) and enter into conversations.
2. Each class or student is asked to prepare a handshake to introduce themselves. This could include details about their school, culture, passions, interest in the project etc.
3. Students are grouped  in teams, preferably in interest groups on one element of the latest ­Horizon Report  and one of the netgened norms as outlined in Dan Tapscott’s book Grown Up Digital. Each team has up to 5 members mixed across the schools involved. They no longer work within their clqssroom but beyond into the amazing flattened classroom that technology enables.
4. Each mixed group of students researches their topic and summarizes their findings on a wiki page eg Game Based Learning
5. There are student project managers for each group.
6. They then individually create a movie or multimedia product that portrays their topic. This movie must include an outsourced clip from a student in another school or country. The student requests go up on the wiki and the video clips uploaded to the ning page, for students to grab and add to their movie. The final movie is added to the wiki. This movie is then judged by a panel of global judges and the winners are announced in a special webinar with all encouraged to attend.
7. It finally concludes with a student summit. Each student individually presents and summarizes their learning in a Blackboard Collaborate webinar, which is publicized globally and interested students and educators are invited to attend and participate in these summits. They are recorded and recording links are added to the wiki. This aspect pushes students well beyond their comfort zones, but gives them a real sense of achievement when they have completed it.

From the teacher point of view

1. Teachers are required to attend weekly online meetings and if they cannot attend, are asked to listen to the recording.
2. Bootcamps are held on a number of the online tools that are used, so that teachers can feel comfortable with these tools and learn how to use them effectively. They are recorded and links can be found on the wiki.
3. The workflow schedule is found on the wiki and trello is also being used for workflows, prompts and scheduling reminders.
4. Teachers add their students to a team grid on a google document, ensuring that students are spread across schools and countries.
5. Teachers are on virtual duty to ensure that students are working in an educational setting
6. Teachers are encouraged to be expert advisors and look after a student group(s).
7. A google group is used for updates, questions, queries etc amongst the teachers involved.

The challenges

1. The steep learning curve required for successful use of tools by both teachers and students
2. Using different assessment criteria – now working with concepts of collaboration, connections, multi-media etc
3. Students who do not follow appropriate netiquette and digital citizenship protocols
4. Time zones
5. Holidays, festivals, extra curricular activites – especially when many countries and schools are involved. (Every effort is made to accommodate everyone)

The tools used include: a ning, wiki, google groups, trello for workflow schedules, timebridge (for planning online meetings that will suit the majority), diigo for bookmarking, twitter, movie making software, powerpoint  for student presentations in summits, blackboard collaborate for online meetings, student summits; skype for classes that may wish to videoconference each other  etc and more

What do students learn?

1. To  use technological tools innovatively for connecting, collaborating, creating and celebrating on a global basis. These skills will be necessary in the work force that is increasingly globalized.
2. Netiquetts and digital citizenship
3. Plaguraism, copyright and creative commons
4. The use of hypertext language and other digital literacies
5. They explore the impact of the latest technologies for education, their classrooms and global communities. The website that is built collaboratively contains knowledge, resources , case studies, experiences  and summaries for interested educators
6. They become aware of other cultures, religions, expectations and global experiences
7. They work in an environment alongside teachers, experts, other students and global community members
8. Real time commitments and work schedules
9. They establish a learning network of their own which can be taken beyond the project.
10. Students and teachers are given the opportunity to attend a Flat Classroom Conference every second year and a Flat Classroom workshop on the alternate year. These have been held in Dohar, Qatar, Mumbai, India and Beijing, China.

Have you been involved in the netgened project or other Flat Classroom projects? What have I missed? What else do you need to know. Please email any questions to innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com and they shall be answered.

(Read more from the Flat Classroom book by Julie and Vicki)