Presenters: Monkia, Jim, Jessi, Hans, Morgan, Lucas, Cristan, Noah, Chase, Aaron, Gus, Andria, & Austin (with help from educators Monika Hardy and Jim Folkestad) Location: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA Link to the students’ teacher’s K12Online Ning Profile page
Presentation Title: Students Redefine School
Presentation Description: We believe that education is the vehicle to social change everyone craves. We believe that personalization is now possible in public school, because of the connections to people and info the web now allows. We believe that the process of learning how to learn, amped by the personalization digital equity allows is the new standard.
In the lab, we are experimenting with ways to facilitate personalized learning and ownership. We believe learning and self-constructing is natural, but most people need to break out of habits focused on following rules. Experimentation means doing, and doing breeds mistakes. Risk of failure blinds many to their potential. We believe playing it safe today is a greater risk.
Presentation Title: Inside the Global Collaborative Debate: Eracism
Presentation Description: This presentation will center around the Eracism Project (the newest Flat Classroom Project), which was proposed by students at the 2009 Conference and will be an international middle school debate project held in September – December 2009, planned and conducted entirely by students. This presentation will have two phases:
1) An enhanced podcast or full video presentation with Vicki Davis, Julie Lindsay, Bernajean Porter, and Peggy Sheehy discussing the practical pedagogy and outcomes of connecting students globally in a way that begins with the objective and ends with the selection of appropriate technology tools for the task, centering around this particular project as the example, but also including other projects planned by each presenter. This will be a 20 minute presentation.
2) The culmination of the Eracism project, which will have preliminary debates hosted on voicethread will provide K12 online participants a venue to observe students in their final virtual world debate competition, but with k12 online participants allowed to observe and reflect in real time using a private backchannel. This will be the culmination of the Eracism project.
3) Student voicethreads used as part of the debate will be provided for participant viewing.
Additional Information:
Eracism co-founders:
Bernajean Porter AKA writer, speech and debate coach, inventor, auntie, teacher of possibilities, media maker, futurist, master of survival techniques when working with adolescents, professional speaker, technology consultant, teacher of teachers, long-term technology user, promoter of anything that increases outrageous possibilities in all aspects of life for kids and adults and now. . . a digital storytelling guide and Second Life learner. Her work reflects a belief that technology can accelerate all students in rediscovering their joy, spirit and personal success as learners. Bernajean’s philosophy of work uses cutting edge organizational processes for building local capacity to translate the power of technology’s potential into actual classroom practices for ALL students. Her enthusiasm and vivacious presentations create an energetic climate for all learners. When it comes to doing the hard or impossible things now necessary in schools to ensure students having out-of-this-world possibilities, Bernajean’s personal motto of “Da Um Jeitinho”- there is ALWAYS a way – sets the tone for her dedicated long, term work with national and international educators. www.DigiTales.us
As an international educator Julie has led the way in pedagogical change in the classroom and approaches to shifting educator practice for learning. Her previous position at an international school in Qatar afforded the opportunity to implement a new approach to social, community learning as a professional development model. As a Web 2.0 enthusiast, and as a firm believer in the power of ‘flattened’ learning experiences made possible by new tools, she has innovated solutions for students and teachers alike. She is also co-founder o the Flat Classroom set of projects and the Flat Classroom Conference where schools globally are able to meet virtually and/or face-to-face to work on common project goals and to develop enhanced cultural understanding. Her new position this year is at an international school in Beijing, China. She is an Ambassador for ISTE and develops online learning solutions for the International Baccalaureate Organisation. Further bio details are available at http://julielindsay.wikispaces.com
Vicki Davis – co-organizer and planner of the Flat Classroom(tm) projects and classroom teacher of grades 8-12, Vicki has won multiple awards for her blog, the Cool Cat Teacher blog, including the 2008 Edublog Award for best teacher blog, and the Flat Classroom Project(tm) co-planned with Julie Lindsay has won multiple awards including ISTE’s Online Learning Award, and the Taking IT Global Online Collaboration Award, and Edublog Award for best wiki for two years. As co-creator of the Flat Classroom(tm) conference, this Project Based Learning conference in Qatar had students co-create their proposal for a global collaborative project to improve a global social issue, the Eracism project was born out of this conference and is being planned by students along with Julie Lindsay, and Bernajean Porter. Cool Cat Teacher Blog Wiki Bio @coolcatteacher
Presentation Title: Googlios: A 21st – Century Approach to Teaching, Learning, & Assessment
Presentation Description: As the first decade of the 21st century comes to end and blogs, wikis, and podcasts have become more mainstream, it is important that educators step back to see how we, as professionals, are best using these tools to serve our students’ learning needs. If these modern technologies are going to be sustained in contemporary pedagogy, it is time that we “kick it up a notch” and tie these tools to both a higher theme and to learning theories. In other words, rather than using technology for technology’s sake, we need to rest on a new 21st-century foundation of teaching, learning, and assessment theory. Through a screencast, webcam, and Power Point video, “Googlios” offers not simply a “how to” but a “why to;” it introduces a model of how one educator has come to understand and organize these tools to support a 21st-century constructivist and connectivist approach to “bridge the divide” in educating our digital natives.
More specifically, this presentation will shed light on a model that demonstrates relationships between emerging tools and learning theories and between Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), and ePortfolios. By using Google Sites as a main dashboard that “mashes up” multiple Google Apps like Blogger, Youtube, Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Docs, and iGoogle into an ePortfolio, students can build and organize their own Personal Learning Environment (PLE) simultaneously with “building bridges” through their Personal Learning Network (PLN)–all while supporting e-portfolio authentic assessment. One last word of caution: “Googlios: A 21st-Century Approach to Teaching, Learning, and Assessment” seeks to ignite an educational renaissance.
Presentation Title: Slippery Rocks & Hard Places: Twelve Bridges and Learning Matters
Presentation Description: To begin, I want you to know I created a wiki that expands upon the notions I discuss in this presentation/video. If you find what I say worthy of further reflection, carry your learning beyond the boundaries of the .mov and visit tr.im/bridginggaps.
If you wonder what a “well-educated” student will look like in our constantly shifting, interconnected, globalized society; if you want to know what teachers and administrators need to know about teaching and learning in the 21st Century; if you are ready to learn about newer, more effective ways of teaching that engage, challenge and inspire students; this is the session for you. In this video I will present a vision for teaching and learning in the 21st century that is evolving as I explore the intersection of pedagogy and the digital culture. There are twelve critical bridges that span competing conditions I have experienced that we must all acknowledge, experience and understand if we are to move toward the emerging new story of learning.
1. Building Learning Communities: Distant ~ Flat
2. Community Norms: Reserved ~ Confident
3. Boot Camp: Learned ~ Learning
4. Learning and Teaching: Compliance ~ Community
5. Read-Write Web: Repository ~ Participatory
6. Building a Network: Possess ~ Share
7. Leadership and Planning: Consistent ~ Innovative
8. Mental Models: Informed ~ Wise
9. Establishing Identity: Directed ~ Autonomous
10. Presentation Skills: Deliver ~ Engage
11. Learning Environment: Contained ~ Open
12. Map of Community Values: Change ~ Transformation
Presentation Title: Digiteens: Digital Citizenship by Digital Teenagers
Presentation Description: Much of digital citizenship education focuses on adults compiling information to share with students, this method provides a framework for students to conduct authentic research with global partners on the aspects of digital citizenship and creation of action projects at their schools. This presentation’s goal is to: 1) demonstrate the efficacy of a project based approach to digital citizenship education, 2) provide insight into teen-mentoring of younger students, 3) effective coaching practices for teachers and educators wishing to encourage a project based learning approach to digital citizenship, 4) an overview of the aspects of digital citizenship salient to teenagers around the world and what they think the message of educators should be to their students, and 5) a concrete experience allowing students who have thoroughly researched this topic to share their thoughts with a global audience and engage in global discussion on this.
This is a compilation of student views, research, and beliefs as it relates to digital topics and how these should be taught in schools.
