The Flat Classroom Projects from a Participant’s Point of View

 

Flatclassroom members meet face to face in Doha

Julie Lindsay has put up a notice on the Oz Teachers mailing list alerting its members to the Flat Classroom Projects that have been organized for the next 12 months. Questions were raised as to “What is a Flat Classroom?” Julie and Vicki Davis (coolcatteacher) started the concept several years ago.

So, I shall answer that question, from my point of view having participated a number of these projects over the last 12 months with my classes. The projects themselves  are now being patented and  involve  project based learning activities. The course has been developed by two of the most innovative, hard working  teachers that I have come across – Vicki Davis (coolcatteacher) from USA and Julie Lindsay from Qatar. In simplistic terms, “flatclassroom” in practical terms, for me, means that my students work in small groups, on projects prepared by Julie and Vicki,  beyond my classroom walls with students from other countries including USA, Canada, Spain, Japan, Pakistan, NZ, Oman, Qatar etc Therefore my classroom walls have been ‘flattened” and, as a staff member I work collaboratively in virtual teams to ensure that the project for all  students to get the best possible outcomes. However, this differs very much to the formal definition found on the wiki. So the formal definition is the one to use.

How I got involved ….. As my year 12 students were studying virtual teams as part of their course, I noticed on twitter, that people were being sought to become the ’sounding board’ for the Horizon Project. Soon after, calls were made for students to be part of the next Flat Classroom Project, so I enrolled my year 9/10 students in this project. Students are grouped with 5 other student members, each from a different school and usually a different country. They socialize and learn about each other on the flatclassroom ning, where they can post images, videos, blog posts and enter into discussion topics. Each group is given a topic which is related to the current and future use of the internet, usually in education. Student groups build wiki pages together, using the discussion tab to work together in asynchronous time. At the end of the 10-12 week program, students complete a video that is uploaded onto the ning and embedded in the wiki for judging by global judges. Part of this video will include an outsourced video clip by another student in another country.

Regular staff meetings are held in elluminte to ensure that all teachers involved are fully informed. At the completion of each project, both student and staff summits are held in elluminate, inviting global participants to listen to the reflections. These sessions are also recorded and linked on the wiki. In the current flatclassroom project, we were able to use videoconferencing to be part of the keynote address on ‘citizenship journalism’ presented by a University lecturer in journalism from Doha Qatar.

Our involvement meant that three students and I could attend the Flat Classroom conference in Doha, Qatar in January 2009 where students met their virtual class mates, face to face and worked again on projects that were of concern to all of them.

The netgened project was a fantastic experience and the biggest ventures of all so far.  Students worked with Don Tapscott, best selling author of “Grown Up Digital”. The awards ceremony was held in Reaction Grid of Open Sim, a virtual world where a big stage had been set up on an island with the powerpoint slides uploaded to announce the winners of each category. Students, staff and other interested parties chose avatars and were dressed in fine form for the presentation. The Digiteen project is less demanding and a good entrance point to the project. It  works on building effective digital citizenship concepts.

For me, personally and also for my students, this has led us on another amazing journey using the emerging technologies and has boosted our practical knowledge of digital citizenship, cyber safety, collaborative work in virtual teams, netiquette and using wikis and nings effectively. It pushes the students beyond their comfort zones and gives them real life skills.  Several schools from Australia have been involved. Please join us in the next project(s) for an amazing journey in your teaching career – one that takes you beyond your classroom in the digital age that is ours today.

Here are the proposed projects for 2008-09

For further information, read Julie Lindsay’s post

What is a Wiki?

In the latest post by Sue Waters in the edublogger, Sue has asked for feedback from the readers regarding wikis.  Here are her questions and below them is my response.

1. How do you explain to people what a wiki is?
2. Reasons why you use wikis
3. How you use a wiki for professional learning or with your students?
4. Examples of your favourite wikis
5. Questions you always wanted answered about wikis

A wiki in simple terms is a web page that can be edited easily by one person or by many. It can be used as for a collection of resources, but its most powerful use is for collaborative purposes, where members can work in virtual teams to achieve a site full of rich material that can include text, links, images, video, podcasts and other multimedia etc.

My first use of wikis was to keep all the online resources that I have found in one easily accessbile website. However, since then I have used wikis with global staff and students. The flatclassroom projects use wikis for the collection of materials from the virtual global student teams. The netgened project was  a fabulous project that has just finished.

The flatclassroom and digiteen projects are work in progress at the moment and their wikis can be seen from the preceeding links.  Look at this  example of a great student developed wiki page for the netgened project.

Our grade 3-7 students are involved in the es1001tales es1001tales.wikispaces.com and the ms1001tales where students are grouped together with two other schools from two other countries. They each write astory, place it on the shared wiki and their group members read it, provide feedback and positive ideas for improvement. After two more drafts their work is complete, images are added etc. In 2008, my year 9/10 students answered questions for Susie Corbett’s USA students so that they could accurately complete travel posters for Australia. Here is her final comments on the wiki, once the project was completed:-

“Thanks to all you people who contributed to this wiki, especially you Aussies, you are AWESOME! We learnt much about you and your country. Collaborative tools such as  wikis offer a way to travel and communicate beyond backyards without even leaving the classroom. This was a whole lot more fun than researching with an encyclopedia!”

Grade 4 and 5 added a podcast to globalexplorers

My year 8 students are the sounding board for a project on Africa  I am also starting wikis for each of my subject areas as resource collections initially. I love the work that Vicki Davis does with eportfolios and her students. I tend to use blogs as e-portfolis, but Vicki uses wikis.My students have had to learn how to tag, add discussions, write in the history tab etc. Wiki wars have occurred and it has been a steep learning curve.

I would love to know how to add RSS feeds from delicious and diigo.

E-grand virtual finale to netgened!

Arriving early for the big event

This was a world first! The final awards ceremony for the netgened project was held in a virtual world, involving reactiongrid in opensim, staff and students from 13 countries, an award winning author, Don Tapscott of “Grown Up Digital”,  the founders of the flatclassroom project, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay and Steve Dembo of Discovery Education.  The stage was set, the big screen up with slides of the winners of various categories, including the grand winner, winning a $1000 scholarship towards their education. Excitement mounted, dress rehearsals had taken place and avatars started to fly in from everywhere.  A wardrobe of gowns and tuxedoes had been specially prepared and countless hours put in by Vicki Davis to ensure that all ran smoothly. Software developers worked around the clock to ensure that the site was stable as there was seating for 200 people.

The ceremonies were to be held at 10am US time, which meant 12 midnight for the three schools involved from Australia – Claire Rafferty ’s students from Ringwood Secondary College, Erin Neyland’s students from James Cook Boys’ School, Sydney, my students from Hawkesdale P12 College and Steve Madsen one of the lead teachers from Sydney. All teachers showed up and one of my students  ‘braved the late hour’ and quickly learnt how to survive in a virtual world. Flurogreen was elegantly gowned in green from the costume department. However, I stayed in my normal avatar clothes as I could not seem to put on the gorgeous pink gown that had been given to me.

It was an amazing adventure of collaboration and virtual team work with all participants working together to help each other ensure that all were comfortable.  Unfortunately, an unexpected and increased number of students  and attendees arrived, all wanting to change their gear and test out the animations that their avatars would produce.  This caused some problems with the stability of the site but the organizers were determined to make it succeed.

Some technical difficulties

At one stage, I became bald, could not sit elegantly, avatars were flying everywhere and  I was drowning in some sea surrounding the island. This was a steep learning curve for one who had little interest in virtual worlds, including second life. At times humour burst forth as it was interesting to watch everyone cope with the ’slowing’ world. As the early morning hours set in, it was time for the Australian  contingent to retire to bed, as most of us had to work the next day.  To the credit of our Australian students, several made the finalist categories.

Brief Summary of the project Students worked in groups comprising students from other countries to develop a wiki on the emerging technologies as outlined by the Horizon Report 2009, mashed with the 8 netgened characteristics from Don Tapscott’s book, “Grown Up Digital. Don challenged students with discussion prompts and videos. Social networks were established on a joint ning and each student was responsible for completing a video, summarizing what they had learnt. Part of their video included an outsourced clip from one o f the other global students. Students came from the Middle East, USA (including Alaska, of whom some could not upload their video due to a nearby volcano eruption), Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand etc A special keynote address was produced in video format “No future left behind” by Peggy Sheehy and her students.

This highlights the fantastic opportunities and learning experiences that can now be ours, with the use of the emerging technologies.A huge thank you goes to the collaborative effort of all involved in this global project of grand proportions.

Guests commence flying in

The kids from the bush are off to Awards in Town

How exciting is this? Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay, in conjunction with Don Tapscott and the NetGenEd project announce the awards ceremony in OpenSim on April 20, by invitation only. All Flat Classroom related project participants are invited to attend.  Net generation education project to hold first of its kind closing ceremonies, April 20, 2009 at 10 am edt on reactiongrid, an opensim virtual world .The students from the ‘bush’ of Australia, Hawkesdale P12 College, have received this invitation to attend the closing awards ceremony in opensim for our amazing netgened project:-

Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay

in conjunction with

Don Tapscott and the Netgened project

request the pleasure of the company of

The Netgened students of Hawkesdale P12 College

To  the very first of its kind

Closing Award Ceremonies

April 20th 2009,
 10am EST (USA)

Where: On reactiongrid
Opensim virtual world

We hope that some of us can attend in our best avatar gowns/suits, despite the late hour of the night or early hour of the morning for the students in the land ‘down under’. Roll out that red carpet…..!

Here  is the press release for the big event, per kind favour of Vicki Davis and published with her permission.

Unique Opportunity for Journalists to be Mentored  by NetGen Students from Around the World in the Creation of their Avatar

Toronto, Ontario, April 6th, 2009 – Don Tapscott, best selling Author and Chairman of nGenera Insight, and Flat Classroom Project teachers, Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay, today announce the closing ceremonies of their collaborative project, The Net Generation Education Project (NetGen Ed), to be held on April 20, 2009 at 10 am EDT on ReactionGrid, an OpenSim virtual world. This first of its kind awards show will bring together students, teachers, and educators from around the world to recognize the best videos from the project as well as the winner of the Grown Up Digital Net Gen Education Challenge. The event is jointly sponsored by nGenera Corporation, ReactionGrid, and Flat Classroom Projects and will provide an opportunity to showcase Open Source Virtual World Capabilities.

The event, which is invitation only, will be made available to students, teachers, and educators involved in the NetGen Ed, Flat Classroom, and Digiteen projects as well as select members of the press, and educational bloggers.  Journalists and Educators wishing to attend the event will have the unique opportunity to be mentored by NetGen Ed students and ReactionGrid volunteers on the setting up of their avatars and movement in OpenSim. This partnership will provide first hand insight into the many talents of the Net Generation and continue to build upon the collaborative theme of the project.

The awards show will be recorded and streamed from a NetGen Ed website hosted by nGenera and will be hosted live within ReactionGrid on the F.L.A.T.S. (Flat Learning Area for Teaching &Sharing.) 

The event is the culmination of an eight week project studying emerging technology trends and how education must be transformed to reach students based upon the eight NetGen norms, as shared in Don Tapscott’s book, Grown Up Digital. Throughout the project’s duration students from countries such as Australia, India, Qatar and the United States have been collaborating together via the internet – writing a wiki report, creating videos, and discussing trends with Don Tapscott on the Grown Up Digital Ning, an educational network set up for the project, and participating in live webinars with Discovery Educator Network about movie making and digital storytelling.  To promote increased inclusivity, the ning, as well as partnerships with the Discovery Educator Network and Classroom 2.0, have provided forums for students, parents, professionals and educators not directly involved in the project to engage in a global dialogue on learning and the future face of education. All NetGen Ed student video entries will be considered as part of the Grown Up Digital Net Gen Education Challenge, a video contest presented by nGenera. The contest, which was first announced on the CBC series “Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister,” challenges people from around the world to provide their “next great answer” via video submission as to what they would do to change the education system. The grand prize winner, which will be announced during the April 20th awards show, will receive scholarship money as well as a private webinar with Don Tapscott.

For more information on the NetGen Education Project and the Grown Up Digital Net Gen Education Challenge, please visit: http://netgened.grownupdigital.com or http://netgened.wikispaces.com.

Virtual seating for the event is limited to 200 participants. For media inquiries or to request an invitation to attend,

 Joanna Griffiths, Marketing and Communications Manager

The Tapscott Group  Phone: 416-830-1664   email:  joanna.m.griffiths@gmail.com