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2013 Open Learning

Crowdsourcing Your Professional Development

Published by:

Presenter: Tanya Avrith, Holly Clark
Location: Montreal, Canada and San Diego, California
@edtechschools, @HollyEdTechDiva

Presentation Title: Crowdsourcing Your Professional Development

Presentation Description: Tanya Avrith and Holly Clark co-hosts of the eduslam.me vodcast show discuss how they are using their networks to crowdsource for best practices and professional development using some of the most innovative educators in the world. In this segment, they interview Jennie Magiera from Chicago, Illinois and David Theriault from Huntington Beach, California to demonstrate how they are harnessing the power of their social networks to crowdsource their personal learning, as well as the learning of their students.

Tanya and Holly share their story and how they came up with the concept of eduslam.me and demonstrate examples of how powerful the concept of open learning can be.

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
eduslam.me

Additional Information:
Tanya Avrith’s Blog is found at tanyaavrith.com, Holly Clark can be found at hollyclark.net.

Please follow us on twitter: @edtechschools, @hollyedtechdiva and @eduslam. You can also follow David Theriault @davidtEDU and Jennie Magiera @msmagiera

Read more about eduslam on our interview with Jennie Magiera :
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_toward_tomorrow/2013/09/the_digital_buzz_eduslam_is_a_.html

2012 Kicking It Up a Notch

Using iOS App Affordances to Foster Literacy Learning in the Classroom

Published by:

Presenter: Richard Beach and Jill Castek
Location: Minneapolis, MN, US/Portland, OR, US
Twitter: @rbeach   @jillcastek

Presentation Description: This presentation describes students’ uses of iOS app affordances to foster collaborative reading, writing, and speaking/listening literacy practices in the classroom given the need to determine how apps can be used to foster literacy practices. By app affordances, we mean those literacies fostered through how apps are employed in activities. These affordances are not “in” apps, but rather are fostered through creating engaging activities.

We illustrate how these affordances are fostered through activities with specific examples of how California 5th and 7th graders students’ to engage in certain literacy practices. Students used the Popplet Lite concept-mapping app to identify and elaborate on relationship between concepts to address the question, what is gold? The used the Diigo and DocAS annotation apps for highlighting sections of essays about the positive and negative aspects of using wind turbines for energy use and then adding annotations posing questions about essays, annotations used for later summary writing. They used the VoiceThread app for creating presentations arguing their case for whether volcanoes, an asteroid, or a supernova led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. And, they used the ShowMe app for creating screencast presentations illustrating Mendel’s genetics theory.
One key affordance in use of these apps is the multimodal integration reading, writing, and speaking/listening. For example, they used the ShowMe app to create doodle drawings serve as visual illustrations of their voice-over talk about genetics, illustrations that, in turn, served to focus and foster elaboration of their talk.
Another key affordance is that the mediate collaborative construction of ideas and presentations. For example, in using the VoiceThread app, pairs of students would take turns in responding to the same images, as well as share their presentations with other students for their comments.
All of this suggests the importance of teachers creating activities that exploit the affordances of iOS apps in the classroom to foster literacy learning.

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
http://tinyurl.com/bt8s3rk

Additional Information:
Blog: Apps For Learning Literacy
http://www.appsforlearningliteracies.com

Wiki resource site for using apps to foster literacy learning http://usingipads.pbworks.com

2012 Visioning New Curriculum

Make/Hack/Play – Lenses for Learning

Published by:

Presenter: Bud Hunt
Location: Longmont, Colorado USA
Twitter: @budtheteacher

Presentation Description: The Center for Make/Hack/Play grew out of a system asking itself questions about the purpose and role of schools as institutions of learning. In this presentation, Bud Hunt unpacks the terms that guide his inquiry about and work within schools.

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:

 

2012 Announcements

K12 Online Conference 2012 Call for Proposals: Learn, Share, Remix

Published by:

The 2012 K-12 Online Conference is coming to a computer near you soon! This year’s FREE online conference will take place the weeks of Oct 22 – 25 and Oct 29 – Nov. 2, with a pre-conference keynote on October 15th. The 2012 theme is, “Learn, Share, Remix.” Educators and students worldwide are invited to respond to our 2012 call for proposals. Presenters create twenty minute, engaging video presentations shared during our two week conference. Please check out some of last year’s presentations. The organizer team for this year’s conference selected “Learn, Share, Remix” for our theme because it embodies many of the ACTIONS we can model as 21st century teachers and students. We all want to model lifelong learning. Our digital connections afford us amazing opportunities to SHARE what we are learning along the way. REMIXING is the process taking knowledge and using it in creative and innovative ways. Remixers build on the work of others. REMIXING can also include transforming the ways we teach and learn. In each strand of our conference this year, we hope presenters will explore and model ways we can learn, share and remix our professional development.

'Don't Squeeze the Mixter!!' photo (c) 2008, Robert Nunnally - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Deadline for proposal submissions is June 15th at midnight PDT. Selections will be announced July 15th. Ten presentations will be featured in each of our four strands for 2012, for a total of forty presentations.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A PRESENTATION PROPOSAL.

Getting Started: Do you consider yourself a newcomer to the world of digital learning? This strand is for you. Presenters will focus on “the why and how” of using digital learning tools to connect with other learners, create new and exciting knowledge products, and engage students in an expanded learning process beyond the traditional “boundaries of the bell.” Practical classroom implementation ideas for beginners will be emphasized. Susan van Gelder is the convener.

Kicking it up a Notch: This strand amplifies ways new technologies can be used to transform classroom and personal learning. Rather than merely replicating traditional, analog-based learning tasks, how can digital technologies permit teacher-leaders to add greater interactivity, personal differentiation, and multi-modal exploration of curriculum topics? Presentations will explore innovative ways Web 2.0 tools can be blended together to help students create, collaborate, and share the knowledge safely on the global stage of the Internet. Jose Rodriguez is the convener.

Student Voices: This strand seeks to amplify voices of exemplary student leaders who use digital tools in their school communities as well as the larger world. Students can focus on specific project using technology to learn, outstanding classroom projects which have had a particularly positive impact on their and classmates’ learning, and/or recommendations for educators seeking to effectively use digital tools. A focus on project-based learning and service learning is welcome, but not required. Student presenters must be sponsored by an educator; permission forms will need to be signed by a parent for each presenting student. Ginger Lewman is the convener.

Visioning New Curriculum: As the age of paper-based textbooks adopted on multi-year cycles fades away, a new age beckons with a curriculum filled with multimedia resources and interactive simulations. This strand explores curriculum possibilities for accessing as well as sharing and remixing digital content. This will include OER (open educational resources) as well as commercial curriculum sources. What does the best “digital curriculum” today look like and what should it look like tomorrow? Should curriculum still be folded into “textbooks?” When should and how can teachers “flip” classroom learning? What’s your vision for innovative curriculum? Wesley Fryer is the convener.

We would love presenters to involve students and include student voices when appropriate in presentations. (Student participation is NOT required or expected, but is welcomed.)

The 2012 Conference: What’s the same?

  1. Price: Free!
  2. Basic format: Each weekday of the two weeks of the conference, four presentations (two per strand for that week) will “go live” / be published on our conference blog.
  3. Pre-Conference Keynote: Still the week prior to the “˜regular’ conference. this year it’s on October 15th.
  4. Presenters will share their presentation via a Ge.tt account. Strand conveners will handle the rest.
  5. Presenters are invited to include student voices and perspectives in their presentations in all strands.

The 2012 Conference: What’s different?

  1. We are re-igniting a separate “student voices” strand this year.
  2. Each year we try a different or experimental strand. This year it is “Visioning New Curriculum.”
  3. We are calling on our community to get more involved as volunteers in this year’s conference.

How Can You Help?

  1. Spread the word! Share #K12Online12 via your social networking connections, blogs, email, and face-to-face with colleagues!
  2. Submit a proposal to present! We love first-time presenters. It’s a 20 minute recorded presentation. Screencasting tools are better than ever today. You can do this. Hundreds of educators worldwide want to hear your ideas and your voice!
  3. Encourage others to present! Each year many of our submitted proposals come after someone sends a personal invitation. If you know a teacher who should present, ask them to submit a proposal!
  4. Volunteer! Our 2012 Call for Volunteers form is also available.

Volunteers are needed for the following committees:

  1. Public Relations Committee
  2. Professional Development Committee
  3. Conference Preservation Committee
  4. Live Events Committee

Your participation and voice is essential for the continued success of the K-12 Online Conference! Please get involved and spread the word about this year’s conference. We’re looking forward to YOUR participation as we learn, share and remix together!

2011 Announcements

Afterglow Live Event: Join Us Monday Night, December 12th!

Published by:

Please mark your calendars and adjust your schedules to join presenters, participants, and organizers of the 2011 K-12 Online Conference in an “AfterGlow” Closing Live Event on Monday, December 12th at 6:00pm PT / 7:00pm MT / 8:00pm CT / 9:00pm ET. If you’re located outside North American timezones, please use this timeanddate.com link (2:00 AM Tuesday, December 13 GMT) to determine the event time in your local area. “The Afterglow” is a fun, celebratory event held in Blackboard Collaborate. It will provide opportunities for presenters to share the stories behind their presentations as well as give participants a chance to ask questions of the presenters. The Blackboard Collaborate session link is: http://tinyurl.com/cr20live. This link may be shared with others on Twitter, Plurk, blogs, etc. Please cross-post this information on your own blog, if possible, so we can amplify this live event and draw a big crowd of educators! (HTML code to cross-post is available.)

'Northern Lights' photo (c) 2008, Image Editor - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The MC for the event will be Susan van Gelder, who will ask the questions of the panel members and facilitate the conversations among presenters and participants. The panel will consist of all of the keynote presenters for the conference, but all presenters are encouraged to join us and come prepared to “raise your hand to take the mic” during the session if desired. Everyone can contribute actively in the chat conversation. The webinar will be an hour long and not every presenter may have an opportunity to share. There is a possibility the conversation may continue after the ‘formal’ closing of the webinar into a post-show. Participation of the presenters is optional during post show as we know everyone’s time is limited.

In addition to joining our upcoming live event, we invite you to check out and comment on a special “backstories of the 2011 K-12 Online Conference” Voicethread. Several of our presenters have already chimed in. Please add your voice and commentary!

Organizers of the 2011 K-12 Online Conference wish to express appreciation to Steve Hargadon and the Classroom 2.0 Live community for providing the “virtual meeting room” for our Afterglow live event. We hope to “see you” virtually in Blackboard Collaborate Monday night! (Use this link for times if you’re outside North America) Please invite other educators you know to join us too!

2011 2011-Team Captains

When Leadership and Learning Collide

Published by:

Presenter: Dave Edwards
Location: Wilmington, NC USA
Twitter: @eduk8andlead

Presentation Title: When Leadership and Learning Collide

Presentation Description: Today’s educational leader has to understand the 21st century learning process and map it to today’s workforce needs. Gaining an understanding of what it takes to foster innovation/creativity/change in schools and classrooms is imperative for leaders at all levels. This thought-provoking presentation explores how leadership at all levels can make the difference between effective learning environments and poor learning environments. When there is good leadership (at all levels), learning can occur and innovation is spawned. Dave takes a look at how educational leaders can foster this culture and allow learning and leadership to collide through effective best practices and new strategies tailored to your needs.

iPod Videomp3 audio

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
http://www.slideshare.net/edwardsdave1967/leadership-and-learning-collide

Additional Information:
http://educateandlead.wordpress.com

Dave is the Chief Communications and Professional Learning Officer for the NC Virtual Public School, the 2nd largest state virtual school in the nation. He is also the President and CEO of Ignite Learning Partners, LLC, a new education and training solutions provider. He is an innovative leader whose passion to see education transformed drives everything he does. He works to see innovative learning become the constant, and leadership become the catalyst to foster a 21st century learning ecosystem. He is an avid tweeter, strong family man, youth leadership advocate, and when not working spends time writing and playing music for charitable causes.

2010-Keynote

Closing Keynote: A Gardener’s Approach To Learning

Published by:

Presenter: David Warlick
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Link to David’s bio page

Presentation Title: A Gardener’s Approach To Learning

Presentation Description:

When I left the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction in 1995, the Internet was still a wilderness for the educators who even knew that it existed. I, and others, saw ourselves as trailblazers, establishing routes and landmarks for those who followed.
Then, for years, settling that wilderness became an allegory for an education institution that was, at last, starting to establish the means to move into this new environment and even beginning to expect educators to leave the established but increasingly irrelevant centuries old structures and move into a new and fertile landscape.
It might be usefully to extend this story from pioneers, then settlers, and talk about learning gardeners.  Our classrooms and extended learning environments have become great gardens of potential, and it has become our job to cultivate learning..
To cultivate the future.

DotSub Video Presentation Link

Blip m4v direct link (video file)
Blip mp3 direct link (audio file)

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?page_id=2666

Additional Information:
davidwarlick.com
Blog: 2cents.davidwarlick.com
Landmarks for Schools
Class Blogmeister
Twitter: @dwarlick

2010-Kicking It Up a Notch

Shhh!!! The Students are Learning: Being an Effective Classroom Facilitator

Published by:

Presenter: Clif Mims
Location: Memphis, TN, USA
Link to presenter’s K12Online Ning Profile page

Presentation Title: Shhh!!! The Students are Learning: Being an Effective Classroom Facilitator

Presentation Description: Be a facilitator of learning rather than a deliverer of information. Develop strategies for managing a classroom where students can have a leadership role and the teacher becomes the classroom coach. Strategies and practical tips for designing and implementing units will be shared.

DotSub Video Presentation Link

Blip m4v direct link (video file)
Blip mp3 direct link (audio file)

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
http://clifmims.wetpaint.com/page/Effective+Facilitation

Additional Information:

Blog: Clif’s Notes
Twitter: @clifmims
Facebook: Clif Mims.com
Plurk: @clifmims

View my educational resources and join my PLN and let’s learn together.

2010-Kicking It Up a Notch

Robo Fusion

Published by:

Presenter: Joe Bires
Location: Haddonfield, NJ
Link to presenter’s K12Online Ning Profile page

Presentation Title: Robo Fusion

Presentation Description: This K12online presentation discusses the use of robotics in education to reinvent curriculum and reinvigorate learning.

DotSub Video Presentation Link

Blip m4v direct link
Blip mp3 direct link

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
http://edtechleadership.com/wordpress3/?p=1181

Additional Information:
www.edtechleadership.com

2010-Week in the Classroom

Teaching Science to 21st Century Learners

Published by:

Presenter: Britt Gow
Location: Hawkesdale, Victoria, Australia
Link to presenter’s K12Online Ning Profile page

Presentation Title: Teaching Science to 21st Century Learners

Presentation Description: This presentation demonstrates how web2.0 tools can be used in the science class to enhance learning, celebrate achievements and encourage collaboration. It includes video of student interviews, examples of student work and screencasts showing how the tools can be used. Viewers will gain a ‘digital toolbox’ to encourage 21st century learners to participate, communicate and create.

DotSub Video Presentation Link

Blip m4v direct link (video file)
Blip mp3 direct link (audio file)

Link to presentation’s supporting documents:
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AbR8IxTdNNOMZGNkeHZuNmJfMTI4NXg2YnN2Zmc&hl=en&authkey=CLXs-zs

Additional Information:
Blogs: Technoscience – http://brittgow.globalteacher.org.au
VCE Biology – http://vcebiology.edublogs.org
Technomaths – http://technomaths.edublogs.org
Twitter: @brittgow
Skype: britt.gow