Exploring Learning

Individually we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. Ryunosuke Satoro (126) CC0 1.0 Universal Image, clkr.com Module 4 of the Flat Classroom Certification course concerns, "Contribution and Collaboration". To me, these are essential components of being reliable digital citizens. Despite feeling I am the only drop in my school's ocean sometimes, I do think that courses like this really help build my PLN so I know I am not alone. The kind comments from Vicky really help too, as I am so used to not feeling appreciated or feeling isolated - a drop adrift. I operate on a knife-edge; on the one hand, I am very lucky to have an awesome principal who is into risk-taking, who encourages teachers to learn, read and try out new things and who wants me to keep blazing a trail; on the other hand, this means I am viewed as more knowledgeable than other teachers and have even been accused of being aloof and acting superior. Which is so NOT true - else why would I keep ...

Habits of Learning:  Responsible, Reliable Management of  Online Activity For Module 3: Citizenship, of the Flat Classroom Teacher Course, we have been assigned 'Quadblog' groups; this gives us a taste of what it is like to try to work asynchronously towards a common goal with people we don't know and who are in different time zones. My group has been assigned the topic of Individual Awareness ,  which is one of the areas of awareness that permeate every area of digital citizenship. Within each of the five areas of awareness - technical, individual, social, cultural and global - there are four "rays of understanding": Safety, Privacy, Copyright, Fair Use, and Legal Compliance; Etiquette and Respect; Habits of Learning: Responsible, Reliable Management of Online Activity, and Literacy and Fluency. For the Quadblog group, I am tackling the understanding of Habits of Learning: Responsible, Reliable Management of Online Activity within the concept of individu...

This is my final assignment for the MOOC,  E-Learning and Digital Cultures  through the University of Edinburgh via  Coursera . Click to view Silent Noise on GLOSSI.COM

human |ˈhjuːmən| adjective relating to or characteristic of humankind: the human body | the complex nature of the human mind. • of or characteristic of people as opposed to God or animals or machines, especially in being susceptible to weaknesses: they are only human and therefore mistakes do occur | the risk of human error. • showing the better qualities of humankind, such as kindness: the human side of politics is getting stronger. http://bostinno.com/channels/the-history-of-education-infographic/ The final part of the E-Learning and Digital Cutlures course asks us about to think about the effect of technology on 'the human'; how it "works to re-define what constitutes ‘the human’ - for better or worse - and what that might mean for education. " http://bostinno.com/channels/ the-history-of-education -infographic/ This infographic suggests a history of (US) education. In twenty years time, it suggests that "the future will never be witho...

Edmodo is a tool I use with my learners, as discussed in my blog about COMMUNICATION. None of my learners had used it before, and neither had I, although my PBLU course is run through it so I know what it is like to be a learner; I know it from the 'other side'. Immediately upon signing up, my learners became highly active and were engaging with each other during and outside class times. It is a great way to communicate immediately with a group, it allows all members the opportunity to respond to each others' questions; it allows them to be able to help each other even if I have not had a chance to respond. Without it, the amount of emails flying back and forth would have become impractical for most learners who were not yet used to being online for educational purposes. Using the 'small groups' setting, I also set up team groups within the main group, so learners within teams could send each other messages too. Edmodo allows us to add important information and ...

"England and America are two countries separated by the same language."  George Bernard Shaw (87) This is true also of teaching; global classrooms and non-global classrooms are two educational settings separated by the same communication systems. The world today requires us to have "a whole new set of communication literacies" (92); we need to educate learners in these technologies because "communications-savvy people are our best inoculation against the disease of inadvertent misunderstandings caused by technology glitches and nuances." (66) See also my blog post, ' Getting our wires crossed .' "Creating an effective PLN is an essential 21st-century pull technology for students"  (89) My inaugural Project-Based Learning unit is written as the capstone for my PBLU  Teaching Certification course. The Octopus's Garden Project , was written with this Flat Classroom Teacher Certification course in mind too, so I involved tw...

The adage ' to assume makes an ass out of you and me ' is one that I have been thinking about a lot lately, and is even more pertinent as we discuss communication in my Flat Classroom Certification course. The readings, discussion and research focus around the need for open channels, boundaries and accepted standards of effective communication at all levels, with everyone. http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ shaireproductions/4169742922/ In today's world, there are many channels and tools available for communication - at every conceivable level. Technology means that we communicate constantly, easily, excessively. All these channels mean that wires can easily get crossed. My desire to share and communicate my findings about learning and teaching has been misinterpreted as my being a 'know-all' or as 'aloof' and 'superior', which is so far from the truth it's not even the same language. If I knew everything, why would I be doing all these cour...

This week in The Octopus's Garden Project , Grade 7 and Grade 8 have been deciding on how to proceed with their final 21st century classroom design presentations. They created a list of  guidelines  using the feedback and reflections from Phase 2 topic presentations, along with a lesson on slide design.    Introduction to Slide Design: 7 Rules for Creating Effective Slides from  Alex Rister Lots of critical thinking happened as learners made important decisions about how teams would be formed, how the presentation would work, what would be included and the order each section would occur in. Learners took part in a poll to decide on team formation for this Phase and then, using the guidelines and learning from the slides above, worked on planning out their section of the final design presentation. Rubber Ducks: 'Walls' Presentation Planning Using sticky notes, each team planned out exactly what they wanted to be seen on each slide and in what o...

"Educational institutions are established around a privilege of writing as the ultimate means of demonstrating understanding"; the question is, can digital technology and the creation of images "demonstrate competence, knowledge and understanding in a rigorous way?" As a life-long learner, I have recently been taking part in an  E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC  via Coursera (see posts Graveyards of Technology and The Machine is Us ) and the sources they offer for thought include a lot of visual sources. In conjunction with the fact that I have been trialling Flipped Classroom methods and just completed certification through Sophia.org , I have been thinking about the use of visual sources for teaching and their impact on engagement and learning. https://class.coursera.org/edc-001/wiki/view?page=Howtointerpretimages Part of the outcomes of the  E-learning and Digital Cultures  course is a consideration of "the extent to which visual representation...

Flipping the classroom is something I have been thinking about since I read Flip Your Classroom last summer. However, despite the book being really informative in both clearly explaining how Bergman and Sams' journey evolved as well as in consolidating my belief that flipping is a great method to differentiate, personalise and manage the diverse learners we find in our classrooms today, there were a distinct lack of good English class examples out there. I can clearly see the advantages for science and maths, but English has often already been flipped to some degree, in that we often ask for reading to be done preparation for a lesson, where discussions and writing are then supported. My explorations led me to Sophia.org , who offer a great free course on planning and thinking through rigorous and authentic flipped lessons. However I became stumped after the theory part and at the point where I had to actually start planning a flipped lesson that went beyond the 'norma...

We had our kick-off meeting last week on Tuesday 5 February 2013. I was able to connect using Blackboard Collaborate , something I had not used before, but unfortunately had to leave as I was at school. However, with it being Chinese New Year I have had an extended weekend, so was able to catch up and watch the full recorded version. I have also had a cold so have not felt up to tackling the mountain of marking, but have caught up on my reading for the next meeting, namely Chapters 1-3 of the book, ' Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds '; my Tweets about the most interesting salient points for me personally, can be found under @MrsHollyEnglish under #flatclass. Having reached the end of Chapter 3, I have come across my first 3 of the 15 Flat Classroom Challenges. Having taken part in the survey assessing my current connectivity, I feel confident that I am currently in a good position - I already have established a sound PLN that I build on when I can and have added s...

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."  Benjamin Franklin. Week 2's exploration for the Coursera MOOC, E-learning & Digital Cultures  asks us to look forward to the future of educational learning within a digital realm. Retaining our thinking about Utopian and Dystopian representations, this time we were to focus on the "sorts of metaphors that are used to draw comparisons between the unfamiliar and the familiar, or the abstract and the concrete" as a way to try and understand the assumptions made about e-learning - the digital ‘native’ and the digital ‘immigrant’ being one of the most widely used at present, for example. Sunrise, Singapore, Morning Run, 09 February 2013 A Utopian perspective presents technology as our salvation - transformative and revolutionary; a Dystopian perspective sees technology as destruction - as attacking and supplanting. Separation of the two...