As a co-facilitator in Michael Minno's mini-keynote on 21st Century Learning Environments at last week's NAJDS Conference, I was asked to collect samples of various ways in which we are using new "environments" for learning in our school. I tried to so from all of our divisions - Early Childhood, Elementary School, Middle School, and High School - and from all of our subjects, General Studies and Judaic. I posted them to this site and hope to continue to update it with new examples as they emerge from our classrooms.
Let us know what you think and be sure to let us know what you are doing in your schools so that we can all continue to learn from each other!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
#JEDCHAT: The NetWork At-Work - Thoughts on the Washington Post Article
(cross-posted on the #JEDCHAT blog, jedchat.edublogs.org)
Well, we hit the big time today.
In a matter of speaking.
The Washington Post had an article in their Saturday edition, entitled “Teachers take to Twitter to improve craft and commiserate,” and it was all about how more and more teachers are turning to Twitter to connect with other educators for resource sharing, camaraderie, and support through tough times. In particular, educators are discovering a “community of mentors offering inspiration, commiseration and classroom-tested lesson plans,” through weekly twitter chats on a variety of education topics, the granddaddy of them all being #edchat.
And then, in the middle of the article, #jedchat got a shout out. This amazing community, a group that has only been chatting regularly on Wednesday night’s at 9 EST for a little over 3 months, made it into the Washington Post.
Now, we could all stop here, content that we as a community (and perhaps the larger Jewish educational community) got our 15 minutes of fame, and move on.
But I think there is more at play here, and it bears some reflecting.
A network is a powerful tool. In the age of the internet and social media, it has become something that is infinitely more far reaching and stronger than before. Starting with little more than an idea of “hey, we can do this too!” a group of Jewish educators came together on Twitter to have a conversation. And all of a sudden, it became a “thing,” something real, a destination.
It became a network.
With this transformation, ideas were shared, and people were inspired to bring these new ideas back to their own classrooms and schools. To me, this all culminated with the tweeting frenzy that took place during the North American Jewish Day School Conference last week in Atlanta, GA. Through Twitter, educators and other educational stakeholders were extending the ideas and messages of the conference beyond the walls of the hotel, with the #jedchat hashtag being one of the primary ones used to spread the knowledge (alongside #NAJDS & #NAJDSconf, of course!).
The people in our network are truly wonderful and inspiring educators. They are the ones, in the words of the Washington Post article, who “tend to be creative, motivated people with high standards for their own performance — the type who would rather try something new than pull out the yellowed lesson plans they’ve been using for years.” And when all these people come together through the internet, the network goes on hyperdrive.
I am reminded of a famous TED talk by Chris Anderson, entitled “How Web Videos Power Global Innovation.”
In this talk, Anderson notes how YouTube has revolutionized the development of dance worldwide, as dancers now find themselves with a global audience. He quotes Jon Chu, a movie director: "Dancers have created a whole global laboratory online. Kids in Japan are taking moves from a YouTube video created in Detroit, building on it within days and releasing a new video, while dancers in California are taking the Japanese video and remixing it to create a whole new dance cycle"
Chu actually harnessed this increased power of the network to put together an all-world troupe known as the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. These performers were all recruited through YouTube, and the result is, well, “Extraordinary.”
Well, we hit the big time today.
In a matter of speaking.
The Washington Post had an article in their Saturday edition, entitled “Teachers take to Twitter to improve craft and commiserate,” and it was all about how more and more teachers are turning to Twitter to connect with other educators for resource sharing, camaraderie, and support through tough times. In particular, educators are discovering a “community of mentors offering inspiration, commiseration and classroom-tested lesson plans,” through weekly twitter chats on a variety of education topics, the granddaddy of them all being #edchat.
And then, in the middle of the article, #jedchat got a shout out. This amazing community, a group that has only been chatting regularly on Wednesday night’s at 9 EST for a little over 3 months, made it into the Washington Post.
Now, we could all stop here, content that we as a community (and perhaps the larger Jewish educational community) got our 15 minutes of fame, and move on.
But I think there is more at play here, and it bears some reflecting.
A network is a powerful tool. In the age of the internet and social media, it has become something that is infinitely more far reaching and stronger than before. Starting with little more than an idea of “hey, we can do this too!” a group of Jewish educators came together on Twitter to have a conversation. And all of a sudden, it became a “thing,” something real, a destination.
It became a network.
With this transformation, ideas were shared, and people were inspired to bring these new ideas back to their own classrooms and schools. To me, this all culminated with the tweeting frenzy that took place during the North American Jewish Day School Conference last week in Atlanta, GA. Through Twitter, educators and other educational stakeholders were extending the ideas and messages of the conference beyond the walls of the hotel, with the #jedchat hashtag being one of the primary ones used to spread the knowledge (alongside #NAJDS & #NAJDSconf, of course!).
The people in our network are truly wonderful and inspiring educators. They are the ones, in the words of the Washington Post article, who “tend to be creative, motivated people with high standards for their own performance — the type who would rather try something new than pull out the yellowed lesson plans they’ve been using for years.” And when all these people come together through the internet, the network goes on hyperdrive.
I am reminded of a famous TED talk by Chris Anderson, entitled “How Web Videos Power Global Innovation.”
In this talk, Anderson notes how YouTube has revolutionized the development of dance worldwide, as dancers now find themselves with a global audience. He quotes Jon Chu, a movie director: "Dancers have created a whole global laboratory online. Kids in Japan are taking moves from a YouTube video created in Detroit, building on it within days and releasing a new video, while dancers in California are taking the Japanese video and remixing it to create a whole new dance cycle"
Chu actually harnessed this increased power of the network to put together an all-world troupe known as the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. These performers were all recruited through YouTube, and the result is, well, “Extraordinary.”
The idea is that, through the power of the internet and the talented people that participate in the global sharing process, dance innovation moves at a much faster pace, as new moves and techniques are spread, copied, and improved upon at lightning speed.
Is it any wonder you end up with amazing feats like this?
This is what technology is doing to networks in all sorts of fields. Education, and specifically Jewish education, is no exception. #JEDCHAT is one of the ways that we, as Jewish education stakeholders, are capitalizing on the incredible talent and power of connectivity that Twitter affords, in spreading innovation in our field.
How many Jewish educators are in situations not so different to Nineteen-year educator Ron Peck, who, as profiled in the Washington Post piece, “teaches in a small public high school tucked up against the rugged Klamath mountains in southern Oregon, hours from the nearest big city. Resources in his district are limited, he said, and innovation is slow. He said Twitter has been a lifeline to the larger world, infusing his classroom with new ideas and technologies that he wouldn't otherwise know about.”
So at the end of the day, it is wonderfully exciting for #jedchat to be included in an article by the mainstream press, especially in a publication as respected as the Washington Post. But to me, and to many others in our growing community, the real excitement lies in who will learn about #jedchat through this and other articles and references, and in turn, help the network grow and create even stronger connections. Because as much as we look around and see a network of educators looking to share and learn from others online, we must remember that we are still the minority. Within the world of Jewish education, most educators do not even know what a hashtag is, let alone know that something like #jedchat exists.
Kol hakavod to all of you who have brought us to this point, participating in the weekly chats and sharing resources throughout the week.
What you are witnessing is the network “at work,” and it is indeed a beautiful thing.
Is it any wonder you end up with amazing feats like this?
This is what technology is doing to networks in all sorts of fields. Education, and specifically Jewish education, is no exception. #JEDCHAT is one of the ways that we, as Jewish education stakeholders, are capitalizing on the incredible talent and power of connectivity that Twitter affords, in spreading innovation in our field.
How many Jewish educators are in situations not so different to Nineteen-year educator Ron Peck, who, as profiled in the Washington Post piece, “teaches in a small public high school tucked up against the rugged Klamath mountains in southern Oregon, hours from the nearest big city. Resources in his district are limited, he said, and innovation is slow. He said Twitter has been a lifeline to the larger world, infusing his classroom with new ideas and technologies that he wouldn't otherwise know about.”
So at the end of the day, it is wonderfully exciting for #jedchat to be included in an article by the mainstream press, especially in a publication as respected as the Washington Post. But to me, and to many others in our growing community, the real excitement lies in who will learn about #jedchat through this and other articles and references, and in turn, help the network grow and create even stronger connections. Because as much as we look around and see a network of educators looking to share and learn from others online, we must remember that we are still the minority. Within the world of Jewish education, most educators do not even know what a hashtag is, let alone know that something like #jedchat exists.
Kol hakavod to all of you who have brought us to this point, participating in the weekly chats and sharing resources throughout the week.
What you are witnessing is the network “at work,” and it is indeed a beautiful thing.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
My new Favorite tool...
With thanks to AVI CHAI for the ISTE experience, Adam Simon for first mentioning using phones in class, and Tech Rav for his post about using polleverywhere.com as a ticket to exit. I confiscated a phone from a kid a few weeks ago and decided that I needed to start using phones in class as a tool. The result is chronicled in last week's E-tone, Beth Tfiloh's weekly newsletter.
And, if you haven't glogged yet - try it! It was a lot of fun and I got some really interesting projects from my students.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Is it time for a Jewish Education Technology Conference?
I recently returned from the Virtual School Symposium Conference in Indianapolis. AVI CHAI sponsored the conference and accommodations for a number of key players who occupy space in the area of technology within the day school movement in North America . Since we are planning for the next version of Gemara Berura to be web-based, this was a great opportunity to learn what else is happening out there in the on-line and blended learning school environments.
One of the more valuable benefits of participating in the conference was the fact that the sponsored invitees had the opportunity to network and schmooze. Using the (catered) report-back sessions (that were scheduled and sponsored by AVI CHAI) as a springboard, the discussions invariably lead to how Jewish day schools could/would/should adopt some of the learning modalities discussed at the conference.
At one of these sessions I raised the idea that it is time to organize a conference dedicated to servicing and furthering the cause Jewish Educational Technology (JET). For the sake of full disclosure I need to reveal my bias. I have been involved in JET for a long time . I believe passionately that we as a community need to ensure the provision of quality JET, and I directed and organized the First International JET conference in Israel back in 1999.
The Gemara Berura related work I do in dozens of schools across N. America allows me a unique insight into how school utilize technology for the furthering of Jewish education. This includes hardware, software, depth of use, teacher readiness, administration readiness, etc. Some of the issues that keep coming up include: the MAC vs. PC debate, especially as it relates to Hebrew and Hebrew software support, should there be computers in every classroom? should student be allowed/encouraged to bring laptops/tablets to school? are interactive whiteboards a necessity for every classroom? what are considered minimal levels of computer competence that teachers (and principals) should be expected to demonstrate in their work in the classroom and administration? etc. And as we move into the online/blended environment models raised at the VSS conference, the issue of how Jewish schools could benefit from these models is also a serious topic that needs to be addressed.
At the network session in which I raised this idea, one of the other participants objected quite strongly, suggesting that in the current economic environment, other venues could be utilized for such JET-related topics to be addressed, such as the National Jewish Day School Conference. We as a small niche community, it was suggested, could not afford or support a separate conference just for JET.
Notwithstanding my learned colleague's opinion, here is why I think we urgently do need a dedicated JET Conference. Technology is not simply a tool. It represents a cultural transformation with its own language, a language that today’s students speak. The level of success regarding the adoption of technology in our schools has overarching implications on the image our schools portray to the community it wishes to serve. Our ability to successfully adapt to these new cultural norms and language will impact on our ability to: recruit and retain our students, teach them effectively, and harness the new opportunities that technology affords to make Jewish schools more sustainable. We need get this one right. I believe that today we aren’t. An annual national Jewish day school conference needs to cater to all issues on the Jewish Education agenda. Attempting to peg on a kind of sub-conference to the main one will not do sufficient justice to the cause. A dedicated JET conference will be held once in a few years, with on-going, online initiatives in-between. We urgently need to begin a collaborative process with a view to develop shared dynamic protocols for many of the types of issues mentioned above. We need to get technology heads together, we to bring school principals together to understand the options, to have educated discussions with the technology department. We need Jewish Studies teachers to adapt to the emerging technologies and learn how to integrate them into their teaching practice. Most importantly we need schools to develop a coherent strategic approach to technology as opposed to the somewhat cumbersome and haphazard approach so many schools still unwittingly adopt.
The question of who should organize and fund such a conference still needs to be addressed.
Thanks again to AVI CHAI for providing us with the opportunity to attend this conference, and to network with such a high quality group of like-minded colleagues.
Meir
Rabbi Meir Fachler
Director
Gemara Berura (www.gemaraberura.com )
Phone (US and Israel) (917) 779 8056
Israel cell ++ (972) 52 385 8455
meir@jet-start.com
One of the more valuable benefits of participating in the conference was the fact that the sponsored invitees had the opportunity to network and schmooze. Using the (catered) report-back sessions (that were scheduled and sponsored by AVI CHAI) as a springboard, the discussions invariably lead to how Jewish day schools could/would/should adopt some of the learning modalities discussed at the conference.
At one of these sessions I raised the idea that it is time to organize a conference dedicated to servicing and furthering the cause Jewish Educational Technology (JET). For the sake of full disclosure I need to reveal my bias. I have been involved in JET for a long time . I believe passionately that we as a community need to ensure the provision of quality JET, and I directed and organized the First International JET conference in Israel back in 1999.
The Gemara Berura related work I do in dozens of schools across N. America allows me a unique insight into how school utilize technology for the furthering of Jewish education. This includes hardware, software, depth of use, teacher readiness, administration readiness, etc. Some of the issues that keep coming up include: the MAC vs. PC debate, especially as it relates to Hebrew and Hebrew software support, should there be computers in every classroom? should student be allowed/encouraged to bring laptops/tablets to school? are interactive whiteboards a necessity for every classroom? what are considered minimal levels of computer competence that teachers (and principals) should be expected to demonstrate in their work in the classroom and administration? etc. And as we move into the online/blended environment models raised at the VSS conference, the issue of how Jewish schools could benefit from these models is also a serious topic that needs to be addressed.
At the network session in which I raised this idea, one of the other participants objected quite strongly, suggesting that in the current economic environment, other venues could be utilized for such JET-related topics to be addressed, such as the National Jewish Day School Conference. We as a small niche community, it was suggested, could not afford or support a separate conference just for JET.
Notwithstanding my learned colleague's opinion, here is why I think we urgently do need a dedicated JET Conference. Technology is not simply a tool. It represents a cultural transformation with its own language, a language that today’s students speak. The level of success regarding the adoption of technology in our schools has overarching implications on the image our schools portray to the community it wishes to serve. Our ability to successfully adapt to these new cultural norms and language will impact on our ability to: recruit and retain our students, teach them effectively, and harness the new opportunities that technology affords to make Jewish schools more sustainable. We need get this one right. I believe that today we aren’t. An annual national Jewish day school conference needs to cater to all issues on the Jewish Education agenda. Attempting to peg on a kind of sub-conference to the main one will not do sufficient justice to the cause. A dedicated JET conference will be held once in a few years, with on-going, online initiatives in-between. We urgently need to begin a collaborative process with a view to develop shared dynamic protocols for many of the types of issues mentioned above. We need to get technology heads together, we to bring school principals together to understand the options, to have educated discussions with the technology department. We need Jewish Studies teachers to adapt to the emerging technologies and learn how to integrate them into their teaching practice. Most importantly we need schools to develop a coherent strategic approach to technology as opposed to the somewhat cumbersome and haphazard approach so many schools still unwittingly adopt.
The question of who should organize and fund such a conference still needs to be addressed.
Thanks again to AVI CHAI for providing us with the opportunity to attend this conference, and to network with such a high quality group of like-minded colleagues.
Meir
Rabbi Meir Fachler
Director
Gemara Berura (www.gemaraberura.com )
Phone (US and Israel) (917) 779 8056
Israel cell ++ (972) 52 385 8455
meir@jet-start.com
Friday, November 18, 2011
Making it personal..
Making it personal
I come to the world of ed/tech from a decidedly bricks and mortar background. For close to 25years, my presence in my students’ lives has been built within classroom spaces that I helped create. Is it possible to bring the intimacy and community that can be created within the walls of a classroom into the world of online/blended teaching?
One of the encouraging answers I got from attending the recent INACOL sessions was a decidedly strong “yes,” with the caveat that presence is only achievable if it becomes an explicit curricular goal.
Kristin Kipp, a noted teacher from Jeffo Virtual Academy in Colorado, shared many of the ways in which she accomplished presence in her online teaching. Her blog www.educationfrontier.org offers a practical ‘nuts and bolts’ look at the life of an online teacher and the constant challenges and opportunities presented by online teaching.
She offered three guiding principals that must be addressed in planning effective online/blended learning:
- connection to content
- connection to other students
- connection to teacher
Some examples of application:
- connection to content
§ If one wants to promote critical thinking, assignments must be ‘non-googleable’
- connection to other students
§ Having students facilitate discussion board
§ peer review
§ collaborative learning projects
§ cyber café spaces on your LMS
- connection to teacher
§ providing thoughtful, in depth feedback
§ maintaining contact outside of ‘school hours’
· as an example, what follows is an excerpt from her December 2010 blog:
My biggest “aha” moment lately has been from a really simple strategy I started using about a month ago, the “Touch base email.” Basically, I send five types of regular emails during the week:
Attendance emails: Sent to students with 3+ days of absences and no recent contact
Reminder email: Send to all students to remind them of the weekly due date
Touch base email: Sent to students in the B, C, and D range. Just touch base and make sure they’re doing ok. I pick about 6 students per week to get this email.
Way to go email: Sent to students whose grade has gone up by 8% or more in the past week
Weekly email: Sent to all students at the beginning of a new week to remind them to get started on the next week’s work
§ Useful tools for enhancing connection to teacher
· Voice Thread (http://voicethread.com ) was suggested as a very powerful tool.
¨ This is a useful tool that invites students to ask questions, vote on a topic of debate, or make comments during a synchronous lesson.
In a traditional school environment, these three realms of connecting often emerge organically from the physical presence of teacher and students ‘living’ together in the same space. In online teaching, whether synchronous or asynchronous, it is also possible to keep the educational process “personal.” However, it will not happen without the teacher’s continuous conscious effort to do so.
Susan Yammer
Educational Coordinator, Lookstein LIVE
Lookstein Center, Bar Ilan University
National Online Teacher of the Year, Kristen Kipp, confirmed as a Keynote at North American Jewish Day School Conference 2012
January 15th-17th 2012, is the upcoming North American Jewish Day School Conference in Atlanta, GA. Click here for up to date information on the conference a,nd registration information. However, the current line up of keynotes (including Michael Mino, David Streight, Joy Anderson, and Larry Rosenstock), panels and workshops makes it clear why this is the premiere conference for any and all involved in Jewish education. Today, the most recent confirmed Keynote speaker, only highlight this.
Kristen Kipp, the National Online K-12 Teacher of the Year, will be on of the Monday keynote speakers at the conference. I had the privilege of taking a workshop with her at the recent Virtual School Symposium 2011 and to say she is fantastic would be an understatement. She is a master teacher that embodies everything that is positive about online learning. I learned much about how to teach a successful online course and what I learned was easily applicable to online Jewish education. Feel free to click here and read a previous post here highlighting that session.
To learn more about Kristen, here is a press release by the Southern Regional Education Board of Kristen receiving this prestigious award:
"Kristin Kipp of Evergreen, Colorado, an online English teacher at Jefferson County’s 21st Century Virtual Academy, was named 2011 National Online Teacher of the Year for K-12 education last night by the two nonprofit organizations that founded the program, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL).
The 2011 SREB/iNACOL National Online Teacher of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding online teacher for exceptional contributions to online K-12 education. The judging committee selected Kipp and four other finalists from 65 nominations of online educators in public schools and state virtual schools in 25 states.
The award winner and four finalists were recognized at the Excellence Dinner during the SREB Educational Technology Cooperative Teaching and Learning Symposium, March 10-11 in Atlanta.
For the past three years, Kipp has been an online English teacher at Jefferson County’s 21st Century Virtual Academy, which is based in Golden and serves high school students throughout Colorado. A nine-year teacher and resident of Evergreen, she teaches 11th- and 12th-graders and is instructional leader for the English department. Called an "extraordinary practitioner," Kipp also serves as a course reviewer/reviser and part-time adjunct English teacher with Colorado Online Learning.
Her director has noted that Kipp "has particular expertise in the art of teaching writing; however, her skills have impact beyond daily instruction." Kipp "uses her expertise to empower students, parents and fellow faculty toward the highest academic standards," and she "creates innovative and engaging" methods that she evaluates constantly in order to maximize the academic potential of her students."
 |
Allison Powell of iNACOL, award winner Kristin Kipp and Myk Garn of SREB |
Kipp has noted that she loves online teaching because it often reaches kids that were untouched by the traditional classroom. "I teach at-risk students, gifted and talented students, elite student athletes, pregnant teens, and teen moms. For all of these students, online education opens up opportunities that would otherwise not exist."
Kipp said in accepting the award that it was "the bells and whistles" of online learning that first attracted her to the field. "What has kept me there are the kids," she said. "Some students, without online education, would not be able to graduate from high school." Kipp spoke of several students who have inspired her, including a girl who nearly dropped out after an illness in ninth-grade and now will graduate at the top of her high school class – or another who was pregnant and would have struggled to finish school otherwise. "I can never give up on a kid, no matter how far they fall behind," she said, adding that all students deserve access to high-quality online teachers.
As the National Online Teacher of the Year, she received a crystal Flame of Excellence and will spend a day with Karen Cator, the director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. Kipp also gets an all-expenses-paid trip to iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium this November in Indianapolis and will be featured on the SREB and iNACOL websites. The finalists received award certificates and other honors. Sponsors of the award include Connections Academy LLC, Blackboard Collaborate!, Florida Virtual School, Pearson Foundation, SAS, and emantras.
Additional finalists include: Thomas Landon from Virtual Virginia, Dianna Miller from Florida Virtual School, Emily Parrish from North Carolina Virtual Public School and Andrew Vanden Heuvel from Michigan Virtual School.
"Online learning is the leading edge of American public education. SREB and iNACOL are proud to honor Kristin Kipp and the four other finalists for their excellence and creativity in teaching our growing number of online students," said Myk Garn, the director of the Cooperative.
"Online teaching is a demanding profession with high levels of student interaction, feedback and communication. Research shows that effective online teaching requires exceptional verbal, writing and motivational skills for inspiring today’s students to perform at their highest levels. The online teachers who are national finalists are shining stars with the quality attributes students value most in learning online," said Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL."
Cross posted in yuelearning.org and yu20.org
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
It's all about the money - or is it?
Last week, along with nine other Jewish educators, I spent two great days at the iNACOL 2011 Virtual School Symposium. In addition to the unique opportunity (thank you Avi Chai Foundation) for collaboration with other Jewish educators, this meeting gave me the opportunity to sit with dedicated and innovative educators from all over the world and discuss how online learning and the blended classroom can impact on and improve all our schools.
Not surprisingly, a much raised topic at the VSS, in addition to online education itself, was the financial aspect of virtual schooling. Most Jewish day schools populations are examining the online and blended classrooms models particularly because they think they may bring financial savings. And, this is also one of reasons that the public school system first considered this type of learning - read more about it here and here.
Why should online learning cost less than the classical classroom? It seems that the greatest savings are in the teacher-student ratio. The nature of the technology allows an online teacher to work with many more students without compromising the teacher-student relationship.
Many of the presenters at VSS were talking about the blended or hybrid classroom. Many educators feel that this model can lower costs (more students per teacher) without compromising learning and it is already being implemented around the world. The blended classroom offers the flexibility of learning online, the ongoing support from a teacher and the comfort of the brick-and-mortar setting.
From discussions I had with others at iNACOL, it seems clear that the need for financial savings encouraged research and innovation in the field of online learning. At first the public school system embraced the virtual classroom because they thought it would solve a number of their problems including financial ones, but they then began to see that this would only be a viable alternative if the online options were at least as good -- or better -- than the bricks and mortar school. Funds were poured into this technology because of the long-term implications and the educators involved saw an opportunity to use these funds to design a the 21st century classroom.
Blended-learning classrooms are more interactive; the students “do and learn” rather than “sit and listen”; these classrooms free the teacher from the ‘housekeeping’ of teaching and allow them to focus on what they love and do best– teach.
Online learning is not just about saving money and it’s not about letting computers teach our children. It’s about letting the students learn as far and as fast as they can. It’s about allowing each student to move safely at her/his own rate. Online and blended learning increases competency-based learning provides students with increased opportunities for real-time feedback (assessment), personalized learning, and experiential-based learning opportunities. Blended learning is about designing platforms that let great teachers have the best tools to teach our children.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
It's all about the toys
I definitely want to chime in with my colleagues and agree that my biggest takeaway from the Virtual School Symposium last week in Indianapolis was about the importance of passionate, talented teachers who have control over how and what they offer in their online courses.
That said, it can't be denied that great teachers know how to make use of great resources.
I thought it could be useful to share some of the fun and interesting technologies that I learned about at the VSS. I believe that, used wisely, these tools add value to online learning with their potential for creativity and collaboration:
Shimshon Stu Siegel is director of Impact Boston, a residential service learning program for Jewish teens. He also coordinates online learning for the Brandeis Office of High School Programs.
follow shimstu!
That said, it can't be denied that great teachers know how to make use of great resources.
I thought it could be useful to share some of the fun and interesting technologies that I learned about at the VSS. I believe that, used wisely, these tools add value to online learning with their potential for creativity and collaboration:
- Kristin Kipp, National Online Teacher of the Year (mentioned in several previous posts on this blog), has her students use wikis to create collaborative pages on the literature they are reading (she used Hamlet as her example). As she spoke, I was struck by the notion of dozens of Jewish Day School students nationwide collaborating on creating a wiki on, say, Sefer Shoftim (The Book of Judges);
- Tara Park, a teacher at the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School, demonstrated several online tools that her students use to create fun, interactive materials with which to share what they have learned. Her wikispace demonstrates several of these services, and itself is a great example of cool things that can be done online- tarapark.wikispaces.com
- Glogster - creates online, interactive posters that are great for arranging research, incorporating video and audio into a visually attractive but simple presentation format- Tara Park's wiki space is actually a Glogster poster. I was skeptical as to the value of this service until she showed us a Glogster made by a student that turned a science report into a visually engaging, warmly personal online presentation;
- Blabberize - I just noticed this one on her site- a goofy but sort of fun service that takes a still photo and turns it into a talking head, using audio that you upload or record directly into the site;
- Wordle - creates a word cloud from any text- a nice visual representation of key themes in an article, essay or web page. This could be used as a creative addition to a written assignment, or maybe a way to launch discussion on an established text. Here is a Wordle I made on Genesis, chapter 1 (JPS 1917 edition!) ;
- Voicethread was actually suggested to me by Esther Feldman from Lookstein. This fantastic service takes an image and lets users create what is basically an audio daf gemara, adding their voices or text as commentary on the photo. This is a wonderful tool for collaborative projects- many people can add their comments to the core "text," creating a vibrant online conversation.
Shimshon Stu Siegel is director of Impact Boston, a residential service learning program for Jewish teens. He also coordinates online learning for the Brandeis Office of High School Programs.
follow shimstu!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
