School 2.0 in SA

Blogging is easy, effortless (I lie of course) and fun! So whether you want to create a vibrant space for your school to show the real spirit of learning, or whether you want to post homework for parents to keep track of what their kids are supposed to be doing, or if you just want to create a showcase for your organisation, or claim your personal voice in the blogosphere, then this workshop is for you!

My context will be rooted in the educational aspects of blogging, but we will also look at personal and organisational blogging. We will not be looking at blogging for profit, but if anyone wants to bring that in, you’re welcome!

The focus of this unworkshop will therefore be the nitty-gritty of blogging from a beginners point of view and will be aimed at providing you with the skills and motivation to set up, maintain and enhance your blog. You will choose a blogging platform, set up your blog and post a blog every two days for 4 weeks. (Don’t worry you can cut and paste from your ideas/object folder). You will also be required to speed read at least 2 blogs of the people on your pathway and leave comments in order to support each other!

Start date: 10 November 2008 – 6 December 2008

Where: Online at Learnwithmaggie

Content:

• Why do we need to blog- creating an ideas folder
• Reading and commenting on blogs
• Choosing a blogging platform (The difference between wordpress, edublogs, blogger, iblog…)
• Registering for a blog
• Creating your first blogpost
• Customizing your blog
• Embedding videos,slideshows,pictures
• Inserting widgets
• Staying up to date with blogs
• Blogging safety
• Blog maintenance

To register, please complete the registration form

The un-workshop will mainly happen on my Learnwithmaggie Ning, so also go and register there!

I am so glad to report that instead of me nagging teachers to start blogging, I have been getting a lot of requests to run a blogging workshop. So I have decided to run all my essential teacher toolkit tools as learning pathways /un-workshops online (We are all gatvol of workshops- if you want me to do a F2F workshop, book me for next year). This just means that I will be featuring a tool at a time in a focused and step by step way, taking everybody through the steps collaboratively and with community support (hopefully). This will all happen online using my learnwithmaggie community as our base, this school 2.0 blog, our SASchools wiki and the featured tools. Hopefully there will be some off you that will volunteer to facilitate a pathway with your featured tool (eg run a un-workshop where-ever)

Motivation:

The problem with all the new wonderful tools are, that we do not have time to really get to grips with them. This in turn leads to an inability to successfully use the tools for teaching and learning. We will only know if a tool is going to be effective in our classrooms if we first use it ourselves in an engaged way! I also find that teachers sometimes choose the wrong/right tool for the wrong/right purpose or place too much emphasis on the tool that the teaching and learning get lost (I am also very guilty here I am afraid). Hopefully the online nature of these learning pathways/un-workshops will also give us the opportunity to support one another as we walk along our learning pathway, as well as allow us to get on top of the tool (:-) in our own time, on our own terms, in our own space/place, wherever that may be! These un-workshops will also give me a chance to pilot my DoE learning objects and to get feedback in order for me to adapt, edit and improve them! To really make a tool your own you have to use it regularly for at least 3-4 weeks. So that is what we will do! Over a 4 week period we will register for the tool, explore its use, collaborate using the tool and support one another’s use of the tool through commenting, discussion and collaboration. I am hoping to get especially South African teachers on board….

Essential toolkit

It is actually very difficult for me to decide on my favourite tools. So I am going to highlight some of the tools (from me and Bronwyn’s connected teacher’s toolkit workshop in e\merge 2008) that I absolutely love and feel should form the essential arsenal of any teacher hoping to empower themself and their learners for life in the 21st century! (Will add and subtract). Please vote for what you would like to be un-workshopped below!

Click on topic for more info, (to register and for a more detailed breakdown of the un-workshop)
(Note: all pathways are at beginner level, but if you would like to act as a mentor, we will love you forever, please register)

• Talking/chatting (Mxit/Skype/GTalk) (we will juse this for realtime support)
• Blogging (edublogs/wordpress/blogger) (Publishing yourself) (Start 10th November)
  Registration now open……
• Micro-blogging (twitter) (Bestest way to network!)
• Social Bookmarking (Delicious and Diigo) (Share resources)
• Social Networking (Facebook / NING) (Collaboration and learning communities)
• Wikis (Pbwiki/Wetpaint/Wikispaces) (Collaboration and learning communities
• Photo sharing (Flickr and Picasa) (Media literacy and creativity)
• Presentation sharing (Slideshare) (Media literacy and creativity)
• Aggregation (Netvibes/igoogle) (Collecting and staying on top of all your favourite resource updates)
• Mindmapping (Bubbl.us)
• Googledocs (Collaboration and document creation)
• Videocasting and tools (Media literacy and creativity)
• Podcasting (Media literacy and creativity)
• Thutong.org.za (our educational portal learn how to upload and use!)
• Web 2.0-atise a lesson (bring and sing) (Bring a lesson and lets see which tool will put it alight!)

Once you have registered, you will receive a link to an online contract of commitment where you will undertake to

• “Stick it out” for the duration of the chosen learning pathway
• Support each other through comments and discussion
• Reflect on your learning pathway by posting a blog entry (or linking an entry) in this community

Dates:
Check list above for start of pathway, but feel free to jump in any time (you might have to work on your own though- post a request for a learning buddy)

Why you should do this?
To get with the programme, become a lifelong learner, prepare your learners for the 21st century and fit it all into your everyday teaching load……What can I say…let’s dream on….

Cost: free
Please bear in mind that I am working 24/7 developing learning objects for my dayjob at the DoE. So I will be just as busy as all of you teachers , so I will, like you, fit this in between having no time and having no time….So no excuses…..

If you need to quickly share a big file and have it ready for download, what file sharing service do you use?

I have had a box.net account for some time now and have enjoyed just chucking my files there for sharing. I now want to see if I can embed it successfully and what it will look like….Cool!!

To keep track of other file sharing sites and tools, see my filesharing tag on delicious

As I am still busy collecting good resources and getting my mind around why blogging is so valuable for education, I will, for the time being, store some of the valuable resources found here to keep track of things. If you have anything to chuck here as well, please go ahead.

I think all teachers can relate to this dramatic presentation! I have decided to use it as a ice-breaker for my next teachers’ training workshop. There are quite a few “teaching styles” that can be explored as “how to-not to do it”….

What I enjoy most about this presentation is the passion- which is the most important thing that maketh a teacher!

I am visual learner and quite enjoyed the creation of a visual image of my blog, which I found at http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph and after investigating this interesting site (http://www.learning-styles-online.com) I have decided that I do not nearly enough use “learning styles” as a lens for material development and teaching!

I investigated this after reading this class blog post. (Sometimes I wish that I can remember to record the learning pathways I am taken on…..)

Note to self: Make a list of visual learning aids for teachers to use…..

• Flickr (a place to upload and share images that can then be embedded using all the lovely slideshows and widgets)
• Voicethreads (Making conversations/discussions meaningful with images and sound)
• …..feel free to add you own visual tools in the comments

• Are you part of the Google crowd? | Colgs Innovation

  Presentation on Google Groups and Google Docs.

  tags: googledocs, school2.0

• Formal Letter Writing

  Learn how to write letter properly!

  tags: school2.0,  english

• 21st Century Literacy

  Changing how we think is no longer an imperative – it’s too late!

  tags: 21stcenturylearning, school2.0

• Resources, tips tutorials for ed tech

  Free tips, tools and techniques for teachers and trainers to engage learners and facilitate delivery

  tags: school2.0, saschools, education, wiki

• How we use fractions everyday and don’t even realize it

  “If you walk down the aisles of your local mall you probably would get a third of the way there without coming in contact into a fraction in some way. After all, that walk down the aisle is a fraction: 1/3. Yes, we use fractions in one way or another in everyday life even though we may not completely realize it.”

  tags: mathematics, school2.0, fractions

• What Are the Similarities and Differences between Fractions and Ratios?

  If you completely understand the concept of a ratio, you will see how far off you are. This tip serves as a quick tutorial on the subject of ratios and fractions.

  tags: mathematics, fractions, ratios, school2.0

• colorfractionK2inpractice2.pdf (application/pdf Object)

  Worksheet for k-2: Draw a circle around the pictures to represent the fraction given. The answer key is given. Standard: MATH 1 Grades: (K-2)

  tags: school2.0, mathematics, primaryschool, k-2

• One teacher, one laptop : South Africa: Politics: News24

  One teacher, one laptop

  tags: laptop, doe, teachers, artcle, school2.0

• Twitter Fan Wiki

  Lots of great twitter stuff !!!

  tags: twitter, school2.0, saschools, wiki

• Twitter Reading & Applications List

  tags: twitter, microblogging, web2.0, tutorials, school2.0, saschools

• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter

  The list was set up in response to requests from learning professionals for help in finding others to connect with on Twitter. It’s up to you who and how many people you decide to follow!

  tags: school2, pd, saschools, twitter, school2.0

  • Jane Hart’ s publications have been a great help to me. This is a very nifty idea of hers. Great way to identify like-minded or otherwise fellow twitterphiles. – post by etalbert

• Rules For Integer Operations

  tags: mathematics, school2.0

• Class Blog Guidelines | Mr. Mac’s Class

  tags: school2.0, policy, online_safety, esnsa, saschools

• Cat @ Noorderland

  o Local South African CAT & IT site

  tags: cat, pat, cass, sa, localislekker, school2.0, saschools, esnsa

• Cal Teacher Blog: Reflection on teaching

  tags: school2.0, teaching

• Quick & Dirty Tips for better grammer by Grammar Girl

  A great site where I can finally learn to speak english the proper way!

  tags: subjects, english, school2.0, saschools

• Kathy Schrock — Presentation Support Pages

  tags: school2.0, teachers, resources

• My SMARTBoard is Currently Misused as a Glorifed Whiteboard

  A real cool english teacher reflecting on his teaching and the use of education in his classes

  tags: english, subjects, education, lessonplans, literature, school2.0, blogs, blogs2follow

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

I am busy creating a blogging learning object for use with subject advisors and teachers. It has been a great learning experience for me as I had to actually sit down and think about why we blog. Speaking to other teachers and edtech aficionados, I realised that there are endless reasons for teachers to blog. It also seems that the biggest reason people fail to maintain a blog after creation is because they do not have a clear vision of what to blog about.

I therefore decided to create a collection of reason with examples to help motivate us to blog more regularly for teaching and learning. In my quest I have stumbled upon some inspirational examples of teacher blogs, but was sad to see that there are not enough ordinary teachers blogging. It is mainly web 2.0 convertees, IT, CAT and edtech teachers going for it flat out. I am interested to see how “ordinary” (as in non IT) class teachers use blogs.

My idea list for reasons to blog has amounted to the following and I am looking to link up with exact examples. It has been quite a time consuming exercise (something we do not have a lot of) and am desperately hoping for some assistance in completing my list examples. So if you have written a blogpost that I can use as an example of the following blog post ideas, please add them to a comment here!

Post daily homework tasks (http://smithmel.edublogs.org/2007/11/12/create-a-cartoon-caption-assignment/)

• Reflect on the days teaching
• Post the lesson plan for each class
• Post educational tutorials
• Embed videos and slideshows that you want the class to watch and post comment on. (peer review maybe?) (http://class.huffenglish.com/?p=1115)
• Post newsletters
• Post parent notes (http://art-on-the-move.blogspot.com/search/label/Art%20Room)
• Post sport results
• Post a photo gallery
• Inspirational quotes
• Comment on current educational issues
• Inspiration
• Embed a school radio station
• Share teaching tips
• Share teaching resources
• Share resources and links
• …….?  Please let me know what I have left out….

Here are some of my photos from the conference:

 

Can’t believe it is almost a week since the e-schools conference in Cape Town and I have not yet reported back on day 2 and 3. Maybe it was because I was mostly busy presenting and then  aslo struggled to get into soem of the more popular talks in my area of interest. Thank goodness there were a few twitterers thatb helped me keep track of some of the presentations that I missed out on. So let’s see if I can make sense of what and how people twitter about a presentation, which could possibly answer the question if we can use twitter to summarise meetings in a meaningful way. So let me start

Eugene has attended the session by Angela Stott on Project-based learning examples. She explained that learning have to start with an interesting problem in the beginning and end off with the learners presenting their solution, with some scaffolding in between. One of the examples Angela presented was were she uses   where the kids research the size of the planets using an Excel spreadsheet which are then automatically graphically represented so that her learners can SEE the relative sizes. She uses various scaffolding tools like a free solar simulating software programme (http://openuniverse.sourceforge.net/) along with powerpoint templates, which the learners then adjust and change. Another scaffolding tool she uses is Think.com ( http://www.thinkquest.org/en/) where the learners unpack the information and bring it all together in a logical argument.

Eugene also attended Ron Beyers presentation on web cams and smart boards. He created a science lesson on the fly using the smartboard software and a webcam, where after he edited the video lesson using Movie Maker which comes bundled with Windows. Ron emphasised that we should get the learners to video important lessons and publish them online. He pointed to Super as a super way to convert between video file formats (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SUPER) (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) (http://tinyurl.com/2col6e) Ron conlcuded by pointing out that smartboards are there assist learners to learn and not help teachers to teach.

I attended the Thutong national portal session where Joy showcased the new look, web 2.0 enabled, zany new site. The portal has been broken down into areas with subject specific spaces where you can upload material, contact curriculum advisors, and have discussions about your subject of choice. There are also public and private e-mail discussion lists as well as all the curriculum documents and LTSM textbooks lists specific to each subject. I have also suggested to some of the delegates that a great way to save your material online is to use the user friendly upload tool in Thutong, which attaches the resources to specific learning outcomes, assessment standards as well as topics whereafter you can link to the exact resource from you blog/school website/community network. by bdoing this you will not only share your hard work with other teachers nationally who may not otherwise have had access to your resource, but also have a direct link to it, saving on hosting space.

During our web 2.0 presentation we encountered some technical hitches as we struggled to get audio from Tom in London. He shared with us, using skype, how he uses Google Docs with his learners and introduced Voicethreads as a very useful tool to use in the classroom. Talking to Tom highlighted that we are truely part of a global classroom where we can learn from one another!  I showed off my favourite web 2.0 tool, twitter and pointed everybody in the direction of my Twitter (micro-blogging) and Delicious (social bookmarking) tutorials on Slideshare, where you can upload slideshow presentaiton which can then be embedded as I have done above. Carolyne showed us how she uses wiki’s in her junior school classroom.

Pam shared with us how she uses her blog to sahre her classroom reflections, CAT material, and tutorials. She is truely an institution and inspiration! Eugene showed us how to get onto the Saschool wiki where we will look at firewalls, cellphone policies, software, ICT issues in our local context and tools to use for effective teaching and learning. Time ran out much to quickly. We did not get a chance to talk to Wilna in Johannesburg who was going to show us how she uses Facebook with her learners. I will defintely ask her to write a blog here about it!