Notes on BLC 08

Here are some of the notes I took on the sessions I attended at the Building Learning Communities Conference:

July 16:

Ewan Macintosh – Keynote
-Digital Natives do not exist
-We have too many excuses
-Be interesting and to do that, be interested in everything
-Everyone in the school needs to do research and development
-Toilet Paper Sculptures – sometimes with all the glitz, we forget just what the technology is all about and why we are using it.
-Card Color Changing Trick
-We get blinded by the test or the technology or the pedagogy
-We do not see what is important
-sometimes we forget that kids do not always need input in order to give output.
-upside down pictures – who is that – Oh, I know who that is
-Oh, I know that – I do not need that technology, it will never work
OR We get lost in the technology and forget what we are doing
Pinball and Chess – can teach chess, but not pinball – can teach skills, but not creativity
-Equal Access
-Participation Culture. Its not about tools. Many gray areas. Participation Spaces – in schools do watching spaces very well– mainly a watching space – we need other spaces
-Share
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/562434
http://www.bobsprankle.com/bitbybit/podcast/bitbybit071608.mp3

Take Homes:
-digital natives do not exist
-teachers use too many excuses
-In order to be interesting, be interested in everything
-Cell phones are becoming an educational tool



1. The Best of Two Worlds – Creating the Environment for 21st Century Learning
-AEA in Connecticut
-Spice it up a notch with Nutmeg
-used wiki to discuss books and also buld background for books
-Good idea for Reading Consultants – use a wiki for book discussion
-Wikis were not being used to potential as tools for student research, create, communicate, contribute, collaborate
-Web 2.0 technology not making a difference
-if power isn’t tapped, if little evidence they increase learning, will they be valued only for ability to engage and motivate
-WHY not working?
-View Web 2.0 tools more than motvational
-Educators comfortable with tech
-First hand experience with Web 2.0 Tools
-Students need to be proficient in using Web 2.0
-Web 2.0 has to be seen as a means to an end and not the end itself
-Best practices are still important
-Foldables before web
-My Character Spaces
-Book Trailers
-storybookipedia
-Take Home – Share this with Reading and Science Consultants
-Work with Reading and Science Consultants to develop something like this
-Best Practices Still important – do some of the work before getting on the web.
-Pedagogy
www.slideshare.net/donnaandrebecca/bestof2-worlds

Take Homes:
Share with Reading Consultants and as many others
Looking for collaborators
Collaboration a key thing




2. Podcating With Purpose
www.bobsprankle.com

-gabcast

-utterz

-www.educationpodcast.com
http://www.bobsprankle.com/bitbybit/podcast/bitbybit073008.mp3

http://spranklepodcastblc.wikispaces.com/Keynote+Presentation





3. Practical Pedagogy: Web 2.0, Online Learning and Professional Development
Lauren C. Panton
Chatham University

Alternatives to F-to-F workshops

Push or Pull
Formal vs Informal
Personal Learning Environments
(Google e-mail for students – protected – at a cost)

diigo – more robust than del.icio.us (groups, send text from a web page and not the whole thing)
voicethread(techdi.blogspot.com)
(Tim Fahlberg – math tasks and voicethread)
k12onlineconference.org
chinswing.com
dimdim with moodle
http://www.slideshare.net/lpanton/practical-pedagogy-professional-development-web-20-and-online-learning/



July 17:

John Davitt -keynote

-E-Bay formative assessment feel good more than education
-Which world? – both – working at the point to which the two worlds meet
ClassTools.net – Jackpot – slot machine with names
-Stress kills learning – black belt third degree blogger
-Learners are different
-How do you want your learning?
-learning score
--Davitt’s Learning Event Generator Do ___ As______
Steps
1. Keep Learning Active – provide feedback
2. Make learners as important as shoppers (Scratch – struggleware)
3. Work on Active/Passive
4. Trust yourself – Bridge 2 worlds
5. Embrace the age of ad hocracy
www.newtools.org
johndavitt@mac.com
www.learningscore.com

blcconference.ning.com

www.tinyurl.com/6fcynp

Kiva
evernote
Jing




1. A Day in the life of a teacher teaching with tech

31 Days – Flickr
Smartboard Lesson Podcast
Three Principles – How People Learn and How Students Learn
1. What precoceptons are students bringing to learning
(How do facts fit together in network of concepts)
2. metacognition
3. social and conceptual netowrkds

3 Practices
1. Watch it and Do it (Teach it)
a. Reveals Preconceived Misconceptions
-builds conceptual and social networks
-promotes metacognition
-twitter what is happening in the classroom
blog what is happening
Save everything, make it a pdf file and go to slideshare.net (incidental learning – 48% of profile complete)
31 Days – image is metaphorical – related to content of class search on Flickr or Slideshare

2. Transparency
-share everything –
-galleries of thought
(Kids write text book) scribe post
3. Learning is a conversation
4. reflection - blogs, wikis, students write the book

http://adifference.blogspot.com

http://dkuropatwablc08.pbwiki.com/





2. Kiva – microlending platform – microlending and microcredit
Make small business loans to men and women in third world countries
Kiva.org
as small as $25
-How do they connect people
-Lenders, financial institutions and borrowers
-Haiti vs. Prom
-Semester at Sea
-World Vision
-classes collect money and donate
Kivafriends.org – lists different group lenders see schools using Kiva today
www.onehen.org

Teacher does all o fit right now
Creating better interface for that to happen, so look for it
-research on Kiva – what worked and what did not work
-Kiva Fellows Program –commit to minimum of 10 weeks
-Translators
-no more than $1200 per individual loan
-Kiva – name for unity also “nice” in Finnish
-Fellows chosen thorugh application process on site.






3. Internet /Online Safety

Even on Webkins – moral – do not give away password
Digital Native term – no , less of a sense of fear – yes

brianmull.wikispaces.com/BLC08_OnlineSafety







July 18:

1. Everything New is Old Again
dkuropatwablc08.pbwiki.com

chacha – slave labor farm

cell phones as reliable internet service as well as data streaming

Average British Citizen is on camera every 6 seconds

Music Video London’s Surveillance Video

geocaching

Jean Claude Bradley – Drexel University – No lectures, just podcasts and videos – more of a coach

tweet wheel – tweetwheel.com

http://dkuropatwablc08.pbwiki.com/





Keynote
-Pedro Noguera
Re-Imagining Schools

Don’t be encumbered by what exists

Screw up motivated kids

How good are we with kids who actually need help?
Doctor very good only if you are healthy?


2. Empowering Community and Enhancing Creativity in the Classroom
Tom Daccord

http://edtechteacher.org


Students creating content and students creating the knowledge – that’s the key (write the text book)
Colaborative and Cooperative as well as Challenging

Don’t forget the old stuff like MS Word, web search and print search


3. I can do that without technology – Actually, no you can’t
David Truss

http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com

1. The rant
http://fon.gs/injenuity /mouse (That’s My Mouse)

2. I can’t
How to use the i-phone by Paige –on YouTube
Kids expect the feedback in different ways than we did
fon.gs/paige
fon.gs/digitaldivide
a. Wat I know and what I need to know Batman and utility belt vs the Borg from Star Trek assimilating
b. Public school – what do we have and what do we wish we had
c. Skills and abilities of students in class

a. – I can change and do something about
b. always a problem with what we have and not
c. idea of competence and new responsibility for us

fon.gs/digitalcompetence
fon.gs/digitalexposure

How can we make our students feel like empowered learners – Do we permit them to make mistakes? Do we permit ourselves to make mistakes? YouTube Famous Failures
I can, I must, I will


3. The elephant

If there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.
The elephants? iPhones, cell phones
80% of people will have iPhone or similar in 5 ears or less
Wireless should be like oxygen
Tech support should be innovation support
fon.gs/Kathy what walls - attitude

If we block sites at school, who will teach appropriate use at home
Pride in getting around filter - teachers

4. the ant
fon.gs/Stephen
fon.gs/bloglessons

Overall, BLC was a great conference. It had no vendors or no vendor hall, although some vendors did present at sessions, so I think this made a big difference. Some key concepts:
-pedagogy
-21st Century Skills
-Digital Literacy
-The Elephant in the room
-micro-credit
-collaboration
-TPCK (Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge)
-See the big picture - Card Color Changing Trick

Wordle Tag Cloud

I am so happy that I was able to go. The conference affirmed the direction we are heading and gave me other things for consideration, also. Thanks, AEA 11, fr allowing me to attend BLC!