Just a quick post to share my webquest project with you all…

Earth 2.0:  Is it possible to create a completely sustainable planet?

The best bits about my work on this project:

1. Pageflakes: Using pageflakes as the Webquest Headquarters was a stroke of genius (If I do say so myself!!!) Pageflakes is a great tool for educators: it is flexible, easy to use, vibrant in appearance and the range of widgets available is outstanding!

2. Teamwork: I worked with a colleague to produce this webquest and had far too much fun as a result, mainly because we were able to laugh at ourselves during several ‘manic’ Earth 2.0 moments.  We could have kept going but we had to stop to meet the competition deadline!  (Mark is already talking about our next project.)

An interesting note:  Neither of us had time to take on this project…if you’re an educator there is never enough time! How did it happen then?  We became passionate about the learning, the project and the notion of Earth 2.0.  Discussions led to action; engagement in the task led to refinement and development of ideas and activities. In short, the project became fun for us.  We reacted the way we want our students to react to a new learning task.  There’s a lesson in that for everyone.

3. Local and Global Feedback: We gained valuable insights into the project by asking our students to review it for us.  They thought it would be improved by games so we added games!  I used Classtools, one of my favourites, to put together some simple games based on the sustainability theme and also added the Planet Green Game.  I then asked my PLN via Plurk and Twitter for objective advice.  My  Plurk buddies provided me with some excellent feedback that I acted on straight away. The Plurk eduverse is really something else…I highly recommend you become part of it!

4. Web 2.0:  The possibilities are endless!  2.0 tools help make learning fun and provide teachers with ways to actively engage and challenge students.  In addition to the suite of tools available on Pageflakes we also found wetpaint wiki simple to use and loved our voki characters.  I used Big Huge Labs to create the Earth 2.0 trading cards and EduPic, graphical resources for educators, for the images.

I do get excited when I discover tools that are so nifty I just want to use them straight away!  I discovered this one via Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day.  Visitors are invited to add themselves to a map and include a message and photo if they choose.  They can also provide an email address.  What a great way to build a community!  My guest map is below.  Please join it and say Hi:

My exploration of blogging and other Web 2.0 tools began in earnest during April this year. At that point my enthusiasm saw me spending most of my spare time signing up for and experimenting with tool after tool, following lists compiled by Web 2.0 pioneers and reading every educational blog I could find. What a journey! Now that I have recovered from the ‘dizzy heights’ of discovery I finally feel ready to share a few of my Top 3 Learning Gems:

· The Google Tools: I’m talking Gmail, igoogle, Google Reader, Google Docs and Google Apps (for Education). I use each every day and believe they’ve helped me more than any other tools. An essential starting point for all educators.  To learn more try this excellent blog post from College@Home: ‘57Useful Google Tools You’ve Never Heard of’

· Edublogs: The blogging world is a vibrant place embedded with passion and enthusiasm that tends to be contagious. Starting a blog (or 5 in my case) is a great way to become immersed in the thinking and challenges of Web 2.0. Edublogs worked perfectly for me because it had simple, easy to follow, films I could watch and also The Edublogger, a fantastic resource for all bloggers.

· Microblogging Tools: At first it was Twitter and then Plurk. I love the sharing and camaraderie these tools allow. Plurk is ‘time-zone friendly’ because the timeline allows me to easily follow and contribute to discussions that happen while I’m asleep. Twitter is not quite as useful in this respect although it is still one of the best and I have made some of my best discoveries via tweets. Both are valuable tools for educators. I’m hoping Edmodo, microblogging for education, will work just as well with my students.

TOP 3 Blogs: The ones I read first are:

· Jane’s E-learning Pick of the Day

· Free Technology for Teachers

· Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day

All fantastic blogs to follow!  Great resources for educators.

TOP 3 Diigo Groups:

Educational discoveries abound:

· Web 2.0 tools for teachers

· Classroom 2.0

· OZ/NZ Educators

Top 5 Wow-factor tools: (Tools that impress with very little effort!)

· ClassTools: Impress students and teachers with your specially designed games

· Glogster: So many possibilities…higher-order thinking opportunities in abudnance.

· Pageflakes: a great tool for educators; the ‘anything flake’ opens up all sorts of possibilities. Great as the ‘front page’ for our Earth 2.0 webquest.

· Animoto: Very cool presentations. Impress the ‘too cool for school’ group with this nifty little tool

· Flickr: More than you think! Creative Commons makes this the best starting point for educators looking for great images.  Lots of tools worth exploring too!

However, it’s not really about the tools…

It’s about quality teaching and learning; it’s about being an agent of change and it’s about equipping students and teachers and being an agent of change so that, eventually, all teachers and students are equipped with the skills they need to function fully in the 21^st Century.

Inspired by the amazing ideas and thinking generated at the recent ELH conference I decided to ‘experiment’ with my PLN and begin a collaborative slideshow. (They’re a lively bunch ready for any challenge!)

I wanted to build something for my work colleagues to illustrate the power of the group and show the potential for us all to save time and energy when we work together. At the same time I wanted to encourage reflective thought and build something members of my PLN could also share with colleagues as appropriate.

PLN Power:

The ‘PLN Reflections’ slideshow below is the result of my experiment. It’s powerful stuff; creative and inspirational. Achieved in a matter of days, across several time zones and without any drama, it is a small taste of what can be done. However, the best part is not the slideshow itself but the interactions and enthusiasm that occurred behind the scenes, particular in plurk. I’m already hatching plans for a ‘We are the Children’ equivalent…watch this space!

I recently had an epiphany…the ‘sudden intuitive leap of understanding’ kind NOT the ‘manifestation of divine being’ kind. (In case you were wondering!)

I was at a conference being totally inspired by the thinking and ideas I heard there. (Expanding Learning Horizons in Lorne) Lots of inspiration, lots of great thinking, lots of new tools, lots (and lots) of talk! (Particularly impressed with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and encourage all to check out her wiki)

As I pondered people’s willingness to share their ideas and material with us I considered my own workplace and the many other snippets, experiences and ideas I’ve collected on my own learning journey. That’s when I had my ‘Ah Ha’ moment and everything fell into place:

Essential truths about educational change:

• Education needs to change with the times (Der!)

• Change is not about adopting the latest and greatest tools it is about passion and reflective practice.

• Organizational culture is real and needs to be acknowledged and dealt with for real change to occur in schools.Mindsets do need to change and this is not always easy

• Teachers need to work in teams to build professional learning communities. These shared experiences will help to bring about change.

• Teachers must build a Professional Learning Network: such groups inspire, encourage and focus thinking.

• Professional Relationships are important.

• Teachers need to share their ideas and materials. Professional dialogue needs to be open and reflective.

• Teacher’s teaching is very personal and important to them and this is why change can be difficult.

• Best practice is not a ‘one size fits all’ model: best practice is really what’s best for your students and your school.

• It is important to highlight and build on strengths and positives rather than focus on the negatives and what is not being done.

• Learning new tools, working within teams, building meaningful curriculum and assessment, reflecting on teaching and learning, adopting new strategies more appropriate to 21^st Century learners (etc, etc) is not ‘more work’; it is our work!

• ‘Change by Stealth’ has its place and can be used to change practice and, ultimately, thinking.

• It’s all about passion and vision!

Now what?

Time to actually do something!!!

Connect with a colleague; Start a blog or reflective journal to build skills and understanding; Suggest an innovative program at your school; Form a team; Challenge thinking; Start to build a professional learning network; Share material with a colleague (even when you don’t expect anything in return); Publish your stuff on a wiki and invite others to share; Do something differently and, Consider the possibilities…

Having fun, wish all educators were here…

I am currently attending the ELH 08 ‘Expanding Learning Horizons’ conference in Lorne and find myself wondering about the benefits of such gatherings. (I am having fun so from that point of view it’s great!) However, I suspect that a group of like-minded people already dedicated to bringing about change in education is not necessarily the best audience for the messages here. We do not need to hear the message again and again…we need to act on it!

Several issues and questions seem to persist:

How do we change the way people do things in education?

How do we change school culture?

How do we ‘transform’ the resistors?

How can we move forward without moving backwards too?

These are not small issues. These are issues that require vision, perspective and planning.

I would love to hear from people who have changed school culture and transformed teaching and learning in a school anywhere…

How long did it take?

Was a ‘softly, softly’ or ‘bulldozer’ approach used?

Were many or any people lost along the way?

If you picked one decision or moment that seemed to be a ‘turning point’ what was it?

What main piece of advice would you give others committed to change?

I am teaching some colleagues about blogs at the moment but I have reached a crisis point. We have explored ‘best practice’ examples in education, fossicked about in the blogosphere, started blogs, written posts, added links, grappled with blog ‘buzz’ words and experimented with themes. One of my colleagues is convinced and blogging along nicely…the other is wondering why on earth she should bother!

Where do I go from here?

I love blogs (I have four!), I am already a convert. How do I convince someone else that blogging is worthwhile? I have spent some time pondering this question but time is running out…our third session is coming up in two days and I am getting quite desperate! In fact, this post is my last ditch effort to ‘tease out’ ideas

Use the force…of my PLN!!

I realised all I had to offer Sue, the non-believer, was my own (short) blogging experience. Clearly, I needed to widen my search for information and ideas. Hence, this plea to my plurk buddies:

11 responses later most seemed to think it was important to stress the importance of commenting on other people’s blogs and not being a blurker (someone who lurks on blogs but never leaves comments). Thanks to gkat, and drlaurie for their suggestions. Drlaurie also provided links to a relevant coolcatteacher post.

Next stop: Google Reader (665 unread)

Trawling through my subscriptions proved useful. I discovered this blog post by Dean Shareski: ‘Student and Teacher Blogging that Succeeds’. It seemed to reinforce what I’d learned from my fellow plurkers. It also forced me to face the worrying thought that had been simmering: the blogs started by my small group were in danger of failing!

Educational Blogging: be open to the possibilities and just do it!

Blogging is about being involved, really involved, in the ideas of others; engaged and passionate involvement in reading, writing and sharing; a commitment to reflection and, of course, some interest in the topic. My colleagues need to develop good blogging habits; they can’t just start a blog, they need to become engaged in the world of blogging.

The Challenge (Sue, you’re on your own…)

I’ve decided my next blogging session will be about getting involved. I will encourage my group to read, comment, share, and learn. I will also issue them with a series of challenges: write a post once a fortnight (at least); explore the blogosphere, subscribe to a few blogs and comment on them regularly (at least once a week); keep at it for at least three months and then decide if they are bloggers at heart.

Teachers have always shared material and ideas (some better than others, it’s true) and now the Internet has made sharing much easier for all of us.

I must admit to being a slow sharer; I always thought my work and ideas unworthy until I was encouraged by several colleagues. However, once I started sharing I was unstoppable!

A light bulb moment

Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that as a blogger, I now have a way to share materials with a wider audience and, hopefully, save someone a little bit of time or, even better, inspire them!

So here goes…

Sharing some recent ideas:

Literature Discovery Festival

I’m quite pleased with this idea…feel free to use it if it suits your school situation. I decided one week to celebrate literature and reading was simply not enough! Rather than one ‘Book Week’ I decided my school needed a three week festival to celebrate books, reading, writing, literacy…etc. It includes author visits. During the festival I am running a daily quiz and several competitions including:

Fifty-word story competition: I’ve run this completion before and was quite surprised how well it worked.

Bookmark book review competition: Designed this sheet yesterday to simplify the book review process .

I hope the above handouts and ideas are useful to you and save you little bit of time!

During the festival I am also running an adapted version of the reading game. (The link is a Powerpoint presentation explaining the game.) I have adapted the game to suit my school library.

Enjoy!

PS: Please let me know if you find these ideas useful.

The visual power of words:

Wordle is a cool little tool that makes word clouds from writing or web pages ‘fed’ to it. It is a great way to discover a focus in any piece of writing. The words used most often are larger so it is easy to determine which words, ideas and concepts are important. My blog wordle:

Wordle Analysis:

Analysing text via word clouds might be a useful tool for students compiling a resume, essay or poetry. It instantly reveals central points and might also show overused words that can make writing dull and flat.

I was happy to see that my ‘Learning Gems’ blog focuses on ‘learning’ and ‘students’ but surprised to see how often I’d mentioned Ning. I must enjoy the collaborative and social nature of learning a lot without realising it!

Wordle poetry

Wordle also lends itself to the quick easy creation of visually appealing poetry and other creative writing. My wordle poem on spring captures many of my thoughts on my favourite season:

Last month on Twitter I had to ask what ‘PLN’ meant…I felt like a real twit doing so and said as much in a tweet. I was inundated with people who A, answered my question, a PLN is a personal learning network, and B, insisted there was no such thing as a silly question. Such responses have typified my experiences since.

For me, so far, my PLN provides (mainly) access to information of interest to me as an educator. I join the Nings they suggest, click on the links they recommend, read their blogs and wikis and follow them on plurk and twitter. Because their interests are similar to mine (education; technology; learning) I usually find their recommendations worth pursuing.

One week with my PLN

Last week my experiences were particularly varied and rich. I ‘spoke’ to people attending the NECC conference in San Antonio. One educator, catzpyjamasnz, used plurk to live blog several sessions. She also provided links to a glogster poster on elearning which caused me to revisit this cool tool for another look.

Later, I caught up with the concluding keynote address, thanks to coolcatteacher’s live blogging, and discovered further sites of interest:

http://www.mamamedia.com/ a site for children to learn “technological fluency” via games and other engaging activities. I also found another project to watch, The World Wide Workshop: http://www.worldwideworkshop.org/ . It is committed to developing open source social media technology to enhance learning. I subscribed to the newsletter.

There was a real sense of learning excitement associated with these ‘events’. Although I didn’t feel like I was actually there, I did feel involved in the learning.

New Discoveries:

My PLN also steered me in the direction of these sites. Links I have stored away for future reference and which will help improve my teaching and learning:

Web 2.0 fun stuff: http://www.go2web20.net/ I love these sorts of lists and this one is a very thorough and reliable source of web2.0 tools. Soon, I will explore each one in turn and sign up for those that look useful.

As a twitter user I was also interested to hear about, http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/ a tool that promises to improve the current functionality of twitter (a timely beta given the current appeal of plurk!)

Games: I discovered a new video game of interest at http://fas.org/immuneattack/ and also learned how to play ‘Set Puzzle’ http://www.setgame.com/puzzle/set.htm thanks to one of my plurk buddies. (Educational gaming is a particular passion of mine). Another game I learned about via plurk was scrabulous http://www.scrabulous.com/ . I played my first game last week and loved it!

Like-minded online colleagues

Being able to communicate online with people who share my ideas and interests is a huge bonus. They are usually experiencing a similar journey and can advise me. For example, this week a PLN ‘colleague’ sent me clear instructions on how to embed Youtube in PowerPoint via email after a discussion on plurk. Also during the week my PLN offered me advice on a blog makeover, discussed the educational uses of plurk and participated in a storytelling exercise.

I have mentioned in a previous post how useful I find the links provided by oz/nz educators group on diigo. Last week I revisited a comic generator site I discovered via this group: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ and made a comic strip:

While many people ask their PLNs for specific information I find I get a huge response when I simply talk about a project I’m planning or an idea. People are keen to share their knowledge and experience. Recently I mentioned I was planning a teacher session on using wikis and blogs and got 3 immediate responses from a twitter pal who included some great links:

http://del.icio.us/rosefirerising/web2.0+students

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

http://del.icio.us/rosefirerising/web2.0+teaching+wikis

Each of these discoveries will impact on my personal learning in some way. I guess the best part about each of them is that they occurred around my family and work life. PLNs are Learning Gems…I highly recommend you build one of your own soon!