Comments on: Reflections on the Flat Classroom Workshop

By: Join the Flat Classroom Workshop in India, 2010 « Kim’s Ventures in Educational Technology

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:54:20 +0000

[...] The recent success at the Flat Classroom Workshop in Hong Kong, featuring Julie Lindsay and Kim Cofino, shows how a project-based action workshop is pedagogically significant and provides a learning [...]

By: How To Connect Your Students Globally | always learning

How To Connect Your Students Globally | always learning — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:21:57 +0000

[...] weeks after returning from the Flat Classroom Workshop in Hong Kong, I am still inspired and energized about what learning could (and should) look [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:08:45 +0000

Bravo Kim! I want to let you know that you are not the only one reflecting on this experience. As you know we had a group of students from our school join the workshop. One student was so taken by the experiences she ended up writing me. This was a huge surprise because I had her in AP World last year and I had no idea if she truly understood why I was not teaching in the traditional lecture style. I can’t tell you the pains of using Web 2.0 pedagogy in a AP class because of the preconceived doubt but that is another story. Anyways I just want to share part of her response and also link her blog for those that want to see more about the experience:

“Im not sure if you’ll be checking your email over Chusok, but i had a
really important question to ask you. By now, im sure youve heard
about the amazing time we had at the Hong Kong Flat Classroom
conference. Im also (somewhat) sure that youve heard of Ms. P’s plans
to ask the school to support our schools participation in the next Flat
Classroom conference (in Mumbai).

She asked us to each write a paragraph about our experience at the
conference, and why we think the school should support our next foray
into the ‘flat-education-world’. Instead of settling on a paragraph, i
ended up writing a gigantic monstrosity of a blog post with one of the
main points being:

‘2. Because it’s necessary.

We use technology to such an extent that it would just be wrong, not
to go to this conference. Not only would teachers (and students) get
to see the reasoning behind the 1:1 program, they would see the
benefits of it, and how it is giving them an advantage over other
students.

Another reason as to why it would be necessary is because it would
giveteachers the chance to collaborate with each other. I know im not
a teacher and i haven’t taken a masters class on ‘education theory‘,
but even i can tell the difference between effective teaching methods
and not-so-effective teaching methods (the difference being: one
involves a lot of fidgeting and daydreaming and discreet clock
watching while the other doesnt). Making projects that the entire
internet will have access to, and being able to see the work that
other students do really drills the point home ‘you are not alone in
this. other people are also learning what you are. learn from what
they are learning.’ Need some evidence of this ‘internet-learning’
theory? clickclickclickclick‘

Im planning on making the link at the end go to your wikispace (from
last year’s AP World class). Im pretty confident you wont have any
issues with my linking to your wiki, but i just wanted to make sure
and get your permission. (If flat classroom taught me anyhing, it was
about internet copyright laws 0-o).”

Continue reading at: http://dongjul11.edublogs.org/

When I received this message I was lost for words. I guess I still am. It is great to get feedback from the people who matter most in this process and that is our students. In many ways it has revitalized me to keep working hard. It also confirms what I already knew was true. I wanted you to know that a lot of this props was due to you and your great leadership at the conference. So congratz all around, everyone’s work has paid off.

By: Susan the book chook

Susan the book chook — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:46:19 +0000

Kim, I was reading via email but had to drop by to comment. I just enjoyed reading your summary so much, and it’s given me such hope for the future! Keep up the great work.

By: sinikka

sinikka — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:13:06 +0000

Hi Kim
Thank you so much for sharing your reflections on this workshop. It sounds an absolutely marvellous occasion with incredible team work and learning experiences. All your insights will give the rest of us, more modest project organizers, lots of good ideas to keep developing our work. Having worked with various Asian schools, your photos brought back fond memories of our wonderful face-to-face conferences, too.
I totally agree with you about the benefits of project-based learning through authentic and achievable tasks. I wish all students had a chance to experience such intercultural learning at least once during their school years, but, unfortunately, not every school is equipped and wired enough to carry it out.
Thank you for inspiring your readers with your excellent work and genereous sharing!

By: Michael Coghlan

Michael Coghlan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:04:11 +0000

Absoutely inspiring Kim. These kinds of workshops should be standard fare in every region, and documented, disseminated, and learned from. Thank you for helping flatten the world.