Starting the little hashtag that could - #edchatNZ

I joined Twitter in 2011 because I couldn't find a job. A very wise man suggested that I make a website to show off my e-learning skills. Apparently e-learning know how was a bit of a commodity. I did make a website, but I didn't have very much to put on the website. So I created a Twitter account to embed on the website. I tweeted a few educational tweets and then went looking for a few other education tweets to retweet. I found so much more than I bargained for. I started participating in Twitter chats #edchatUK, #byotchat, #flipclass and #pblchat. Inspirational stuff and right on trend!

But New Zealand is little when compared with the world wide web. I had found a few New Zealand tweetchers but knew there had to be more out there. And it was hard finding them. So in October of 2012, I took a leap of faith. I started a hashtag, #edchatNZ, so that I could find New Zealand educators on Twitter better. I realised that the most used hashtags were the ones that had regular chats associated with them. When in doubt, I always google things... I googled, how to host a Twitter chat. I set a date, and then started promoting. I used the PPTA Twitter account to track down New Zealand teachers with a lot of followers and asked them to retweet my 'add' for a New Zealand Twitter chat and hashtag (thanks Claire Amos and Michael Fawcett for their early support to get us off the ground). The night of the first #edchatNZ Twitter chat finally arrived. It was like having a party and being worried that nobody will show up. But the New Zealand teachers showed up. And they have been showing up every fortnight since. We have even trended on Twitter New Zealand, out tweeting the royals and the Twilight movie Eclipse.

The hashtag is now more than a year old and still going strong. In fact, due to #edchatNZ, I was able to recommend pioneer educators for the Network 4 Learning's POND, an online portal that will make nation wide collaboration much easier. And this year, we are taking things to the next level. Since #edchatNZ has built a network of teachers across sectors and curriculum areas who regularly collaborate, support and inspire each other, it was time to provide a face to face opportunity for the learning too. Since so much of the success of #edchatNZ is related to the the ability to give everyone a voice through voting for topics that are current, relevant and needed, the conference will need to do the same. Mark Osborne puts it well in his video below when he explains that there are different leaders in every chat, simply because the set up of #edchatNZ allows who ever has the skills, to take the lead.

 

Ten Trend 2 - Living in the Digital Now from EDtalks on Vimeo.

So in an effort to plan the first #edchatNZ conference, we are asking the conference attendees what they would like at their conference. And we are even getting their input on the dates. Of course we will invite the #edchatNZ teachers to participate as well through hosting workshops or even giving key notes. 

But this conference isn't just for the educators who are already regular users of the #edchatNZ hashtag. The goal has always been to unite New Zealand educators. So as well as aiming to provide a high quality, on trend conference, we are also hoping to do it for under $20. Preferably under $10. This means that student teachers, provisionally registered teachers and long term relief teachers whose schools often don't want to fund PD, might still attend. #edchatNZ is about building a community of connected, supportive, inspirational educators who are willing to share. And everyone is welcome.

Will you be attending our conference? You can vote for your preferred dates, topics and keynotes here. Or will you start a hashtag? What could you do to build a community that inspires yourself and others every day? 

Social Media in the Classroom

I bet Facebook is banned at your school. However, did you know that Facebook was originally designed for university students and was then opened to schools? Ironic, if you think that a tool used by so many people, a tool that is so integrated in so many people's lives in and outside the workplace, at tool that is used extensively by businesses, a tool developed for students to connect, is the tool that we ban our students from using. 

Without question, social media has impacted our world in ways that we could never have anticipated. It has changed the way news spread, the way companies do their marketing, the way friends communicate and they way we learn. Web 2.0 and the new generation of internet users are active contributors, sharing and collaborating over thousands of miles on projects and learning. Within education too, social media has begun to make an impact. Teachers from all over the world collaborate on a daily basis for professional development purposes. They help their students become part of a global classroom, they give their students opportunities to communicate with real audiences and they show students the value of sharing, contributing and collaborating. As a result, without question, the educational literature available on the subject of social media in education is overwhelmingly positive. In addition, OFSTED, the Office for Standards in Education (equivalent to ERO in New Zealand) have even commented on the positive effects of social media in schools.

Perhaps the biggest limitation towards the successful incorporation of social media in schools, is professional development. There is often a major generation gap between policy makers, senior managers, teachers and students. Students understand the content driven environment that requires active contribution rather than passive observation, where many ‘adults’ have been left behind to the point of not even understanding the purpose of these tools. The risk however, of schools that fail to incorporate this technology, is that teachers and schools may appear to become out of date as they will not be preparing students to write for the new types of media that is being used for publishing and communication.

Social media is a fantastic tool, its value clearly demonstrated by teachers, rather than governments who have instigated the inclusion in their classroom and schools. The tool will however only be as effective as the teacher, as in effect, social media is about communication. Teachers who are not able to communicate clearly using this medium, or who are not able to teach their students to communicate clearly using this medium, are ultimately obsolete in the 21^st century classroom. Whether educators choose to embrace social media or not, our students are living and will increasingly live in a 21^st century world. It is after all, our job to prepare our students. 

Are you using social media in your classroom? How effectively?

Project Based Learning - Phase 1 Complete

Late last year, I joined Twitter with a teacher account. Initially this was simply an afterthought. Something else to add to my personal website. The personal website having been an idea that someone suggested to improve my chances of getting a new job. As it turned out, I discovered a world (literally) of connected educators, excited to share, communicate and who were talking about their job as often as I want to. As well as all the new acronyms I now know (GBL, BYOD, BYOT, STEM), I learnt all about PBL (problem based learning) from the outstanding collaborators that roam the PLNs (personal learning networks). And so, I thought I would try this project based learning idea that everyone was raving about. I 'tweeted' that I was hoping to do this and whether anybody had some advice for me. The tweeting teachers did, and sent me some great ideas and readings such as this from Miss Noor.

I let the ideas simmer for a week or so, designed my own PBL task, and then, set it for homework.

I gave the students a goal: Evaluate whether using as much as possible renewable paper combats or aids the effects of global warming. Their assignment then had four parts, each with a different due date: I broke the assignment up into four parts. Part 1 - research the learning objectives, Part 2 - Class discussion, Part 3 - 200 word judgement of the situation in their own words and Part 4 - Designing a promotional item to educate the public on this matter. (For the whole assignment click here) and for the facilitated discussion help cards click here

My thoughts were that at least if this trial fails, then the class time wasn't wasted. We continued with normal science lessons at school; experiments, videos and activities, however, where appropriate I identified the links to the assignment. We also had one whole lesson as a facilitated discussion about our assignment.

PBL wasn't intended to be completed for homework however considering the excellent returns I got and how much I learnt about my students' abilities, I will (and have already started to) do it again. Of course giving the assignment for homework meant that lots of students missed the first due date. However, I am not worried about the missed due dates at all. Only a very small number of students did not return part four, the rest however, completed part one, two and three by the end of term. In addition, over an informal coffee, a colleague at a different school mentioned that her students didn't know anything about global warming despite having just completed a whole assignment about it. She said that all the students did was "copy and paste". Having heard the discussions and arguments my students had about global warming, having seen the opinions they formed in their "200 word judgement" and seeing some excellent presentations, I KNOW that my students learnt something. What's more, each and every one of my students had a newly formed opinion about global warming, each backed up by a different combination of reasons from their research and from our class discussions. I even had written proof of this!

The project also gave me an excellent sense of students understanding of research methods, their ability to process research, how well they manage their time, their presentation and organisational skills, but most of all, how much support students needed to feel comfortable expresssing their own opinions about academic material, not just the opinion that was expected of them.

All in all, a successful trial. Now, can you imagine the power of PBL in the hands of an experienced teacher? Or in my case, with a bit more polishing, tweaking and development?

It seems I have become and advocate for PBL.