"You must leave digital footprints so people know you’re treading among them and part of the community" Vicki Davis, ' Global Education by Design '. I joined Twitter in July 2012 and I honestly can’t tell you what prompted me to join. I had been in a school in Malaysia for a year and that had been my first exposure to teaching with technology. We were a 1:1 Mac school just starting to implement GSuite for Education (or Google Apps for Education as it was then). At that time, the apps were limited, tables for example, in Google Docs, didn’t work properly and the formatting options were limited. There was no Google Classroom either. However, it revolutionised my teaching and I began to write websites as schemes of work that had my learners as the audience and focused on what they were doing, rather than an list of instructions that I, as the teacher, should do to them. I also began to use Edmodo to share all my resources and lessons with my learners online for 2...
Posts
A project for my MEd this week, was to explore banners and free tools that can be used to create them. I was to create a 650x50 banner advertising me. I found this size outdated and small, so played around and added the one you can see in my Blog above! I decided to use the images I have for my educational 'brand' across Twitter and Blogger and email; to ensure colour matching , I used eye -dropper to select the exact shades for continuity. First I went to Bannersnack , which allowed me to create an animated banner:- Next, I went to BannerFan to create a simple static version:- Finally, I had a lot of fun on PicMonkey creating a few different versions:- Version 1 Version 2: added squiggle at the top Version 3: added background texture of bubbles Version 4: added a scrunched paper texture Version 5: added a striped texture
As part of my the Information and Media Literacy unit I just completed for my M.Ed in Integrating Technology, I had to explore personal learning networks. My post PLN: A brief review outlines the new one I tried - The Educator's PLN ( edupln.ning.com ) - in comparison with my trusted favourite , Twitter ( Twitter.com ). Twitter, of course, came out tops. I have been using Twitter for over a year now and I find it invaluable as a resource for ideas, support and news. I recently spoke at the Google Summit KL, and in the scripting session I attended by Evan Scherr*, he finished by asking how many of us in the room were on Twitter? I was shocked at the poor response, but glad he then evanglised about how educators must be on Twitter. I agree with him whole-heartedly , it is an essential tool in being conected with a global network of like-minded educators - and if you are not connected, you are missing out. This morning I read a great p...
As part of my current MEd Unit, I had to join and review a Personal Learning Network (PLN). I chose to join and review The Educator’s PLN (Thomas Whitby, 2013), as I am already a member and dedicated user of both Edmodo and Twitter. I wanted to try new possibilities, which were The Educator’s PLN and Classroom 2.0, and, after reading the article, ‘Professional learning networks designed for teacher learning’ (Trust, 2012) I decided to try The Educator’s PLN. I wanted to learn if it would be a good place to connect and learn from educators – are they willing to answer queries and provide links for me when I am researching? Are there constant and consistent learning conversations and sharing? If we are to use PLNS to their best, which can be to provide us with transformative and powerful experiences that are teacher-driven, we need to be able to connect and contribute ( Being Connected , 2013). I believe that the point of a PLN is to grow as an educator, learn from others, and co...
For my MEd this week, we are looking at Personal Learning Networks - of which I am a huge advocate. I chose to review http://edupln.ning.com/ as I am already a member and dedicated user of both Edmodo and Twitter – both of which are excellent for creating PLN. Edmodo is great to use in the classroom as an organisational tool and learning portal; I use it for all my classes. I have posted about Twitter previsously and strongly advocate all educators create an account. As suggested in the video Being Connected , (U.S. Department of Education, Sept. 2013); your PLN will grow organically as you become familiar with the way that things work. What I liked about edupln.ning.com, is that when you sign up, you can add in your Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ details etc., which shows me this place is one that recognises the power of connection. Having accounts linked together is really helpful when managing a PLN – because, as suggested in Trust’s article , managing a PLN (particularly a...