NextGenTeachers

Sharing more Flat Classroom Summit Experiences

9 03 2010

Yesterday the flat classroom from Vienna International School under the direction of Barbara Stefanics presented their Student Summit. This group of students are the youngest class yet to be part of the Flat Classroom Project, being in Grade 8 and around 13-14 years old, compared to the other students who are Grade 10 and above and about 15-18 years old.

These VIS students did a fantastic job! They confidently cam on audio and video and talked about their experiences, discussed the issues they felt were important and shared their learning with us. The recording of the Elluminate session will reveal a certain maturity and confidence emerging that maybe the students didn't really know they had until actually put on the spot and asked to communicate live with whoever came into the Elluminate room.

Here is a collection of images from the VIS class. The first image is of Millica who did the presentation on behalf of herself and David (an absent peer). She spoke succinctly about how they had worked out the four 'C' words to align with different Web 2.0 tools and online uses. Listen to the recording to find out more!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Safe Toys

I also want to share Vicki's contribution to the Flat Classroom 2007 teacher summit from the other day. I have blogged about this already however I am now putting Vicki's screen shots of her cartoons up front in this post. They are so real!

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The Power of the Collaborative: Students 2.0

9 03 2010

I found this through a Twitter from Kristen Hokanson this afternoon. yes, I know ...I am supposed to be writing reports but, hey, Twitter was still open and......

Then I watched the video and explored the Students 2.0 website (in it's infancy)...and then I discoverd one of the leaders of this initiative is a Flat Classroom student from MICDS, Anthony C, who blogs at Two Penguins and a Typewriter, and who created the video called 'What Happens When the World Goes Online', for the Connecting the World Online topic, which has a quote from Friedman's The World is Flat spoken by me at the start...and then goes on to interview Pat Bassett from NAIS who talks about the Challenge 2020 program...I was just in Madrid 2 weeks ago at a presentation about this from a rep. from NAIS, maybe it was PAT.....I feel like I am going around in a circle here!

Video teaser for Students 2.0

Students 2.0 Launch Teaser from Sean on Vimeo.

So, a group of 'out there' students have got together and decided to blog and create multimedia and change the world. I am so looking forward to this! Kudos so far to you all.

Technorati Tags: kristenhokanson students2.0 achivetta challenge2020 nais flatclassroomproject2007

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Flat Classroom Student and Teacher Summits

9 03 2010

Julie's image for the Teacher Summit reflection

I am still buzzing from the online Flat Classroom Project 2007 Student and Teacher Summits we had yesterday.
There are 7 classrooms included in this project and for the teacher summit we managed to get 4 teachers in the Elluminate room at the same time.
Julie Lindsay: Qatar Academy, Qatar
Vicki Davis: Wwstwood Schools, Georgia USA
John Turner: PLC, Melbourne Australia
Barbara Stefanics: VIS, Vienna Austria

Unable to attend but deserving special recognition for their hard work and dedication to the project are:
Simon May: SAS, Shanghai China
Barrie Becker: LACHSA, California USA
Elizabeth Helfant: MICDS, Missouri

For the student summits PLC led the way last week with a session, view the recording here. John's comments from an email after the summit session:
What a blast - 3 of my students presented through Elluminate this morning [2 hrs ago]
Audience was only one but much appreciated - Donna a Year 7/8 teacher in Georgia [many thanks to Vicki for this]
Students found it an experience both information [presenting to a Web 2 world] and empowering (having to present in new forms)
Makes the week worthwhile. Now back to the mundane

Both of Vicki's classes from WW presented yesterday
This next recording in Elluminate includes the two student summits from Vicki's class at the beginning and then at the 6:55 time mark the teacher summit starts.

I highly commend the students from WestWood High School for their presentations and ability to use the back channel chat facility to keep conversations going and to answer questions while the presentations were going on. There were a number of visitors to these two sessions including Yara, a student of mine from Qatar Academy, and John Maklary, one of the sounding board teachers for the project. One of the highlights was when John's student, Leila, (13 year old peer reviewer!) came to the mic and explained to us all why she enjoyed being a reviewer and what her class got out of being part of the project. John shared with us that at this point the class turned a corner, they then realised that there were real people on the end of these wikis and videos. The power of real-time interaction should not be underestimated. Leila went on to say her favourite video was from Google Takes over the World topic, the one about news bulletin etc. Well, that's Yara's video...and Yara is here with us online! you can speak to her now! What a joy to be able to connect people/students using stable, effective and user-friendly software like Elluminate.
Here are some images from the PLC and WW student summits:

BubbleShare: Share photos - Cheap Hotels Vegas
The teacher summit reveals interesting interaction and sharing of images, thoughts, and ideas based on our experiences working through the Flat Classroom Project again this year. Both Barbara and John are also experienced 'flat classroomers' as they were part of the Horizon Project last April/May as well.
When listening to the recording don't forget to fast-forward to the 6:55 time mark for the start of the teacher summit.

Some points made:
John Turner

We need to start thinking more visually hence the use of Comic Life to prepare this reflection
This project enhanced motivation and responsibility of students
Project needed good time management skills
Learned from using Web 2.0 tools and want to embed this learning into the curriculum

Barbara Stefanics

Watching the engagement of the students and being able to share this is important
Being able to bring in new and useful technologies, can be overwhelming for students until the essential tools are identified
Timing of the project can affect a classroom's effectiveness in joining and sustaining (holiday's interrupt the flow)

Julie Lindsay

Global Collaboration 3.0: this project has raised the bar in terms of what a global collaborative project can do
Key terms the 7 'Cs': Connect, Communicate, Cooperate, Contribute, Collaborate, Create, Celebrate (also ideas from participants: Collect, Construct, Citizenship)
Enhanced cultural understanding

Vicki Davis

Set of cartoons as to what it means to be a flat classroom teacher

Living in multiple timezones...adds to the exhaustion
Issues with video file formats....Zamzar are best friend but expires after one day
Challenging teachers to come on board with knowing and using the Web 2.0 tools

This project covers all of the NETS.S standards
Moving to a creation-based classroom from a consumption-based classroom!
Peer pressure and creation focus: a new way of teaching
Enlightening and enjoyable...but a struggle and lots of issues to work through

Here are some images from the teacher summit in Elluminate:

BubbleShare: Share photos - Safe Toys

We have more student summits over the next few days and also a student awards ceremony to celebrate the culmination of the project (we have 20 or so hard working judges from around the world viewing student videos right now!). For more details about times check the opening page of the Flat Classroom Wiki. We invite you all to come and join in! We have an Elluminate room for 100 so there is lots of room!

Technorati Tags: flatclassroomproject flatclassroomproject2007 flatclassroomproject2007_studentsummit flatclassroomproject2007_teachersummit flatclassroomproject2007_reflection elluminate vickidavis barbarastefanics barriebecker johnturner elizabethhelfant simonmay johnmaklary

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Flatten Your Classroom: ECIS 07 Presentation

9 03 2010

It is almost a week since I was in Madrid at the ECIS (European Council of International Schools) annual conference for 2007. I have a few blog posts about this not finished yet! It was a great conference with excellent presentations and representatives from many schools and areas around Europe, Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the USA contingent.

As part of the ECIS IT team I co-presented a session called 'Web 2.0 Cocktail' where a few of us highlighted our favourite Web 2.0 tools. I featured wiki's and Twitter. Luckily the wireless Internet held up long enough for me to Twitter through and receive a couple of replies from international colleagues during the session...this always looks impressive (or at least odd enough for people to want to have a go themselves!). We had a packed room for this session and fielded many questions. The only down side was an inadequate Internet connection...but then again I am very spoilt having had the opportunity to present at NECC.

For my own presentation I had a spot on the very last morning, with about 1.5 hours available to talk about, "Flatten your classroom and embrace 21st century global learning". This was a wonderful opportunity to take the time to really look at the concepts behind the Flat Classroom Project and the Horizon Project and to feature student work. The audience were receptive, keen and interested. Most of the student work featured was 'hot off the press' from the current Flat Classroom Project 2007 and ECIS had set up an excellent sound system (thank you!).

Here is the slideshow as uploaded to my slideshare.net account. However I have had to take out all of the embedded multimedia but in most cases there are direct URL's to the online material.

| View | Upload your own

Technorati Tags: flatclassroomproject flatclassroom flatclassroomproject2007 ecis07

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I have to convince the BoG to adopt e-Learning

9 03 2010

This presentation has taken a lot of sweat and effort from many people globally. I am not joking. When I was invited by the Director at Qatar Academy to present the E-Learning For Life (E4L) vision to the Board of Governors (BoG) I immediately thought about showing what other international schools are doing and how this compares to where QA is now. What better way to explain why I am asking for so much money when the power of images and the explanation of implemented programs from other schools can reveal what is possible. I discussed this in a recent blog post as well.

Thanks to my wonderful and supportive PLN (Professional Learning Network) I contacted some of my colleagues; educators that I respect and who are working at schools I already know have moved forward into 21st century adoption of best-practice use of e-Learning ideals. These include Jeff Utecht (Shanghai American School), Kim Cofino and Justin Medved (International School Bangkok) and Madeleine Brookes (Bangkok Patana School). I asked if they could contribute images and share their IT learning environments.

Well, here is the result: E-Learning For Life: A 21st Century Initiative for the Next Generation. Catchy title? Will it inspire the Board? Will they want to move QA into the next level and support our vision for this school to be one of the best in the Middle East? I am so nervous about this presentation (tomorrow!) and the fact that the Director has said 8 minutes is the limit, with some time for questions and discussions. I have written two versions of the IT budget for next year..the 'essential budget' and the 'special project' budget which effectively doubles the essential one. But it's not about the money, it's about the attitude and the wanting to do it right. Tomorrow is a chance for us to try and show there is a better way into 21st century modes of learning. I have tried to show a balanced approach to all of the considerations we are currently discussing.

My E4L team have been over and over the presentation with me. We have pruned it down to the basics and now I have recorded it using Camtasia Studio. This is such a great piece of software as it allows you to record a PowerPoint presentation and edit and enhance it later. I actually exported it to Windows Movie maker as well and did further edits, you know the extra breathing and odd phrases that don't belong.

So, I have it under 8 minutes and really want to show this video tomorrow rather than talk live. I wonder if that will be appropriate? I sound nervous on the video...I sound like I am reading my lines (OK, sometimes I am reading lines....!). However, the BoG have such a large agenda for their meeting I feel this will be the most efficient use of time. After the video I can then answer questions. What do you think??

Thanks again to my extended network and to the support I have had locally and globally. Wish me luck!

Technorati Tags: elearning camtasia jeffutecht kimcofino justinmedved madeleinebrookes

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Assessing the Reading Level of Your Blog

9 03 2010

This is an interesting one just popped into my blogosphere this morning via Jeff Utecht who got it from Doug Johnson.

According to this online testing device my blog is 'Junior High School' reading level. It would seem that in comparison to Jeff's test, my blog is a little harder to read however I am on the same level as Doug...is this what it means? As an observation and as an international educator I am once again disappointed (that's not the right word, but it does give me a 4-syllable word that affects the next test!) by the US-centric terminology and result of the test. What is Junior High? Can we have an age level? Can we have a grade level? I think internationally that would be easier to understand.

Through a comment from Paul Hamilton to Jeff's post I also explored Juicy Studio for more statistics (3 syllables!).

The results show that my percentage of 3 or more syllable words is just under 15%.

The Gunning Fog Index is explained as:
"The result is your Gunning-Fog index, which is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content. The lower the number, the more understandable the content will be to your visitors. Results over seventeen are reported as seventeen, where seventeen is considered post-graduate level."

The Flesch Reading Ease: "The result is an index number that rates the text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. Authors are encouraged to aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70."
OK, so I have a 64.31 here ...doing alright so far.

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level:
"The result is the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. Like the Gunning-Fog index, it is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content. Negative results are reported as zero, and numbers over twelve are reported as twelve."

In comparison to the first test this one gives more detail but it is interesting to see how the two have lined up together. Essentially my blog is readable by people who have had about 7-10 years of schooling, are in the early years of high or secondary school. The discrepancy (4 syllables?) between the Gunning Fox (10.29 years) and the Flesch-Kincaid (7.08) meters is interesting...but a scholar of research and statistics needs to explain these in more detail for clearer understanding.

Philip Chalmers of Benefit from IT provided the following typical Fog Index scores, to help ascertain the readability of documents.

E-Learning blog has the same index score as Time or Newsweek!

What does all of this mean? It has made me think about my blog and why I am writing it. I delivered a PD session the other day to teachers about getting started with blogging. I told them blogging had changed my life...in many ways. I told them that I mostly write for an audience and thanks to you (the person now reading this post, yes YOU!) I am gratified to know that someone is reading this blog. My audience were amazed! The concept and practice of blogging for an international audience is amazing. I try to keep some sort of erudite content in my blog but the loftier posts that link in with the blogosphere and comment and draw in on recent conversations take me a long time to write. The easier posts for me are the grass roots 'this is what I am doing and this is what my immediate circle of colleagues are doing'.

How readable is your blog?

Technorati Tags: jeffutecht dougjohnson paulhamilton readinglevel blogging

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Blogging to Support Literacy

9 03 2010

This afternoon the Qatar Reading Association has a 'teachers teaching teachers' workshop on the Education City campus. Teachers from Qatar Academy and other schools in Doha have assembled to share best practice.

Session 1 Encouraging and Including the Reluctant Contributor
Chad S and Diana W from Qatar Academy

Really free writing experiment
using scraps of paper participants were asked to write freely. I am going to try this on the computer......no fixing typos, no looking back or stopping.
How to gte reluctant contributors to contribute is the topic. OK, I thinik the idea is to builked confidence and create a sense of worth amongsst the students. It is important to allow for individuality and creativity within this activity. Some students may dominate however so it is essetial that teh teacher manitinas a cedrtian control over the acitivy. OK, ideas for getting students to come out and respond,. apeal to their sense of fun, talk about what they may view as important

My presentation
Blogging to Support Literacy

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Edublog Awards for 2007

9 03 2010

The Edublog Awards are back again in fine form for 2007. Nominations are open until November 21.

So, step up and nominate a blog, a wiki, a blogpost, an educational use of social networking and more!

The associated Digizen award is also worth looking at. According to the digizen.org website:Entries must be accessible online, ie, can be hosted on a school server, website or on a public web service (such as Bebo, Myspace, Blogger) that is accessible without a username or password. For information about the range of social networking services available, and ideas on how best to use them within an educational setting, you can see our section on social network services. See the digizen website for more details.

Here are the categories for the Edublog Awards for 2007:

1. Best individual blog

2. Best group blog

3. Best new blog

4. Best resource sharing blog

5. Best designed blog

6. Most influential blog post

7. Best blogged research paper or project

8. Best teacher blog

9. Best higher-education student blog

10. Best librarian / library blog

11 Best educational tech focused blog

12. Best elearning / corporate education blog

13. Best educational use of audio

14. Best educational use of video / visual

15. Best educational wiki

16. Best educational use of a social networking service

17. Best educational use of a virtual world

18. Best educational use of open source

19. Digizen’s 14-19 competition - note, this award is not run by the Edublog Awards, but they are delighted however to be promoting it and supporting young peoples participation.

20. Conveners award

Technorati Tags: digizen edublogs edublogawards edublogawards2007

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Are you able to help Flat Classroom Students with Video Clips?

9 03 2010

Our Flat Classrooms are buzzing this week as students go full swing into producing their multimedia artifact. The work is individual and 'judged' according to a rubric. Each students belongs to a topic team as well as a concept group and is given the challenge of creating a short piece of video that reflects both of these ideas. For example one of my students, Yara, is in Group 7, Google Takes Over the World and in concept team 2, Story and Empathy. She has plans to create a video that tells a story about the impact of Google in her life.

The objective of this blog post is to open the door of the flat classrooms even wider and invite input from the global community to help the students finish their video work. One of the requirements of the video is to have a short clip outsourced from their classroom/school/country. Some students for various reasons have not managed to get a clip so rather than have them miss out we have created a wiki page of last minute requests. Have a look and if you are interested and able you too could be part of a flat classroom multimedia artifact! For example, one student is asking for someone to video opening a laptop while at the beach...any takers? Ten seconds of video, send it according to our video requirements and we will be delighted to receive it and give you credit!

For more information read the requests page and leave a message via the wiki page and/or discussion tab. We only have a few days to do this as the deadline is looming.

Thank you in advance global community!

Technorati Tags: flatclassroomproject2007 flatclassroomproject flatclassroom

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E-Learning for Life: Help needed convincing the BoG!

9 03 2010

My school Director has invited me to present my 'E-Learning for Life' strategy for Qatar Academy to the Board of Governors (BoG) in two weeks time. This is a great opportunity....and I am nervous!

In my new position as Head of Information Technology /E-Learning at Qatar Academy I have the challenge of helping to move the 10-year old PreK-12 school (now an IB World School) into the next 5-years of strategic development. This is an exciting challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly QA is owned and managed by the Qatar Foundation which in turn has been formed by a decree by the Emir himself. In other words the school is owned by the ruling family in Qatar. As you may also know Qatar is one of the top 5 richest countries in the world. You may also know that Qatar is one of the most 'developing' countries in the world right now. It is in the Middle East but it is progressive and taking a global approach to providing educational resources for people in Qatar and beyond. Not only this, it has a vision of excellence and is building a magnificent Education City on a huge campus that includes a number of reputable tertiary institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, NorthWest University, Texas University.

I have 15 minutes to convince a group of powerful board members that the school as a whole needs to embrace new pedagogies that involve a whole new mindset. I have 15 minutes to review where QA is now, where we could be and how we can get there! I have 15 minutes to outline the plan for the next 5 years and ask for support for this vision in terms of agreement and money!

OK, I need YOUR help on this as well!

I want to be able to show best-practice from around the world. I want to say, yes Qatar Academy is a great school, however look at these best practices around the world and look at what we need to do to be one of the best as well.

Can you help??

Do you have ideas of what it means to be a 21st century school?
Do you ideas of what a 21st century classroom looks like?
Do you have images to support your ideas?
Do you have a new installation, a new classroom with an effective learning space/design?
Are you willing to share as part of global collegiality?

I invite you to share your ideas and your images on my planning wiki. It is open for editing now, you shouldn't have to become a member as such, but if you do I can quickly fix that!

I am inspired already by the writings of David Warlick (read the comments to his post), Kim Cofino, Jeff Utecht, and Kristin Hokanson and I know there are many more inspirational colleagues out there. So, my challenge and request to you is to share your ideas either via a comment to this blog post and maybe share a link to other resources I can review or by posting some material on the wiki.
You will be given full credit! I value your input to this challenge!

Technorati Tags: davidwarlick jeffutecht kimcofino kristinhokanson 21stcenturylearning school2.0 learning2.0

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