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: Remixing History: The Cigar Box Project
Presentation Description: Neil Stephenson believes in the power of technology to bring the past into the future. Empowered with 21st century tools, Stephenson’s Grade 7 students reinterpret events from five periods that have shaped Canada’s current historical landscape. Called the Cigar Box Project, Stephenson’s students collect and analyze historical images and artifacts, and then use graphic design principles to digitally assemble new cigar panels, each one revealing a unique, visual perspective of an historical event or time from Canada’s past. At the end of the year, students physically build their wooden Cigar Boxes, creating their own historical artifact that pulls together the story of our country. Along the way, students encounter a variety of assessment practices, create mini-documentaries about their artifacts and meet a number of experts who support their historical learning.
Additional Information:
One of the exciting part of my current role is to share some of the projects that are being designed by other teachers at my school, the Calgary Science School. If you are looking for project ideas built on inquiry-based learning, you’ll find many more here, on the Connect Blog: http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/
