Educational Computing Organization of
Ontario
“Learning in the NOW Century”
Conference
Reflections by Diana Maliszewski
Friday October 26, 2012 8:30 a.m.
Learning, Meaning,
and Values in the Age of the Data Map with Nora Young
Summary = The Friday opening keynote by @nora3000 dealt with
information, privacy, and digital trails. Traffic was busy so I was unable to
attend the talk but the talks are archived on www.ecoo.org
. I was able to connect briefly with Diana Hong, a teacher at my school also
attending the conference. There were
many other familiar faces at the conference that I was happy to see and speak
with, albeit briefly.
Friday October 26, 2012 9:45 a.m.
Innovative or Novel
with Shannon Smith and Brent Smith
Summary = These two principals from the Ottawa Carleton
District School Board wanted to know how to create learning communities where
creativity thrives. OCDSB surveyed their employees to see how was happy; some
didn’t feel honoured & so the board worked on celebrating the ideas of
folks in the Plant Division, for example. In their interactive session, we
discussed the differences between innovation and novelty and shared ideas on
how nurture creativity.
3 Key Points
·
When it comes to innovation & technology,
remember that you can do old things in old ways, new things in old ways, or new
things in new ways > strive for the
third option
·
Tinkering, aka PLAY is a gateway to meaningful
transformation (play is not a process, it’s a way of being where uncertainty is
celebrated, it’s intrinsically motivating, open to possibility, cooperative,
adaptable to change) > see the TED talk by Beau Lotto and Amy O’toole
·
You don’t need permission to try and it’s okay
to fail (failing is data about learning, not that you are a bad teacher);
repurpose space, differentiate, try creative labs or student-led seminars
So What? Now What? = Clubs are a great way to nurture
creativity but in the past I felt like I was inundated with requests to run
many different clubs and teams – with the “creative labs” concept, multiple
types of clubs could go on simultaneously (at J. H. Putnam P.S. their creative
lab time is in the school library/lab space and they have 60-70 kids doing
things like Minecraft, Glee Club, Photography, moving making, etc.). Once we
are done with all this contract negotiations and we choose to run clubs again,
this would free me up to offer more without sacrificing too much of my precious
little time.
Friday October 26, 2012 11:00 a.m.
Inquiry, Innovation
and ICT with Rick Budding and Brian Smith
Summary = Encouraging developing and facilitating student
inquiry is key. The sessions shared “strategies for making inquiry central to
learning tasks and look at ICT tools, templates, and techniques that classroom
teachers and teacher-librarians can implement collaboratively as they guide
student inquiry in a variety of elementary grade levels and subjects.”
3 Key Points
·
Move away from fact seeking and you can use IT
tools for all four stages of the guided inquiry process (see OSLA T4L) > for
instance, at the explore stage, use curation tools like Scoopit, Pinterest,
Pearl Trees, Storify, Diego, Dropbox, etc.
·
There are many options for the 4th
stage of inquiry, think beyond the typical ones > for instance, Popcorn
(described on a TED talk as dynamic remixable video), Kickstarter, Indigogo,
Goodreads, Twitter, (fake) Facebook [Facebook doesn’t allow fake people
accounts), Voicethread, etc.
So What? Now What? = I know and like both presenters. They
were kind enough to give me and my ECOO session a shout-out during their talk. At
times the list of possibilities was overwhelming (how do you choose?) but they
tempered that with specific examples used in (Brian’s) classrooms. I’m working
on a unit with my junior division students on how to determine if something
online is true, and Brian’s reference to a “feline reaction to bearded men”
website would be a great addition to my repertoire. I also want to check out
the Marvel Superhero creation tool – I know many students that would love to
use it.
Friday, October 26, 2012 1:15 p.m.
Play with TNT &
Other Lessons from Minecraft with Liam O’Donnell, Diana Maliszewski &
Denise Colby
Summary (excerpt taken from program description) = Join the
GamingEdus, three TDSB teachers, as they talk about the successes and
challenges behind their Multi-School Minecraft Server Project, a single virtual
world open to selected low-performing TDSB students from three schools. Learn
why Minecraft (and other video games) are ideal at teaching when schools seem
to fait at it, get the basics on running your own Minecraft server and see how
educators can use Minecraft in a student-led, inquiry-based approach that
fosters authentic learning and critical thinking.
3 Key Points
·
Embrace games and learning but avoid
gamification (gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics
to enhance non-games)
·
Things like social etiquette, economics,
architecture, reading, writing, all are learning experiences that came out of
playing Minecraft – teachers didn’t go with these specific lessons planned, all
came out of the experience of play > stories shared
·
If you want to try Minecraft with your students,
you need to try it yourself (play is good for adults and kids alike) – lots of
time was set aside during the presentation for people to play
So What? Now What? = As I’ve said before, it is difficult to
objectively assess how well a session I’ve led has gone. The room was packed
with people and the best part was that students that were there to present at a
different workshop came in to play on our server and the computers we had set
up. Liam, Denise and I met after the conference to reflect on our session. Our
next steps involve creating business cards for the GamingEdus (people wanted to
contact us to try playing later and promote our server), making clear the
distinction between the Gaming Edus server and the EDGE Lab / Minecraft Club
Hub server, bringing the creeper costume to future talks (it was a popular prop
and PR tool) and holding another Open House in the near future.
Friday October 26, 2012 2:30 p.m.
Engaging at-risk boys
through the use of video games by Jeff Pelich
Summary = This teacher uses video games regularly with his
intermediate behaviour students. He shared several games that his students use,
let volunteers play them, and showed how he connects the games to curriculum
expectations, especially related to writing. Opportunities were also given for
participants to brainstorm other ways these games could be used in the
classroom.
3 Key Points
·
Many of the games Jeff uses are iPad games that
they play as a group (he has 4 iPads & uses the SMART Board); he says it
lessens their anxiety when the player has a supportive audience there to watch
and help, and playing together works on the social skills many of his boys lack
·
http://jeffstechlinks.wikispaces.com is his
website where you can find a list of all the games he uses / has used (like
Plants vs Zombies, Fishing, Wipeout, Gehsundteit, Scribblenauts, etc.)
·
Playing games teaches the kids patience and
engages them much more than other means (e.g. he used the game Mechanarium as a
novel study)
So What? Now What? = I was a bit put-off at first by the
presenter’s philosophy (“I’m not a gamer”) but agreed with many of his other
points (e.g. edu-games aren’t as good as “real” games). Once I got home, I
immediately downloaded Gesundheit (but was sad to learn that Mechanarium is
only for iPad2 and newer). My son loves it.
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