always learning

I just made a fabulous discovery!

Earlier this year I discovered the power of linked accounts in G-mail for elementary students. Today I learned how I can leverage that shortcut into individual contributing authors for our Grade 3 BlogPals blog on Edublogs. Here’s what I found out:

I would like:

• One class blog - not individual student blogs.
• The teacher or administrator to approve all postings.
• The students to be able to write whenever they want - not just in class, but I want all posts moderated by the teacher before they are published.
• Not to have to deal with individual student e-mail addresses.
• The students to have to log in so I can track who posts what, so students can’t “impersonate” each other, and so students can learn about usernames, passwords and responsibility.

So, here’s what I did:

• Created a class blog on Edublogs (in retrospect, it would have made more sense to use Learnerblogs, since this blog will mostly be authored by students. Ah well, live and learn, right?).
• Created a class e-mail account on G-mail that I have access to, as well as the class teacher.
• Created an Edublogs account for each student using the linked G-mail account feature. For each Edublogs account, I chose “Just a username, Please.”
• Logged into the main blog as the admin user and went to the Users tab.
• Added each student as a Contributor to the blog with their new “e-mail address” (which is really just the one class e-mail address using the “+StudentName” linked account option) under the “Add a User” function.

Now we have:

• Individual student log ins WITHOUT individual e-mail accounts.
• Individual student contributors to the blog WITHOUT their own blog.
• All posts approved by the blog administrator before posting.

Perfect!

This seems like the natural next step in our BlogPals project - once students are comfortable adding comments and writing posts as a “center”-type activity, we will give them individual log-ins so they can manage their posts independently.

Tags: elementary, blogging, grade3, blogpals, edublogs, contributors, student, authors, gmail, linked, email, learnerblogs,

During my riveting (wink, wink) MAP testing training this week, a middle school colleague asked me a fabulous question brought about by her attendance at the FLNW unConference session the day before. She asked:

Kim, how can I connect my students to other students all around the world?

Ah, the joy of getting to respond to that one question in a room full of teachers! One tactic I’ve found that gets teachers interested in using new technology in the classroom is to give them a chance to “overhear” a conversation with a third party, so they can absorb some information without feeling put on the spot. I shared a few ideas with her and got a conversation going with a few others - all in a day’s work, of course.

That conversation also got me thinking about a comment Miguel Guhlin left on his blog regarding my post “A Step-by-Step Guide to Global Collaborations.” Miguel states that:

A nice follow-up would be how to select which tool to use. There are so many of those available, I find some folks have trouble deciding.

And then, yesterday, I was a guest presenter in Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s graduate class (using Elluminate) where a teacher asked me:

Given the fact that we have state-mandated standards we need to meet, how do you find a technology tool that lets you bring in exciting collaborative elements?

All three of these little moments reminded me of one part of my “Developing the Global Student” presentation at the Teach IT! conference in Singapore last year called The Technology Toolbox.

I like the metaphor of the toolbox for a few reasons:

• There is a specific tool for every job, but you might be able to make a different tool work if you tinker enough.
• You might require several tools to complete a larger task.
• You should always have a small selection of tools at your disposal in case of emergency.
• If a new tool is invented that does the job better/faster/easier, a professional would use that one.
• You only get the full effectiveness out of some tools if use them together (like a hammer and a chisel to carve a sculpture).
• There are more tools than anyone one person could use in a lifetime, but some will become indispensable to your practice.

The thing to remember with any toolbox is that you need to know what you want to accomplish before you choose your tool. I find lots of teachers often try to make one tool fit many purposes because that’s the tool they’re comfortable with, or that’s the tool they hear other teachers talking about. The most important feature of the toolbox is picking the right tool for the job at hand.

Given that there are so many tools available, I made a basic web 2.0 comparison chart to help determine the right tool for the task:

For most readers of this blog, this is old news, but I thought it might be helpful to have everything listed in one place, as an introduction to those new to web 2.0 tools. I’m sure I’m totally reinventing the wheel here, as this most likely exists somewhere else, but with the questions being asked one after another this week, I figured I might as well have a go!

Please keep in mind that this is just a basic starting guide - there are so many new tools added every day, that there’s no way I could even hope to keep up, and there are much better, and far more detailed descriptions of why and how to use these tools in many different books (Will Richardson’s Blogs Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom is my favorite), but here’s my intro list:

Blogging:

The best use of a blog is for an individual seeking feedback - this could be an individual student or an individual teacher. We love blogs because they promote interaction between author and reader, however it is the author that determines the content/discussion focus - not the reader. Therefore, this option works very well when an individual (or even a group of individuals posting to the same blog) are seeking feedback or comments on their ideas and thoughts.

Features of a blog:

• entries posted in consecutive order, newest on top
• comments from readers extend classroom learning
• personal learning journal

Ideas for classroom blogging:

• a teacher blog to share learning with parents and resources with students
• a classroom blog where all students can contribute but there is one blog to maintain
• individual student blogs linked to a teacher blog to allow individual reflection

Wikis:

The best use of a wiki is for collaborative knowledge building. A wiki allows for shared ownership for all members, meaning that together the authors of a wiki determine what information is posted online. Because a wiki is a great place to share and document information, it can be thought of as an easy-to-create collaborative website.

Features of a wiki:

• Easy to create website
• Easy collaboration beyond classroom
• Extend discussion beyond the classroom
• Trackable page edits

Ideas for classroom wikis:

• a resource for all assignments, rubrics, deadlines and resources to increase home-school communication
• a “home-base” for bringing multiple tools together
• a presentation format to demonstrate student learning

Social Networking:

The best use of social networking is for connecting students (and teachers and parents). A social network allows for a variety of tools to be directly embedded within your network (like blogs, podcasts, groups and forums) so it is a great venue for bringing people together and allowing them to select the tool that suits their learning style. Social networks allow users to communicate with all members in a variety of formats.

Features of Social Networks

• Create groups of learners
• Facilitate forum discussions
• Personal reflection space within a community
• Members take ownership of their learning
• Easily upload multimedia

Ideas for classroom social networks:

• to begin a dialogue with differentiated groups of learners
• to private space to connect students
• to help develop independence in leading discussions or planning projects

Collaborative Multimedia:

The best use of collaborative multimedia is to allow for creative representation of ideas. When a blog is too text driven, or a social network is too complex for your needs, or your students would benefit from video or audio presentation, you might want to try a multimedia format. Collaborative multimedia lets you bring together voice, audio, and video into one product and allows others to comment and add on to your work.

Features of multimedia tools

• Integration of multiple media
• Subscription service (podcasts)
• Collaboration on digital storytelling (VoiceThread)

Ideas for collaborative multimedia:

• to add a new dimension to digital storytelling
• to start asynchronous voice conversations around learning topics
• to engage the more creative learners in your class

Voice over Internet Protocol: VoIP

The best use of VoIP is when you want to connect and communicate with your personal learning network on a personal level.

Features of VOIP

• Audio/video e-mail
• Audio/video chat
• Recording discussions

Ideas for VoIP:

• connecting with a primary source
• real-time communication with a partner class
• developing personal connections on a one-on-one basis

What do you think? What else should be added to this list to make it an easy place to start for beginners to web 2.0 tools?

Image from Saffanna

Tags: 21stcentury, learning, global collaborations, step-by-step, guide, PD, web2.0, intro,

Thanks to an invite from Alex Hayes way back in October, ISB hosted 3 amazing educators, John Eyles, Michael Coghlan, and Vance Stevens, on campus this past Wednesday.

John, Michael and Vance are from the Teach and Learn Online (TALO) organization out of Australia/New Zealand and are currently taking part in the Future of Learning in a Networked World unConference here in Thailand. From the wiki:

The Future of Learning In A Networked World is a contentious one. FLNW08 endeavors to build connections, explore new possibilities, expand individuals horizons and network knowledge in travelling open space un-conferences where anything can happen and does without regularity. TALO supports open networked communication and this ensures the conversation remains collaborative. Visit our blog to find out updates from the field, add your name as a participant, and spend some time with us in a range of online and real world spaces and places

FLNW08 will kick off from Bangkok on the 16th January 2008. An itinerary of events outlines all that is happening through out January 2008. A blog is also being used to document progress and an email forum cops the incessant chatter of the participants. The Living Classroom is providing a Moodle as a forum to continue the conversations started during the FLNW 2006 visit to Waiheke around teaching English in a Mobile and Networked World and host new activities with educators in Thailand.

Thanks to their visit, we conducted an unConference session around reading (our organizational goal for the year) and technology (watch the recorded session here). We had around 25 ISB teachers drop in and out throughout the course of the session, along with around 20 educators from around the world via our uStream broadcast.

Not only was it fantastic to have three so well-respected and knowledgeable visitors talk to our teachers in a casual format about their questions, issues and problems, but it was so great to have them reinforce so many of the things Justin, Dennis and I say on a daily basis. There is just something extra special about having visiting experts come in and send the exact same message that we have been pushing from within.

It was great to see our teacher’s eyes light up in amazement when they saw that teachers all over the world were participating from their homes (and so many were awake so late, just to talk to us!). When they realized that everyone in the chat room knew each other already, they were even more amazed. What a fabulous way to welcome them into the world of networked learning!

Even more exciting, for me, is that this Wednesday session kicked off our new Wired Wednesdays PD sessions for ISB staff. Every Wednesday, as part of our new Professional Development program, Justin, Dennis and I will host an after-school PD session on the “whys” of 21st century learning. We will structure the sessions similarly to our parent PD we’ve been running in the Learning Hub all year, and we’ll be broadcasting live via our ISB EduStream from 2 - 3:30 pm (check your local time here) every Wednesday. Join us!

Tags:  21stcentury,  pd, professionaldevelopment, FLNW08, Vance Stephens, John Eyles, Michael Coghlan, Alex Hayes, unconference, future, uStream, network, ISB, TALO, collaboration, technology,

Wow! How could it possibly almost be the end of 2006 2007? Each year goes faster and faster, and this year, of course, is no exception…

Looking back, I can not believe that I started this blog only a year and a half ago, in August 2006. It has become such a natural part of my life that I honestly do not know what I’d do without it. I was just explaining to Alex that my thoughts just rumble around in my brain until I can write them down - without the blog I’d just be a lost pile of disconnected thoughts wandering around. Honestly, what did I do before blogging?

Reading over some those old thoughts makes me realize that this was an especially exciting year for us:

• We started out the year thinking we were going to stay in Malaysia for a few more years, and are ending it here in Bangkok, with an entirely new teaching position, creating an entirely new learning space.
• My network grew from my immediate colleagues to a whole world of connections, starting with the creation of NextGenTeachers, and growing with the vast collection of social networks on Ning.
• Globally collaborative projects became a natural part of my teaching routine, thanks to the infinite patience and wisdom of my new edublogging friends.
• I learned an awful lot about developing a framework for success with technology integration and 21st century literacy (combined with Understanding by Design and the Technology Design Cycle) through my work with David Sinclair at MKIS and the amazing team here at ISB.
• I started really thinking about our learners and teachers and parents, and adapting myself to this new teaching and learning environment.
• My world became a whole lot smaller with the discovery of Twitter.
• I have been so fortunate to be able to attend (and present at) some fabulous and inspiring conferences (and to decide not to do an Ed.D right now).
• I read a lot of fantastic books (and have waaaay too many more on my bedside table for 2008).
• I finally started tagging my posts.

Double wow! All of this started with just a small group of amazing colleagues who were willing to share their time and thoughts with me - I honestly can’t believe how much (and how fast!) it’s grown over the past year! I remember jumping out of my chair with excitement at my first comment, and literally dancing around the house the first time someone else actually mentioned me in their blog! What a year it’s been!

All I can say is, thank you so much to everyone who helped, guided, and advised me over the course of the last year. I could never, ever have done this alone. I am so proud to be part of this learning network, it actually brings tears to my eyes!

This will be my last post until after the holidays so,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Image from spacepotato

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, socialnetworking, socialnetwork, classroom, network, yearinreview, 2007

This past weekend, I was honored to be a part of the first-ever Apple Distinguished Educator Asia Institute, here in Bangkok, along with my fabulous colleague here at ISB, Justin Medved. This first “class” of Asia ADE’s had around 50 teachers from local and international schools from Bangkok to Beijing. It was so inspiring and empowering to sit in a room with these amazing teachers - from the university level to kindergarten, local schools with minimal budget, to international schools with every resource you could imagine.

Our team leaders, Maxx Judd and Rae Niles, always referred to the ADE’s as our “new friends” and developed a very collaborative and supportive environment for our long weekend of Mac-mania. The main focus of the institute is to work in teams to develop a project for the Apple Learning Interchange (ALI). As could be expected, I was on a superstar team, including my good friend, Clay Burell, and my two new friends Adriaan van Wijk and Jeff Plaman. We had a great time developing our project: GASP: The Global Action Sustainability Project - soon to be posted on the ALI.

Although I enjoyed the extensive coverage of Apple education products, and the quick presentation by Google (!), the best part about the weekend was spending time with my group, developing the project, and touring around Bangkok compiling multimedia resources to support our work. I love the way that the ADE Institute focuses on the process of creating an exemplary project in a collaborative environment and supports the development of quality resources for all teachers to use. I must admit that haven’t looked at the ALI recently, but after seeing the absolutely amazing work that came out of this 4-day institute from all of the new ADEs, I’m definitely going to be promoting it as a superior resource with all of my teachers. I highly recommend checking it out today!

Tags: network, PLN, 21stcentury, learning, global, educator, PD, ADE, adeasia2007, apple, Bangkok, Thailand, ALI, clayburell, jeffplaman, adriaanvanwijk, justinmedved

One of my biggest stumbling blocks as I’ve switched gears from middle to elementary school is individual e-mail accounts for the students. Back in middle school, I could always count on every student having their own e-mail account. Even if, for some strange reason, one or two students didn’t have one, I could just ask them to sign up for one before the next class and it would be done. Alas, nothing is quite that easy at the elementary level….

In our case, for lower elementary students, we really only need each student to have an individual, permanent, e-mail address to sign up for other services (not to actually send and receive e-mail). So, in order to get our second grade class up and running with Ning accounts for our Global Village project (which, of course, require a consistent e-mail address for log in purposes - no mailenator for us), and in preparation for all of our Global Communication Center projects, I spent less than an hour today solving my problem, thanks to Gmail.

Basically, Gmail allows you to create subsidiary accounts linked to an individual Gmail account. Check out this great screencast demonstrating how to create linked Gmail accounts that Alec Courosa made with Jing earlier today (I need to start getting the kids to make screencasts with Jing next - what a great way to create tutorials!).

Basically, this means that one teacher can have 20 permanent e-mail accounts that are all delivered into one teacher e-mail account. Therefore, if the teacher account is teacher@gmail.com, all you have to do is add a “+studentname” before the @ symbol to make a linked account. Therefore mail sent to teacher+studentname@gmail.com will go straight to teacher@gmail.com. Of course, given that Gmail terms and conditions require users to be over 18, we did send out a permission slip to all parents to get their formal approval that we create these linked accounts.

This means that all students will have to learn is “their” e-mail address so that they can log into the Ning (or wiki, or whatever) independently, but they never have to actually see their e-mail, check an in-box, or deal with any spam. This also allows us to be consistent in the classroom, with all students essentially having the same e-mail address to remember - only needing to input their name after the “+” sign.

Also, thanks to the filtering and labeling feature in Gmail, the teacher can filter all incoming mail into specific labels for each student, thereby saving passwords and user account info for future reference, just in case. And, with the (basically) unlimited storage that Gmail provides, this should be the perfect place to keep those kinds of records - accessible from anywhere, by anyone with the teacher password (in this case, both myself and the classroom teacher).

As far as I’m concerned this is the perfect solution for our younger students. It took me less than an hour to set up the initial e-mail account, invite all 18 students to our Ning, accept all 18 invitations, and approve all 18 membership requests. Certainly, it’s not ideal to have the teacher doing all this (especially when I’m used to the students being able to handle sign-ups on their own) but it’s far better than actually having individual accounts and worrying about students maintaining them on their own when they’re 7 & 8 years old.

Bring on the global collaborations! We’re ready!

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, email, gmail, globalcommunicationcenter

While searching for an image for my last post, I came across this picture.

I thought it was pretty nifty, so I checked out the root of the link and found The Opte Project: “Mapping the Internet in a Single Day.” The technology behind the project is totally over my head, but I thought the idea was very cool and the images are amazing and beautiful - definitely worth sharing. Check it out!

Image: http://www.opte.org/maps/static/1069646562.LGL.2D.700×700.png

How depressing is it when you’ve bookmarked the perfect YouTube video, only to go back a few days later and find that it’s not there any more?

Yesterday Silvia pointed out that the Introducing the Book video I posted about last week has been removed (by the user) from YouTube. Just when I was planning an inspiring little screening here at school!

Thankfully, today I stumbled upon some handy instructions on how to download YouTube or Google Video content. Just perfect for those of us that never want to loose anything! (Apologies in advance for forgetting where I found the link in the first place).

And, just in case you need to go back for that video, Silvia has found another copy here. Now if only I could access YouTube at school I might be able to download that video for my very own… Another task that will have to wait for home…

I am extremely dissappointed that I was unable to participate in the recent NextGen Teachers International Voices netcasts due to my horrendously slow internet connection here in KL. And, now, thanks to Chris‘ recent meme, I’m crystal clear on just how slow it is:

I see that Julie’s at about the same connection speed, and Chris is living in paradise as far as I’m concerned. It’s been quite a shock to the system after 5 years of excellent, typically efficient, German technical infrastructure in Munich. Yet another joy of international living! Clearly Malaysia is not only teaching me how to save face, but also the virtue of patience…

Test yours!

Technorati tag: speedtest07

I just discovered a nifty tool called coComment today thanks to Karyn’s blog.

Basically, coComment keeps track of all your online conversations for you. Every time you post a comment on a blog, coComment records your comment and then tracks all following comments to that post. All of your “conversations” are listed on one page. Wow, imagine that! One page where you can check up on all the different conversations you know you started but can’t seem to remember where. I love it!

Image from: http://www.seancoon.org/wp-content/postimages/cocomment.gif