Educational Computing
Organization of Ontario
2014 Conference
Reflections by Diana Maliszewski
Thursday, November 6,
2014 8:30 a.m.
The Power of
Technology to Prepare Students for the Future by Richard Byrne
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) Richard Byrne is a former high school social studies teacher best
known for developing the award-winning blog Free Technology for Teachers. He
has been invited to speak at events all over North America, Europe, Australia,
Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Richard’s work is focused on sharing free
web-based resources that educators can use to enhance their students’ learning
experiences.
I missed the keynote because I had to eat breakfast and pay
for my registration.
Thursday, November 6,
2014 10:00 a.m.
Inquiry Based
Learning and E-Portfolios in FDK by Ray Mercer and Cindy van Wonderen
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) As part of a TLLP project we have
started to explore Inquiry Based Learning with Full Day Kindergarten students,
teachers and ECE's through the multiple lenses of The FDK curriculum, The
Library Learning Commons and Collaborative Teacher Inquiry. To document the
learning of all the learnings we are using a combination of Android Tablets,
Chromebooks and Google Sites to develop our E Portfolios. This session will
explore the ins and outs of these technologies in a network environment with
emerging readers as we all try and document our learning.
3
Key Points:
1.
Many students and educators don’t know how to document and share
their own learning. By putting evidence in an e-portfolio, we can show students
at their best and demonstrate many things at the same time. Using digital
technology means that it’s easier to capture what you see and hear them doing.
2.
If emergent readers can document and share their learning, anyone
can. The tools they used (with help from the
teachers/teacher-librarians/adults) included Pebble Go, Pixie3, Google Drive,
Chromebooks, Samsung Galaxy Tab devices and more.
3.
Collaborative inquiry is
exciting but also lengthy. It starts with a problem of practice (and is freeing
to be able to say “I don’t know how to do this”) and honours the adult learners
needs and speed. The deliverables for the TLLP are due in June but Ray sees
this as taking 2-3 years.
So
What? Now What? = My school’s PLC TLCP is focused on integrating technology and
inquiry. I’m going to share my notes with the FDK team. (I can’t attend their
meetings because I’m doing release coverage so they can gather together.) I
also hope to speak more with Ray about the highs and lows of his TLLP journey,
to see how they compare with mine.
Thursday, November 6, 2014 11:00
a.m.
Why Disney Princesses grow up to be
Miley Cyrus: Teaching gender issues to 21st Century media studies
students by Denise Yamashita
Summary
= (taken from Lanyrd) Teaching Media Studies in today's world is
challenging. The landscape has changed and teens no longer consume or engage
with media the way past generations have. But the themes around gender
stereotyping such as body image, traditional gender roles and sexualization
remain important topics, particularly for young women. This session will
demonstrate how teachers of Media Studies can find teachable moments that
create authentic learning and discussion by utilizing real-time media examples,
student interest, and a variety of technology such blogging, collaboration
station discussion, Edmodo and a variety of online multimedia resources and
creation tools to delve deeply into these issues.
3 Key Points
1.
Youth today do not necessarily share a baseline
commonality of media experiences (e.g. in the past, everyone used to watch the
same Saturday morning cartoons) so it can be challenging to use references
everyone understands.
2.
Sometimes educators need to mention their personal life to interest
and engage students so a personal bond is forged. The speaker didn’t like to
discuss her family, but talking about how
her 4-year-old loved pink was an entry point for the teens to talk (because
teens don’t see themselves as influenced by the media but can willingly accept
younger kids as swayed by media).
3.
By using examples the teens were interested in (e.g. Miley Cyrus, as
noted from their blog posts) as well as film circles (like literature circles)
based on Disney films, the students became more aware that media stereotypes
still exist.
So
What? Now What? = Although this was for a high school class, I can see how I
can use some of the ideas (e.g. Disney film clips, study those younger than the
students themselves) for my own media classes. I liked how Yamashita said it
was helpful to have a teacher-librarian assist her with tasks.
Thursday, November 6, 2014 11:00
a.m.
The “Maker Movement”: It’s about “Making
Up Your Own Mind” by Peter Skillen
Summary
= (taken from Lanyrd) What is the maker movement? Is it only about ‘making with
electronics’ and ‘coding’? No. I don’t believe it should be. ‘Making’ should
focus on taking charge of, and building, your mind and your learning. Making
objects and artifacts is a means to that end! ‘Making’ is at the heart of
‘constructionism’, tinkering and ‘inquiry’. In this session, let’s explore how
we can use Information & Communications Technologies across the curriculum
and grades to make ‘thinking visible’, to support inquiry, to construct
collaboratively, and to engage students in project-based learning. Building
poems, art, music, mathematical solutions and so on are all part of the ‘maker
movement’ in my mind.
3 Key Points:
1. The “3rd teacher” is the class culture and we need to
ask ourselves if thinking is a highly valued activity in our class culture. By
renaming our classrooms and learning spaces, we bring a new approach to the
area and highlight the kind of thinking that will occur there (because the
words “classroom” or “lab” come with its own baggage).
2. There are many techniques and strategies you can use to make
thinking visible, like “coding tricks” such as a question mark or light bulb
you can use to annotate your thinking, use bulletin boards as process not as
end product so learners can add to them with sticky notes, encourage journaling/blogging
so kids can “tiptoe back through their thinking”, try Padlet or Google Draw or One
Note, or use Brenda Sherry’s idea to post the SIP with QR codes attached so you
can see the multimedia artefacts attached to the work.
3. Check out the visible thinking website www.visiblethinkingpz.org or Peter’s blog (www.peterskillen.org
/ www.theconstructionzone.wordpress.com)
for great resources.
So What? Now What? = I sneaked (snuck?) out of Denise’s workshop
early because I wanted to hear Peter talk. Peter has really stretched my
thinking about the corporate influence on education (and it needs more
stretching) and I always learn a lot listening to him. He confirmed a lot of
things for me (like the good idea to denote “zones” in my summer school
classroom, or the way Denise Colby and her students use sticky notes a lot on
their walls) and reminded me not to abandon them. I must make my bulletin
boards live data walls showing the process of thinking, not just the product. I
also learned that trying to attend two sessions during one period is the
maximum I can do – I attempted to attend the “Be A YouTube Ninja” session but
by the time I got there, it was over.
Thursday, November 6,
2014 12:00 noon
Coding for Kids:
Skills in the Programming Age by Anthony Chuter
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) Digital
tinkering and playing are vital 21st century skills. This seminar will benefit
educators keen to create "flipped", differentiated lessons, resources
and discussions to help students succeed and learn through play. I will
showcase the strategies I implement for a student-centered approach to
programming and provide resources for educators to utilize Scratch 2.0 and
other "coding" tools like Tynker to junior to senior students and
across the curriculum. Finally, I will offer resources and activities for the
Hour of Code and Computer Science week in December of each week.
I ended up skipping this session so I could
go back to our hotel to collect equipment and conduct a walk-about of the
Exhibition Hall floor (which served double-duty as a promotion of our ECOO
session because I wore my Minecraft Villager costume and had a sign on my back
advertising our talk).
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 1:00 p.m.
Level
Up! Games Based Learning in the Junior Classroom by Adele Stanfield and Derek
Walker
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) We've all heard about game-based learning, but how does it
really work? What does it look like in a classroom? How can an educator
incorporate games into the instructional day and still ensure that students are
learning? What are the benefits and drawbacks? If you've asked these burning
questions then this session is for you! We will show you what games we use in
our grade 5 classroom, how they are connected to the curriculum and the
successes (and failures) we had during our year-long journey. Come join us
while we explore the joy of games!
3 Key Points:
1. Thank goodness for links! This is their
presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ncq99E4M8fRBpMZrxX1vlk4tIcNhrnmSP-iFFdsWsSc/edit?pli=1#slide=id.p
3. This is another presentation they have on the
same topic. https://prezi.com/fmgt3uq_gfcj/game-based-learning-gamification-in-the-junior-classroom/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
So What? Now What? = I didn’t have time to
change out of my Minecraft Villager costume, so I attended the session in
character (which threw off the speakers when I first entered the room – sorry Adele!)
I couldn’t take notes, so the links helped a lot. I noticed that they used the
words Gamification and Games Based Learning interchangeably, and this concerned
me. My son already uses Prodigy, one of the games they recommended. I want to
try Human Body, New World Colony, and Electrocity with my students.
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 2:00 p.m.
Using
Technology to See the Forest AND the Trees by Marie Swift and Deborah McCallum
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) We will share different entry points for using technology
with current Canadian Literature as it relates to the SAMR model. The aim of
this workshop is to help you to set up a framework and give you practical ideas
for integrating traditional and digital literacies. Virtual collaboration to
share responses to reading could include Twitter, Blogging, iMovie, book
trailers and other tech platforms and social media. Imagine your students being
able to interact with authors, illustrators, publishers and other students and
teachers from across the province and country!
3 Key Points:
1. Links include http://forestoftechnology.blogspot.ca/
and http://bity.ly/forestBIT14
2. There are many tools you can use, such as
Twitter, Google Drive, Adobe Voice, Do Ink (green screen), Google Hangout,
Teaching Kids News, and more to connect to the Ontario Library Association
Forest of Reading titles.
3. Don’t underestimate the impact these tasks
can have. One student connected with her favourite author over Twitter about
the book and may have influenced a sequel.
So What? Now What? = I love seeing
presentations where they practice what they preach. Marie surveyed the audience
with Google Form (unfortunately my iPad didn’t want to cooperate with that)
just like she would with a group of students, but shared in a respectful way. I
saw Marie in action at the Simcoe County District School Board Teacher
Librarian conference and it was nice to see her again. (Simcoe County DSB has
some exciting things happening there. It’s good to hear from other boards.) I
need to get that Do Ink green screen app for my school!
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 2:00 p.m.
Assessment
FOR, AS, and OF Learning by Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) How might assessment and evaluation be used to promote
learning? Using authentic student exemplars (including PSAs, comics, cooking
shows, sports shows, tweets), we will explore strategies to help learners from
Primary/Junior to Secondary levels develop their media literacy and language
skills through effective assessment, feedback and evaluation. A variety of media
forms, expectation statements and learning contexts will be presented.
Participants are invited to bring samples of student work.
3 Key Points:
1. With an emphasis on assessment vs the final
project, it encourages deeper meaning, more mindfulness, and makes you slow
down.
2. Producing media texts is the best way to
understand media because the students touch on all aspects of media (purpose, audience,
form, conventions, techniques) and the choice of project can be theirs or yours
but will depend on the time and energy commitment you want to give to a project
(e.g. a documentary will be longer than a greeting card).
3. Ensure that students switch their roles and
responsibilities within media production so that they get practice in all
areas, not just their strengths.
So What? Now What? = I admire Neil a lot and
read the #K12media Twitter chat whenever I can. It was so nice to actually have
practice in assessing student media texts (because they had us provide feedback
on a project during the session) and they reminded us to always watch it at
least twice to absorb everything. I want to consult with Neil about a
large-scale media project I have planned with my students (where we will be
creating a restaurant) and how I can effectively assess it.
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 3:00 p.m.
Bridging
the Divide: Pushing the Classroom Outside of Its Four Walls by Aviva Dunsiger
and Jonathan So
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) During this presentation Aviva and Jonathan will share how
they have opened up their classrooms through the use of social media (Twitter,
Storify) and blogging. Attendees will learn about social media and blogging
platforms that have allowed them to reach out to their students, parents, and
other professionals: allowing the learning to continue outside of their
classroom walls. Furthermore, participants will see how these two educators
have entered each others classrooms, learned from each other and pushed each
other to be better professionals -- even though they are in two different
cities and Boards. Participants will walk away with practical advice on how
learning is a community event and how learning from each other can only assist
the learning in your own classroom.
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 3:00 p.m.
How
do we teach it if we’re not doing it? A discussion around curation,
collaboration, and creation by Lisa Noble
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) The "C words" are often thrown around as the 21st
century equivalent of the classic 3 R's, and they're important ideas. But there
are so many questions - which curation tool? How often should you purge? Social
bookmarking or not? Blogging, Tumblring, Twittering or all of the above? Which
collaborative tool should you introduce your students to? How do you encourage
collaboration and idea sharing in your own building, and your own classroom?
How do we deepen our own skill set, encourage our colleagues to expand theirs,
and model that for our students? I'll bring ideas that are working for me, and
hope others will do the same. Let's do some demystifying together.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend either of
these phenomenal sessions, as I spent extra-long in Neil’s session (turns out
it was a two-hour workshop) and I had to prepare for my own talk.
Thursday,
November 6, 2014 4:00 p.m.
Managing
Minecraft: Misunderstandings and Murky Messes by Liam O’Donnell, Denise Colby,
and Diana Maliszewski
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) Minecraft
is a great way to engage your students. It’s also a great way to cause chaos
and unexpected disasters in your classroom. Bullying, griefing and a host of
other issues can all happen in a single Minecraft session. How can teachers
deal with these challenges? Where are the opportunities for learning? How can
teachers strike a balance between chaotic (but rich) learning and controlled
(but often dry) curriculum teaching? Participants
will leave with a thorough understanding of the potential pitfalls of using
Minecraft in the classroom and strategies to keep the learning happening when
things get messy.
3 Key Points:
1. The presentation can be found at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DTok2rleXwP2Tsx_M4_r_kGmukEu1vWWMMBwR5P1_W0/edit#slide=id.p
2. Conflicts happen when wants and needs don’t
align. If you use restorative practices and level-headed discussions instead of
punitive actions (and establish norms in advance), less problems will occur.
Despite it all, there will always be issues but the benefits outweigh the
challenges.
3. Messes can sometimes be good things (e.g.
hacking is probing the boundaries).
So What? Now What? = At first, I thought our talk was about
Minecraft but it turned into something more – autonomy, perception, and culture.
I really appreciated the comments from the audience, especially Jen Apgar and
Neil Andersen. I’ll try to keep in mind that messes can be good and bad and to
look for the silver lining in all of them.
Thursday, November 6,
2014 8:00 p.m.
#BIT14 Minecraft Party
by Andrew Forgrave, Liam O’Donnell, Denise Colby, and Diana Maliszewski
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) Do
zombies and creepers quiver at the sight of your skin? Are your Minecraft
builds epic? Do you partake of group expeditions into the wilds of the Survival
and Nether worlds? Or maybe you are just intrigued and looking to get started
with Minecraft? Join Prax, Gumby, and others from the friendly GamingEDUs
community for a fun and exciting F2F LAN Party. Join us in the SCCN in Room 201!
We changed locations to be beside the BIT14
Jam Session and it was a good decision. People popped over from the singing
next door to check things out. Zoe Branigan-Pipe saved the day by providing
laptops for participants to play Minecraft on. It was nice to see Michelle
Korda, Jacqui Thompson, and Chris Solsea from last year. I had some super
conversations with Jen Apgar, David Hann, and Lisa Noble that deserve their own
separate reflection. Denise Colby lost her voice and we didn’t go to sleep
until 1:30 a.m.!
Friday, November 7,
2014 8:30 a.m.
Keynote by Ron Canuel
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) Ron
Canuel has been President and CEO of the Canadian Education Association (CEA)
since 2010, and has over 36 years of experience in the public education sector.
As the former Director General of the Eastern Townships School Board in Quebec,
Ron was the principal architect of one of the first Canadian district-wide
wireless laptop computer program for students and teachers, and has received
numerous awards in recognition of this ongoing initiative. He has been a
frequent presenter, panelist, and lecturer at national and international
conferences on CEA’s What did you do in school today? and Teaching the Way We
Aspire to Teach research and action initiatives, as well as on change
management, innovation in education, leadership, and technology in the
classroom.
8:30 a.m. after a 1:30 a.m. ending the night
before is just not possible! Sleep, a solid breakfast, and checking out of the
hotel room took precedence.
Friday,
November 7, 2014 10:00 a.m.
Youth
on YouTube by Royan Lee, Saman Rajabian and Katya Katsnelson
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) There may not be a site in the world that generates as much
web traffic as YouTube. We all know that it’s commonplace to see youth as
consumers of the content, but how much do we know about our young people who
are the producers and leaders of it? Come to this session to meet two of
@royanlee’s former students who have autonomously garnered large global followings
by creating unique video content. Hear their stories, discover how they are
generating (in some cases) significant incomes, ask them questions, and learn
how to start your own YouTube channel from two of the savviest young leaders
around.
3 Key Points:
1. Both YouTube stars watched YouTube and
thought that they could do it, so they started. Both individuals became bored
and dissatisfied with their early videos and this prompted them to change
focus.
2. Katya’s tips for success are to be confident,
strong, unique, and enjoy what you do. Saman’s tips for success are do what you
like, stay consistent, don’t let low views or jealousy get in your way, and don’t
do it for money or fame.
3. These high school students say that Mr. Lee was the teacher that
used the most technology with them and that their current teachers do not know
about their popular YouTube channels (with the exception of Saman’s principal,
who arranged to let him get a work experience credit in high school for his
YouTube work). They don’t use their YouTube skills often in class, although one
made a Romeo & Juliet video.
So What? Now What? = I was really excited and inspired by these
teens. My son watches ExplodingTNT, Saman’s channel, and it was neat to meet
the creator in person. Katya started her channel when she was my son’s age, so
it is possible. We teachers need to find out about the “secret” worlds our
students inhabit and let them use their talent and skills in school. This
workshop was actually a double-period, so I stayed from 11:00 – 11:50 to
continue to hear them speak.
Friday, November 7,
2014 12:00 noon
QR Code and the
Library by Brian Smith
Summary = (taken from Lanyrd) As
the role of library and librarian changes, our physical spaces can transform
from walls to gateways. This workshop will give real world examples of how QR
codes can be used to make the library a portal to research, an extension of the
classroom and a place where mobile devices can be used to their fullest
potential.
I couldn’t stay for the entire session, as I
had to travel back to Toronto to attend my daughter’s high school art show.
Thankfully, Brian made his presentation available with a QR code. I took the
photo via iPad and I will explore it in depth later on. I sat next to the
lovely Alanna King and we were able to connect again for some “personal
development”.
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