Reflection on the Face to Face

Yesterday, our #itdml program took part in a couple on air hangouts with Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Lisa Jobson and two ladies from Mystic Seaport Museum.   It was a great experience.  Below is a brief overview of the discussion we had with all of the participants.

Hangout with Heidi Hayes Jacobs, author of Mastering Global Literacy:

• Global literacy should involve relevant and meaningful aspects of  teaching
• There is a total of 5 portals in global literacy and writing in curriculum
• Scaling is an important portal
• We should scale nationally, through our school, as well as an individual
• Literacy is depth and connectivity, mainly making meaning of it all
• Finland gives feedback and not tests, is there a difference? 
• Google earth pro is a great tool to use in our classrooms to help to connect our students with the world.

Lisa Jobson was our second speaker discussing project from iearn:

• We as teachers need to teach our students to learn and work cross culturally
• Students work better with connection to the information 
• iearn is designed by teachers
• Some projects have 60 classrooms working together
• If a teacher wants to use iearn they should:
• start with projects already up and running
• pick one that correlates with their topics
• iearn has a collaboration center for teachers secure
• iearn is project based learning 
• Join a teachers cohort with other teachers around the world to learn how to use iearn (teachers lounge)
• Projects show one day in the life of another student through various journal entry and photos
• To good projects are solar cooking, and the teddy bear project (swap teddy/mascot across world)

The last hangout we did was with two people from Mystic Seaport Museum:

• Website for educators 
• Art and objects are stored in a vault
• Museum offers opportunities for students to connect with artifacts used around the world.
• Teachers act as facilitators of learning
• Student driven atmosphere.

Walk My World: What Does Your Reflection Say?

Cari, carebear, and cappy are my usual suspects of names.  Family and friends are my ultimate priorities. Passionate and athletic are only a few words that describe me.  I have a strong work ethic but can appreciate relaxing.  One song I would love to live by is dream big by Ryan Shupe. Whenever I think about reflection, I think about the Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you want to make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

Through a different "lens"

Pictures are worth a thousand words

MOOC Storify

Here is my storify to demonstrate my understanding of a MOOC and how it is beneficial in the school systems today.

MOOC's Response

What is a "MOOC", and how does it intersect with the online, or hybrid learning environments that we've been studying?

What is a MOOC? Another word for MOOC is a massive open online course. The benefit of MOOC's are they are available in a variety of topics and capable of being research from virtually anywhere! At your fingertips you can be connected with experts, peers, and others with the goals as you. The article mentioned a couple different MOOC's available to people such as Coursera, edX, FutureSense, or Udacity. I unfortunately do not have a great deal of experience with any of these courses.

Once the MOOC is complete, the student receives a certificate in the form most likely of badges. I like to call the badges "medals of honor". They provide a way to showcase you and build a digital portfolio. In some cases, badges can also be used for a professional development credit. Thinking about that concept, would it be beneficial for a teacher to be required to earn a certain number of badges rather than attend a professional development day? Would it be worth it? Would it be more beneficial or would more teachers take advantage of it?

The article discussed the differences between cMOOCs and xMOOCs. The C” in front of the word MOOC refers to a course based on connectivism where as the "X" is more directly related to University and "often meant delivery of content in a traditional academic manner". "Connectivism is related to how people use digital tools and environments to form networks and connections."

The article discusses many suggestions made by McAuley, Stewart, Siemens, & Cormier such as:

• The extent to which it can support deep enquiry and the creation of sophisticated knowledge
• The breadth versus the depth of participation
• Whether and under what conditions successful participation can extend beyond those with broadband access and sophisticated social networking skills
• Identifying the processes and practices that might encourage lurkers, or “legitimate peripheral participants”, to take on more active and central roles
• The impact or value of even peripheral participation, specifically the extent to which it might contribute to participation in the digital economy in extra-MOOC practices
• Specific strategies to maximize the effective contribution of facilitators in particular and more advanced participants in general
• The role for accreditation, if any, and how it might be implemented.

Above, I highlighted the phrase, "breadth versus depth". This can be a very powerful statement. One I believe the #itdml have proved this statement true. Although the content we produce is not of "typical" 6th year length, the depth of the conversations are far more meaningful and deeper than any program I have been a part of thus far. The #itdml classes closely relate to the MOOC's discussed in the article. During the 2014 summer courses we were a part of many different modules. For each module we completed we received a badge. I really enjoyed the idea from +Stephanie Lavado. She did a great job integrating technology into her physical education classroom. She discussed using pedometers and tracking each student’s steps. As a whole their goal was to "walk to Disney". This is just one example of many provided by the students in the class demonstrating the positives stemming from MOOC's. The Meriden Public School's are now trying implementing more MOOC's into our district. In a matter of minutes, one can be connected to experts, professionals and other peers with the same interests.

Resources:

• Ferdig, R. E. (2013). What massive open online courses have to offer K–12 teachers and students. Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute. About Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute

 

Week 4: Response on Chapters 2 and 3

Silvia Tolisano's chapter refers to building personal learning networks (PLN). Discuss some of the resources from the two chapters this week.  Even if you don't have any personal experience with some of them, which are you interested in trying?  Consider online global programs, wikis, global books, films, television shows, blogs, and news outlets that may be used in schools.  

As a physical educator, I find it difficult sometimes to integrate technology into my classroom.  My classroom is a place of active movement. Before this class I knew technology could be a tool to use but did not embrace it as much as I do now.  Mainly because I was unaware of so many different ideas and things I could do in my classroom.  One thing my district does to incorporate some ideas stated in Edutopia article are Learning Walks.  We have been using learning walks for almost two years.  The purpose of each walk is not to evaluate a teacher but to look at the area of need (school wide) and give suggestions on ways to improve it.  It was interesting to read what other districts do with learning walks in their school systems.

In chapters 2 and 3 in the Mastering Global Literacy book, many creative ways to integrate technology in a various amount of disciplines were discussed.  The chapters stated that global connectedness deals with the following areas:

• raising awareness
• making commitment
• developing your competence with contemporary tools
• building your PLN
• amplifying your curriculum

           I started to think about my classroom as well as how I could tweak the suggestions in the book to meet the needs of my students and curriculum. One area that really caught my eye was watching a TV program with a global perspective. In both physical education and health it is easy to find videos, shows or articles relating to the same areas we discuss here.  I started to think about how to take it one step further in my classroom.  I also teach personal fitness.  I feel it would be a great opportunity to "walk a day in someone else's shoes" in the class.  What do various people around the world do for exercise? Are they required to walk to school, work, or their home?  How does their "steps" compare to my students?  I also really enjoyed +Stephanie Lavado's idea of using pedometers to measure steps.  She discussed walking to Disney with her students.  Maybe my high school students could not only incorporate technology through mapping their steps but also integrate a cross curricular lesson.  For example, discuss the activity with their history teachers and integrate it into where we are walking.

          Another idea I found useful in my classroom was to incorporate global news.  I believe this would be a great "warm up" activity for my health students.  It would only take a couple minutes and we could look at global news articles relating to the concepts we are talking about in class. Some of these concepts would include self-esteem, bullying, health and wellness as well as other areas of health.  Not only can we connect our discussion on a global level but it will fit nicely with our class flow.

 

          The two chapters also discussed Skype, twitter, google apps, and wiki into the classroom.  I do not have much familiarity with wiki as I do the other programs discussed. Since being a part of the #itdml program, I have tried to use google apps more in my classroom.  Now, my students frequently use google as a tool to hand in assignments, take notes and share items with other students.  I believe because I am more comfortable with technology, it is easier to embrace it into my classroom.

 

          There are many things I can do to incorporate more global awareness in my classroom.   Join an established group or create a new project/activity of my own are only a few ideas Mastering Global Literacy has brought to my attention.  Student blogging and an international sports day are great ways to incorporate global connectivsm in my Physical Education/Health classroom.  During the international sports day, the chapter suggested students would perform an activity and upload videos, times, scores and even rules. The students would then connect with others around the globe and "learn" from each other.  As stated in chapter 3, "we live in a world that is easily accessible, if not face-to-face then at least virtually" (pg. 64).  Therefore, learning is able to take place anytime and anywhere.

 

Resources:

 

Alcock, M., & Jacobs, H. (n.d.). Mastering digital literacy.

 

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-global-competence-resource

Walk My World: Virtual High Five

The famous high five.  As seen in this video, there are many ways to go about a high five.  Ultimately, the high five whether it is for real or virtual is a mutual form of a "hello" and or support.  For example, I received a digital high five when I shared my door during last weeks #walkmyworld assignment from +Jody Ceglarski, +Kara Toman , and +Laura Krenicki.  All showed support and an excitement for my new adventure unfolding.  Thank you!

Week 3 Storify: LMS

Here is my storify for the distance learning class on week 3 learning management systems.