Summer+Semester+2010+-+Part+1

Summer Semester - 2010
In June of this year, as the school year was finishing up, I asked my Grade 4 students to respond to a discussion topic on our class website about how they felt about their year in Grade 4. Several responded, mostly with positive comments about this year being their very favorite school experience so far, about their wonderful teacher and the great field-trips they went on. One or two commented on aspects of the curriculum they had wanted to have covered but didn't.

Here is an sample of the discussion board. I realize it wasn't a real discussion, since the communication was only 2-way, me to them and vice versa, rather than multi-directional, among the students themselves.

[|Class discussion June 10 from website p1.doc]

At the Summer Institute in August, we worked mainly on establishing our own Professional Learning Network (PLN). We discussed Connectivism a la George Siemens. His vlog on learning theories vs. human nature – As humans we have a basic need to externalize our thoughts. This is in conflict with Constructivism, which states that the act of assigning meaning happens in our minds, whereas he is saying that useful knowledge is only created as a function of a network of people interacting on a common idea. As educators, rather than helping our students “acquire” knowledge, we need to help them become good networkers, i.e. function well in group working/training environments. So the ability of the young people in our care to function well in groups is as or more important than how many books they read or how many Math formulas they can manipulate. Our curriculum objectives (IRP’s) are aimed more at the latter than the former. To be sure, there are learning outcomes that aim at developing team-building and collaboration skills, but they are secondary to the knowledge-based outcomes. I think it’s a big jump to go from an information (private knowledge)-based education system to one that values knowledge formed by groups above all. We know that our (any) formal education system doesn’t progress in big jumps! Changing nature of knowledge - I agree with Siemens that learners of all ages need to have the ability to keep learning throughout their life, to stay current with new and emerging information, be it technical or philosophical. He says that we usually keep up with new information in a social milieu. If I think of the numerous education workshops I have attended to pick up a new teaching strategy or refresh my earlier learning, they were all with groups of people, and we usually had the opportunity to discuss the topic of the workshop. We don’t go to too many workshops where we are the only participant. I have a concrete example of a knowledge and skill-based network that I belong to. It is focused on the motor scooter I ride, called a Yamaha Majesty. It is a web-based digital network with members all over the world. On several occasions, I have written about mechanical problems or questions I have with my bike, including a pretty major problem that I am currently trying to solve ($800 and counting). I have usually been helped by one or more members of the network who have more technical experience than I, and it has often saved me expensive trips to the dealer. I just wish I had consulted the network before trying to diagnose this problem myself! My point is that this network is based on the give-and-take of information; it wouldn’t be very useful otherwise. I can’t see the knowledge that I am participating with hundreds of other scooter-riders tapping away on our keyboards and turning our wrenches as useful learning.

My Professional Learning Network (graphics courtesy of MyWebspiration.org)
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One of the most exciting parts of my network is the [|Classroom 2.0 Network in Spanish].

﻿ I have extended my PLN to South America! I got an email from Classroom 2.0 about an Elluminate session late in August from a network called Aula 2.0 (Aula = Classroom), broadcasting from Lima, Peru. Since I speak and understand Spanish, I thought I would just listen in and see what it was like. The moderator showed several ways his students are using Web 2.0 tools in their classes: webcasting, webquests, podcasting, wikis, etc. There were participants from South American countries and at least 2 teachers in the U.S.

The Elluminate discussion was quite fascinating since they were discussing the same tools, theories and strategies we are working on in LTT, including Connectivism. One of the slides gave a quote from George Siemens from 2004, so I knew they were aware of his work. I mentioned his blog "Connectivism.ca", for people who could read English. One person chatted that George speaks Spanish (as we learned from one of his vlogs). Another of the slides had a great mind-map graphic in English with the titles: "Learning Ecology" and "Connectivism - Process of Creating Network" connecting Filters, Dimensions of Learning, Network Value, Learning Concepts and Conduits. I found the graphic gave me a better understanding of Connectivism. The whole slide presentation is at []. Scroll down a bit to the green window, click on it, and look for slide 20. Here is the diagram, rather poor resolution.

I took the mic for a minute and told them who I am and what we are doing in LTT, and after the session I joined the Aula 2.0 site. Kind of neat, doing that with folks in South America! If anyone wants to check it out, their network site is [].

This network is planning to participate in the online Global Education Conference in November through Elluminate. They will be coordinating presentations in Spanish. I may be brave enough to offer a presentation about our experience in LTT. I'll see how my field study is progressing by then.