In my last post I described what I experienced at the recent GAFE summit I attended and how the application of the concepts and tools I was exposed to has clearly demonstrated to me how social media can empower PLN (personal or professional learning networks). When +Molly Schroeder posed her 'design challenge' and asked us why we were at the summit giving up 16 hours of our personal time on the weekend, my response was because, 'I am in beta'. I continue to look for innovative ways to engage my students by sharing strategies and resources with other educators. During his session +Mark Wagner discussed how one's PLN can expand exponentially from colleagues in your local staff room or department to educators from around the world who have a variety of insights and experiences and resources to share. Sometimes it can be a challenge to participate in these networks to the degree I would like given all of the extra-curricular activities at school and at home, but I find that what ever time I have been able to invest has easily generated an incredible rate of return.
At the summit I finally met +Sylvia Duckworth in person. She is someone I have admired and been following and exchanging ideas with on Twitter as we both use the AIM methodology and resources to teach our students French as a Second Language. At the time, I never realized that a tweet requesting to make a personal introduction at the conference would have turned into such a powerful and enlightening collaboration. Throughout the day we had been attending sessions by +Wendy Gorton, +Marc Dubeau, +Mark Wagner on using Google + Hangouts to facilitate dynamic and enriching collaboration between educators and students. While I enjoy using Twitter to connect and exchange ideas with my colleagues I think that Google + Hangouts really has the ability to take PLN to the next level as you will see below.
Unbeknownst to me +Sylvia Duckworth began formulating some very clear ideas about how our two classes could collaborate using the tools we had a chance to experiment with during our sessions. When you look at the plan she put together you will see an aspect of every session we attended that weekend; +Jim Sill YouTube in the classroom, +Joseph Romano Google Docs and PBL, +Pierre Sarazin, +Lise Galuga, +Tanya Avrith Google Drive and innovative pedagogical strategies for Google Docs and Forms, +Joe Sisco Google Apps, just to mention a few.
The same evening the summit ended Sylvia and I had a Google + Hangout to start experimenting with the tools (real-time Google doc collaboration, desktop sharing, video and text chat, Google effects, YouTube streaming) so we could get a clearer idea of how we could use these tools with our students. There was also the very practical element of being able to effectively plan the implementation of this project using the very same tools. Our students had a great time using the Google forms to provide input to the character development and interaction for the story re-tell activity. We were also able to look at the results in graphic form and discuss some numeracy objectives by examining how we would use the information to make specific decisions. The students were very engaged when we had a Google + Hangout to do a shared reading of the story and then to co-construct a new ending for the play in real-time based on their responses to the survey. We did not encounter any significant technical issues during our session, but that was probably due to the amount of testing we did prior to our Hangout.
Currently, we are at the stage where the students are creating their own version of the play using Google presentation and using Chrome Extension Twisted Wave, to record their voices reading the sentences they have constructed. This activity is a critical part of extending second language development as the students use the words they have learned to express their own ideas in a creative fashion. I have learned so much from my collaboration on this project with Sylvia and we are only at the midway point. It has not been without its challenges - trying to schedule real-time collaboration and planning for 2 busy professionals with different teaching schedules gave us a very narrow time frame to work with. Previous restrictions on my school network did not permit Google + Hangouts to take place due to blocked communication ports - thankfully this issue has been resolved. My board has not yet implemented GAFE so my students do not have Google accounts and access to their personal Google drives and documents. For the time being they will need to download the documents as MS Office files in order to create their presentations. I consider it all as part of being in 'beta' - the insights and experiences I have gained will inform my future practice and help me to support educators that have similar goals and ideas for enhancing teaching and learning.
Thanks again to +Mark Carbone, +Harry Niezen, +Bill MacKenzie, and +Google in Education Summits by EdTechTeam for all of their hard work in organizing such an inspirational and transformative conference.
My next great PLN adventure starts today as +Rolland Chidiac and I begin our planning sessions as part of the Ministry of Education's Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) which is an annual project-based professional learning opportunity for experienced classroom teachers. The TLLP "...funds proposals from classroom teachers who seek a peer leadership role in curriculum, instructional practice or supporting other teachers. The three goals of the program are to create and support opportunities for teacher professional learning, foster teacher leadership and facilitate the sharing of exemplary practices with others for the broader benefit of Ontario's students". Our project which will be funded for 2013-2014 is Success for all Students: 21st Century Teaching/Learning using Tablets & A Blended Learning Model. We are planning on using Google + Hangouts and the methodologies and tools I mentioned above to facilitate this project. Once again I am looking forward to all of the insights I will gain from my collaboration from Rolland and others like +Michelle Cordy, who have so much valuable experience using these tools with their students.
I would be interested to hear from other people and how they use social media to facilitate PLNs.
What are some of the tools that you like to use?
In what ways do you use them and what is the frequency and depth of your collaborations?
How would you adapt the model I illustrated above for your own PLN or classroom implementation?
What are some of the challenges and affordances of using social media to empower PLN? Please provide some specific examples.
Looking forward to hearing your responses.
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