always learning

Any time I design a project for students I always try to complete each task for myself just to make sure I really understand what is involved – not only so I can better facilitate student learning, but also so I really know how much work it will take to complete. Often times, something that looks quick and easy can turn out to be much more complicated in practice.

Over the past few months I have had the chance to experience exactly the kinds of projects I frequently design for my students while creating a K12 Online Conference presentation with Jen Wagner. Given that the focus for our presentation was on globally collaborative projects, it seemed especially fitting that we would have to design our presentation from opposite sides of the planet. Keeping in mind that Jen and I have never met face-to-face, live 13,415 kilometers apart, and have a 14-hour time difference, I now know pretty much how my students feel when completing this type of project.

It was definitely an interesting and fun experience, although it did require quite a bit of planning. Jen and I set up a regular “meeting time” once a week (Sunday mornings for me, Saturday afternoons for her) via Skype, we kept a running log of all of our ideas on a Google Doc which we started with our conference proposal and used all the way up until the last few weeks of our planning, we used a Google Spreadsheet to plan out each and every frame in our presentation with all of the details (the topic, the text on screen, the speaker, the URL for the images and the date completed), and then we used drop.io to send versions of the video back and forth so we could offer advice and suggestions for editing.

Although Jen was creating her sections on a PC, and I was completing my sections, and compiling the finished presentation, on a Mac (using iMovie HD), we had absolutely no compatibility issues: file-sharing large files was a breeze with drop.io and Gmail, finding and sharing the right images was no problem with Flickr Creative Commons and iStock Photo, and collaborating on our supporting resource wiki along with a wiki for a collaborative project for our presentation participants could not have been easier.

The experience of envisioning, planning and creating this kind of globally collaborative project with a partner I only know through online communication was not only exciting and challenging, but it was all the more rewarding because we were able to do just about anything we could imagine – despite our physical distance. I love the fact that we were able to discover similar interests through reading each other’s blogs, and over time develop a connection that actually lead to the shared creation of ideas. Definitely an opportunity to practice what we preach.

I would love to hear your thoughts on our presentation, either as a comment on this post, or as part of our reflective VoiceThread (below), it’s almost exactly 20-minutes long, and I hope (at least) reasonably entertaining! All of the resources that we mention can be found on our presentation wiki, and we invite you to join a new globally collaborative project called The Reading Connection if you’d like to try out this type of learning in your classroom.

I am so excited to be presenting at the K12Online Conference with Jen Wagner this year! For the last two years I have watched the amazing and inspiring presentations created for this conference and I still can’t quite believe that my voice will be among them this year…

Just to whet your appetite, Jen and I have created two teasers (check out all of the teasers here as they’re posted) for our presentation: Connecting Classrooms Across Continents:

Thinking back, the first K12 Online Conference in 2006 was when I realized just how powerful the network can be – watching, listening and participating in all of the fantastic presentations totally opened my eyes to new ways of thinking and learning. If you haven’t participated in previous years, I can promise you won’t be disappointed. Personally, I love the fact that all the presentations are posted online so I can watch them anywhere, anytime – and refer back to them over and over again.

Plus, it’s totally free!

So, please, download the poster and share it with your colleagues !

Jen Wagner and I are so thrilled to be sharing our thoughts about globally collaborative projects at the wonderful K12 Online conference this October. Here’s the title and description of our session:

Connecting Classrooms Across Continents: Planning and Implementing Globally Collaborative Projects

Ready to “flatten” your classroom walls? Looking to take web 2.0 tools to the next level by developing exciting and authentic projects that allow your students to interact with partners around the world? It may be time to tackle a globally collaborative project in your classroom!

Globally collaborative projects are an exciting way to engage your students in authentic and meaningful learning across cultures and continents. Successfully combining a variety of web 2.0 tools (like blogs, wikis, Skype, IM, social networks, etc) can remove the barriers of time and distance to connect your class with others around the world. Not only do students love to meet their far-flung peers, but learning to collaborate and create in an entirely online and inter-cultural environment will clearly be a critical skill for their future.

Learn how to develop a successful global project – from design and planning to implementation and product, see examples of engaging projects from all grade levels, as well as participate in a real time globally collaborative project with Kim and Jennifer!

Although this project will be aimed at elementary school classrooms, teachers of all levels will find inspiration and applicable and practical ideas throughout this video presentation that will incorporate a wide-range of web 2.0 tools!

We would absolutely love to have the voice of the community within our presentation, so we are hoping that you can spare a few moments to add to this quick VoiceThread about the benefits of global collaborations in the classroom:

If you don’t feel comfortable adding to a VoiceThread just yet, please feel free to leave your comment here. Our focus questions are:

• How does your classroom go global?
• What are the beneifits of global collaborations?
• Please share some highs and lows of global collaborations.
• Spread the love – please share a link to a great project!

Thank you so much for adding your insights to our presentation (all credit for the comments of course will go to the commenters)!

We would also love to hear about any specific issues you would like to see addressed within the focus of this presentation. If you have any feedback, please feel free to share it here!