Call for Proposals
Announcing the second annual “K12 Online” conference for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a preconference keynote during the week of October 8. This year’s conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.” A call for proposals is below.
OVERVIEW:
There will be four “conference strands”– two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday – Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two-weeks. Each presentation will be given in any of a variety of downloadable, web based formats and released via the conference blog (https://k12onlineconference.org/) and archived for posterity.
FOUR STRANDS:
Week 1
Strand A: Classroom 2.0
Leveraging the power of free online tools in an open, collaborative and transparent atmosphere characterises teaching and learning in the 21st century. Teachers and students are contributing to the growing global knowledge commons by publishing their work online. By sharing all stages of their learning students are beginning to appreciate the value of life long learning that inheres in work that is in “perpetual beta.” This strand will explore how teachers and students are playing with the boundaries between instructors, learners and classrooms. Presentations will also explore the practical pedagogical uses of online social tools (Web 2.0) giving concrete examples of how teachers are using the tools in their classes.
Strand B: New Tools
Focusing on free tools, what are the “nuts and bolts” of using specific new social media and collaborative tools for learning? This strand includes two parts. Basic training is “how to” information on tool use in an educational setting, especially for newcomers. Advanced training is for teachers interested in new tools for learning, looking for advanced technology training, seeking ideas for mashing tools together, and interested in web 2.0 assessment tools. As educators and students of all ages push the boundaries of learning, what are the specific steps for using new tools most effectively? Where “Classroom 2.0” presentations will focus on instructional uses and examples of web 2.0 tool use, “New Tools” presentations should focus on “nuts and bolts” instructions for using tools. Five “basic” and five “advanced” presentations will be included in this strand
Week 2
Strand A: Professional Learning Networks
Research says that professional development is most effective when it aims to create professional learning communities “ places where teachers learn and work together. Using Web 2.0 tools educators can network with others around the globe extending traditional boundaries of ongoing, learner centered professional development and support. Presentations in this strand will include tips, ideas and resources on how to orchestrate your own professional development online; concrete examples of how the tools that support Professional Learning Environments (PLEs) are being used; how to create a supportive, reflective virtual learning community around school-based goals, and trends toward teacher directed personal learning environments.
Strand B: Obstacles to Opportunities
Boundaries formalized by education in the “industrial age” shouldn’t hinder educators as they seek to reform and transform their classroom practice. Playing with boundaries in the areas of copyright, digital discipline and ethics (e.g. cyberbullying), collaborating globally (e.g. cultural differences, synchronous communication), resistance to change (e.g. administration, teachers, students), school culture (e.g. high stakes testing), time (e.g. in curriculum, teacher day), lack of access to tools/computers, filtering, parental/district concerns for online safety, control (e.g. teacher control of student behavior/learning), solutions for IT collaboration and more — unearthing opportunities from the obstacles rooted in those boundaries — is the focus of presentations in this strand.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
This call encourages all, experienced and novice, to submit proposals to present at this conference via this link. Take this opportunity to share your successes, strategies, and tips in “playing with boundaries” in one of the four strands as described above.
Deadline for proposal submissions is June 18, 2007. You will be contacted no later than June 30, 2007 regarding your status.
Presentations may be delivered in any web-based medium that is downloadable (including but not limited to podcasts, screencasts, slide shows) and is due one week prior to the date it is published.
Please note that all presentations will be licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
As you draft your proposal, you may wish to consider the presentation topics listed below which were suggested in the comments on the K-12 Online Conference Blog:
- special needs education
- Creative Commons
- Second Life
- podcasting
- iPods
- video games in education
- specific ideas, tips, mini lessons centered on pedagogical use of web 2.0 tools
- overcoming institutional inertia and resistance
- aligning Web 2.0 and other projects to national standards
- getting your message across
- how web 2.0 can assist those with disabilities
- ePortfolios
- classroom 2.0 activities at the elementary level
- creating video for TeacherTube and YouTube
- google docs
- teacher/peer collaboration
KEYNOTES:
The first presentation in each strand will kick off with a keynote by a well known educator who is distinguished and knowledgeable in the context of their strand. Keynoters will be announced shortly.
CONVENERS:
This year’s conveners are:
Darren Kuropatwa is currently Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is known internationally for his ability to weave the use of online social tools meaningfully and concretely into his pedagogical practice and for “child safe” blogging practices. He has more than 20 years experience in both formal and informal education and 13 years experience in team building and leadership training. Darren has been facilitating workshops for educators in groups of 4 to 300 for the last 10 years. Darren’s professional blog is called A Difference (http://adifference.blogspot.com/). He will convene Classroom 2.0.
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, a 20-year educator, has been a classroom teacher, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member teaching graduate and undergraduate preservice teachers at The College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA), where she is also completing her doctorate in educational planning, policy and leadership. In addition, Sheryl is co-leading a statewide 21st Century Skills initiative in the state of Alabama, funded by a major grant from the Microsoft Partners in Learning program. Sheryl blogs at (http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog). She will convene Preconference Discussions and Personal Learning Networks.
Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. With respect to school change, he describes himself as a “catalyst for creative educational engagement.” His blog, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” was selected as the 2006 “Best Learning Theory Blog” by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education. He is the Director of Education Advocacy (PK-20) for AT&T in the state of Oklahoma. Wes blogs at (http://www.speedofcreativity.org/). Wes will convene New Tools.
Lani Ritter Hall currently contracts as an instructional designer for online professional development for Ohio teachers and online student courses with eTech Ohio. She is a National Board Certified Teacher who served in many capacities during her 35 years as a classroom and resource teacher in Ohio and Canada. Lani blogs at (http://possibilitiesabound.blogspot.com/). She will convene Obstacles to Opportunities.
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about any part of this, email one of us:
- Darren Kuropatwa: dkuropatwa {at} gmail {dot} com
- Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach: snbeach {at} cox {dot} net
- Lani Ritter Hall: lanihall {at} alltel {dot} net
- Wesley Fryer: wesfryer {at} pobox {dot} com
Please duplicate this post and distribute it far and wide across the blogosphere. Feel free to republish it on your own blog (actually, we’d really like people to do that 😉 ) or link back to this post (published simultaneously on all our blogs).
Conference Tag: K12online07
Gearing Up– Requesting Input for K-12 Online 2007!
Darren, Sheryl, Wes and I are extremely excited to be gearing up for K-12 Online 2007, the second annual conference for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! We wanted to be sure that you are aware of the schedule and request your input as we work to design and develop an exceptional conference experience.
Conference Schedule
If you haven’t already, please mark your calendars with the following conference dates and plan to participate.
8-12 October 2007 Pre-Conference
15-19 October 2007 Week 1 (Strands 1 and 2)
22-26 October 2007 Week 2 (Strands 3 and 4)
27 October 2007 When Night Falls
15-19 October 2007 Week 1 (Strands 1 and 2)
22-26 October 2007 Week 2 (Strands 3 and 4)
27 October 2007 When Night Falls
All published times for the conference will be GMT, and links to time converters will be provided.
Requesting Input
We need your input! What topics would you like to see this year’s presentations address? What areas are of greatest interest and value to you?
In a comment to this posting, please let us know your ideas. Your input will be invaluable in the planning of K-12 Online 2007.
Calls for Proposals
Next step will be issuing calls for proposals — within the next few weeks!
K-12 Online 2006 Evaluation Presentation and 2007 Dates!
A podcast recording and referenced resources from the March 30, 2007 SITE conference presentation “Lessons Learned from K-12 Online” is available, including evaluation results.
We also announced dates for the 2007 K-12 Online Conference! Please mark your calendars and plan to participate. That schedule will be:
8-12 October 2007 Pre-Conference
15-19 October 2007 Week 1 (Strands 1 and 2)
22-26 October 2007 Week 2 (Strands 3 and 4)
27 October 2007 When Night Falls
All published times for the conference will be GMT, and links to time converters will be provided. More details will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead!
K12 Online Continues….
Darren, Wes, Lani and I wanted to extend our warmest thanks to all the moderators for their hard work and enthusiasm during the K12 Online Conference culminating event – When Night Falls. The feedback so far has been outstanding. The creativity and brilliance of our keynoters and presenters made this conference an event to remember. We can’t thank you enough.
A couple parting thoughts and requests…
Evaluation
Please take a moment to fill out the evaluation for the conference. Your feedback will help us in planning for next year.
Tapped In
Participants can stay in touch through the K12 Online Tapped In Room. If you haven’t joined, please do. Instructions for doing so are located here.
Presentation Archive
The blog will remain active, so feel free to go through the presentations at your own pace and leave your comments.
Take Away Wiki
We also encourage you to spend some time adding your own resources on the K12 Online Take Away Wiki I saw some incredible podcasts, wikis, and such shared during the Skypecasts. I encourage you to add them so we can all benefit. Remember… none of us are as good as all of us.
Once again, thank you for making this conference such a valuable experience. We look forward to collaborating together with you online.
Sheryl, Darren, Wes, and Lani
K12 Online Closing Event: When Night Falls …
K12 Online 2006 is coming to a close …..
As David Warlick said in his opening keynote presentation, K12 Online is about extending the conversations that we’ve begun in the last two weeks. As night falls across the planet educators everywhere will come online and join a 24 hour long discussion about their experiences at K12 Online 2006.
Get skype (it’s free) to participate and read all about what we’ve got planned for you by clicking on the Live Events tab at the top of the blog.
One part of When Night Falls is to informally share your feedback about K12 Online 2006. We’d also like you to share your thoughts using our Feedback Form which will remain active until Sunday November 12, 2006.
Don’t wait, check out what’s waiting for you in the Live Events tab now … When Night Falls begins in just a few short hours! (Saturday, November 4 at 0:00 GMT; follow the link to find out what time that is in your time zone.)
See you there. 🙂
Overcoming Obstacles”Selling Web 2.0 to Senior Management”
Terry Freedman
Essex, United Kingdom
Blog: http://www.ictineducation.org/
Presentation Title
“Selling Web 2.0 to Senior Management”
Bio
Terry is an independent educational technology consultant with experience of bringing about cultural change throughout local authorities (equivalent to USA school districts) and in schools. He also tries to spread practical advice about managing educational technology and using it in the classroom through his website and blog at http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk./
Colleagues may also be interested in the ebook Coming of Age: An Introduction to the NEW Worldwide Web. The first edition is available at http://www.ictineducation.org/db/web2. The second edition features Sheryl, Darren, Wes and a number of other people you’ve met during this conference. Keep track of progress at http://web2booklet.blogspot.com/
Description
Terry’s view is that at some point it is going to be necessary to ‘sell’ Web 2.0 to the school’s management/administration. This may be from the outset, or it may be subsequently, in order to expand and embed its use into normal practice, eg in order to ensure equal opportunities in terms of access and experience. The purpose of his presentation is to look at the most common obstacles to the implementation of Web 2.0 tools like blogging, and how to address them. The presentation will equip delegates with the following knowledge:
– The seven general principles of presenting new ideas
– Objection analysis
– The four main areas of concern usually expressed, and how to deal with them.
– Seven proactive things you can do to get the management (or other influential people) on your side.
– Four reasons why a supportive management is not always a good thing.
– Four tactics to get a supportive administration or leadership team working with you rather than against you.
– Three things to do if blogging etc has already been banned.
The presentation takes the form of a podcast and an accompanying PDF which goes into much more detail.
Presentation
http://k12online.wm.edu/selling_web2_0_v3.mp3
http://k12online.wm.edu/overcomingobstacles.pdf
Overcoming Obstacles”It’s Elementary Kids, Working Web 2.0 With Grade 3-4″
John Pearce
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
http://jpearce.suprglu.com/
Presentation Title
“It’s Elementary Kids, Working Web 2.0 With Grade 3-4”
Bio
John Pearce teaches grade 3-4 children at a school in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Over the past two years he and his students have experimented with the use of blogs, wikis and podcasts in assisting learning in a range of interesting formats. These have included using blogs and wikis for collaborative projects with overseas schools, creating online stories using a wiki as well as the more ‘traditional’ formats. Along the way many lessons have been learnt not least of which is that students see that the tools they enjoy playing with can also be powerful learning tools.
Description
This presentation will explore that journey focussing on the lessons learnt along the way so far. Also included in the presentation will be some critical reflections from the students involved. As well as including personal anecdotal experiences, this presentation will also include artefacts and reflections from the students.
Whilst viewing the presentation please take the time to have a look around the Articulate window as John has included in the presentation some additional notes as well as some attachments including a survey undertaken by his students reflecting on the use of elements of Web 2.0. Included also are some tutorial notes that he has used with other teachers to get them started with edublogs, wikispaces, audacity and Microsoft Photo Story 3 as well as a “talking book” one of his grade 3’s wrote and narrated for out Middle P Stories blog. The attachments window can be found in the top right corner of the Articulate screen.
(Important Note, at the time of writing this blurb the server at my school is offline because of a service upgrade. As a result some of the links mentioned may not be functional so please check back later if they don’t work at first.):)
Presentation
http://k12online.wm.edu/its_elementary/player.html
Personal Professional Development”Toward a System for Online Curriculum-Sharing”
Rob Lucas
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Blog: http://teacherslounge.typepad.com/
http://teachforward.org/
Kevin Driscoll
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
http://kevindriscoll.info/
Presentation Title
“Toward a System for Online Curriculum-Sharing ”
Bios
Rob Lucas taught 6th grade social studies for two years in North Carolina. While teaching, he created a lesson-sharing wiki called the Teachers’ Lounge. He spent last year earning a master’s in Technology, Innovation, and Education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. While there, he was an inaugural recipient of the Reynolds Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship and developed a plan for a new nonprofit lesson sharing site called TeachForward.
Kevin Driscoll is a computer science teacher at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, MA. In the classroom, he teaches an original curriculum for grades 6-12 with emphasis on identity, community-building, cut’n’paste cultural production, free software, literacy, and independent learning. Kevin has experimented with wiki-based curriculum sharing at his school and is the lead developer of TeachForward. Along with this work, he is a hip-hop DJ and intimate collaborator with Internet-based artist Claire Chanel.
Description
Each year, the world’s teachers plan millions of great lessons. But after they’re taught, nearly all of them end up in dusty filing cabinets, never to be seen by another soul. Teachers are currently unable to build upon the best work of colleagues around the globe. Social web technologies hold promise for addressing this need, but current systems of online lesson-sharing are inadequate. Teachers struggle to find resources that are of high quality and appropriate for their grade level, subject, topic, teaching style, and local context. This presentation reviews previous lesson-sharing efforts and then presents a few key difficulties of curriculum sharing, our own preliminary answers, and the ways we’re applying them in our new site, TeachForward.
This presentation includes a podcast and a PowerPoint slideshow. It’s best to download both, listen to the podcast, and advance the slideshow when you hear the beep. However, the podcast should make sense without the slides, and if you’d prefer just to read, there’s text in the ‘notes’ section of the PowerPoint to guide you through.
Presentation
http://k12online.wm.edu/SystemOnlineCurriculumSharing.ppt
http://k12online.wm.edu/lucasdriscoll_k12conf.mp3
