First of all, thank you to all of you who popped in over the course of last Thursday and Friday. The students learnt so much from having an authentic audience to answer their questions and support them as they started on their journey towards being a connected educator. I am so grateful to my ever growing PLN (Professional + Personal Learning Network) and for your openness to helping me to support the pre-service teachers as they begin working in their new profession.
For those of you who weren’t able to get to us last week, I am still sure that you will find these wonderful new ‘tweachers’ and connect with them. Some of them may already be following you!
I decided to take a new approach to my blog style today and use a newly discovered tool – Storfiy (thanks @gcouros) Here’s how their learning unfolded before my eyes Enjoy! If you were apart of this story then thank you Please feel free to connect with the people who appear below. They’re very excited to share, learn and explore with you Feel free to comment if you have something you’d like to add about the experience
…I told you that there would be more than one post!
Some rights reserved by LifeSupercharger : http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5149/5697203141_1e21f8c871.jpg
One of the main reasons I write this blog is to share insights into how my practice has changed over the years. I recently commented on @lordfolland’s blog, to me every educator is a thought Leader. It’s our job to be so. When we share those thoughts, there’s a chance that thinking will accelerate learning amongst the network and great things will happen.
Up until recently, i’ve always thought of those ‘great things’ as change. I have been frustrated, on more than one occasion, with situations in which change (that I see as much needed change) has been resisted. I’ve done so without thinking about the semantics of my expectations. The second most powerful thing I learnt at CEGSA2012 was quite philosophical and would probably make @equilibrium (fab South Aussie teacher coach) and my own coach from the UK at BLC International say “duh!… of course!”.
I don’t, natively, come from a land down under. I was born, trained and spent most of my career up in the UK. In the UK teaching is a very different world to that of Australia. Teaching there, is in my opinion, far more pressured because it’s far more measured, assessed, graded, scrutinised – yes that’s the teaching not the kids…. I’ve posted here about how we’ve are observed every year and graded. How those grades go on our record and inform our professional development etc. That means that it’s much easier for leadership to demand things happen. The government demand that teachers use ICT in their lessons and we are graded on how well we do so. Change has always been forced upon me my whole career and I’ve had to pick apart the “suggestion” and make it work to enhance learning and teaching, even when it’s seemed impossible! Perhaps that was the training I needed to help me ‘tweek and re-purpose technology’ as I describe in my about.me profile. I’ve tried to make the best of things (Very British).
Teaching here doesn’t feel like that (phew)… but I still carry the expectation of leadership. How it can, and possibly should, insist on change to guide and inform continued professional development. That’s (partly) why I feel sick to the stomach when someone tells me that they’re not interested because they’re retiring in x years, or they don’t have time…. because those excuses would never be tolerated in the UK. if you said something like that to a senior manager in a school in the UK they’d seriously question your professionality… Sounds harsh I know… and it IS infuriating to work like that… it’s also challenging and that can be a very positive thing.
Needless to say, change has never been an option. It’s something that I am used to having thrust upon me. I guess I brought that mind set with me. Perhaps, this is what I might have been thinking….
Change is not an option! It has to happen! How else can education be relevant, effective and meaningful for our kids? How else can we produce the “thought leaders of the future” yada, yada, yada,
I still believe in the revolution, that we should #startamovement. How else can all we ‘thought leaders’ (that’s you too by the way.. yes you, reading this) band together, accelerate our learning and pave the way? What I hadn’t realised was …. I was using the wrong language.
It was @edusum who mentioned something that she had heard/learnt during ISTE this year. She pointed out to me that the word change can infer that the thing you’re currently doing is in some way incorrect. That if you use the word ‘change’, ears can hear criticism. That the people you are trying to lead, to inspire to move in a new direction might hear a criticism, rather than a shared call to action. I’d never considered that word like that. I wish I had of done sooner. Language, and its power, has always fascinated me and, do you know what, She really opened my eyes… She’s totally right.
I’ve been in situations during my career where I have spent ages creating curriculum documents only to have an advisor come in and “change” things…. How upsetting! How dare they! …..
ahhhh…. *penny drops*
So… if we go into schools, our schools and we ask for change what message are sending? Are we saying everything you’ve been doing for the past 30 years is WRONG! STOP THAT! I KNOW BETTER! …. their reaction to that? …. is that going to help?
“Tweak to Transform”
Mr Bernard O’Connell – St Thomas Aquinas School, Birmingham
This was the motto of a Deputy Headteacher at a school I worked at in 2006. I always had deep respect for this senior manager… he got it…. I forgot to follow his example.
In truth, it’s growth we want… It’s not that we’re doing things wrong… it’s that we need to build upon what we’re doing, to grow with the world we live in. During this conversation @gcouros pointed out that we are more likely to inspire that transformation if we help our colleagues connect what they are already doing with that transformation. I’m going to “change” (ironic eh?) my vocabulary. From now on, my aim is to inspire growth instead
Let’s grow together South Australia!
#CEGSA2012 has produced many growth ‘buds’ for me that I am excited to explore with my expanded network. I am sure it has for many of us. In fact, I know it has. Three days after the conference has ended, the hash tag #cegsa2012 is still going strong as we reflect upon, and digest, the inches we’ve grown over the past few days. The challenge for all of us is to continue that growth well beyond #cegsa2012. The conference twitter feed already has members making suggestions for #cegsa2013.
What if these students were able to tell stories about the progress they had achieved as learners as a direct result of the growth their teachers experienced, perserved with and actioned after the conference? How amazing would that be? That is, after all, what we’re all about! We’ve built a new, expanding network to save us time (because there never is enough of it), to encourage us, to support us. Don’t forget @gcouros‘ offer to retweet your requests to his 15,541 (and growing!) followers. Surely we can not fail!?
Thanks Tony Bryant for that lovely metaphor
If you consider that metaphorical ship to be South Australia’s Education system, we’d only need 15-20% of us to get the message to the helm… Then, we can steer this ship. Together.
So, I’m going to leave you with a final thought (Jerry Springer Style) and I’d love to hear your answers.
What buds of learning are you hoping to take forward this term?
Which direction are you swimming in now the conference is over? How can I/we help you?
So, #cegsa2012 is over for another year. I have attended many conferences but I have to say this year’s CEGSA conference was Awesome (yes… it deserves that capital A). Up until recently, I was on the CEGSA committee and it’s my fault that there’s a new website, and a twitter and facebook account. I know that at the last 2 conferences there were about 2 people tweeting. This year, my evernote notebook collected 1,318 tweets. As the days rolled on, Twitter became a real focus. The message of connection, sharing and personalisation spread like wild fire. Those of us who were already using twitter weren’t left feeling like we had nothing to learn either.
I ‘modded’ my badge before the second day so that it included my Twitter handle… Why? Because I usually hate the fact that I’m tweeting away and I have no idea who I’m talking too! I wanted people to know that I was @teachertechnol. At this conference, I didn’t need to worry about that. Cartoon characters, logos and all impersonal twitter profile pics slowly changed to real people, making it easier to work out who was who and make real-life connections with those around us. And do you know what? I was as guilty as the next person. I had never realised the barriers that I was creating by not being… well… me!
Original Twitter me… I forgot I don’t actually look like a pair of ts!
I cheated a little bit to start with. Opting for a picture with me… AND a rather large coffee cup…
So, now (as pointed out by @louisaguest) I have to walk around with a coffee mug in front of my face so that people know who I am….
I still hadn’t said an awful lot about myself in my blurb either…. BUT! Here’s what you’ll find right now if you search for me…
My Twitter Profile – Look It’s me! My whole, actual face! *waves*
Amongst the changing profiles we saw… @pam_thompson, @kathturley,@Rachbath, @gtaylor_46 and @lordfolland
Who would you rather connect with?
I wasn’t the only one either…. By the end of the CEGSA conference we had shouted out to a large number of new tweeps, eggs, logos and cartoons became human and the vibe of the conference changed …
I’m not suggesting, even for one minute, that members of CEGSA are not sociable people, however… the fact that we knew who we were talking to during the presentations meant that we could then continue those conversations over a cup of tea – face to face. Those virtual twitter connections became real-life connections. Now, that’s got to have an impact on the development of your support network. Hasn’t it?
I know, that, personally, as a result of this conference and, maybe, because I made these changes… my followers went from 379 (on July10th) to 433 (as of 13/07). That’s 54 new colleagues, friends and people to share with in 3 days. That’ s good! It took me 5 months to connect with 100 new people before…. I’ll let you do the math I’m really excited to connect with all of these new educators and to keep in touch.
How did this happen? What changed?
The @Cegsaustralia Twitter Account has been around for 2 years… (2010-03-09 – I love the Twopcharts). Before I left the committee I had managed to grow it’s following to 283… now it has 349 (yay!) So, it’s never been a silent place to share and connect. However, I’ve never seen twitter being used like it was in the last two days… This massive impact on the networking capabilities of South Australian teachers came from one man, delivering one, hour long, Keynote speech “Learning and Leading in the Digital Age”.
George Couros at CEGSA2012
and…. how did CEGSA find this Canadian national and convince him to pop over to Adelaide, Australia? @Tina_p (Tina Photakis) connected with him through his blog, became twitter friends with him and invited him… I am so glad he said “Yes” and that Tina is so well connected!
George spoke passionately, emphatically and emotionally about the children we teach today. He echoed some of the sentiments that Chris and I had nodded towards in our post for CEGSA - In fact, in one of his workshops, he asked us to Google ourselves. He reminded us that the kids we teach work in a different context, a different world. That the technology we see as new and innovative, in many cases, was invented before they were born and is therefore taken for granted. That even we, as the “OLD” teachers, do the same thing, if we think about it:
I mean, do you remember these hard times?
Have you considered how our students see our “old” world?
“education should be leading society not trying to catch up with it”
He told us about his young niece who is allowed a day of school for a sniffle because her dad feels that she’ll learn more at home with her ipad than she does at school. She was creating iMovies before she started going to school and now she has access to none of that rich learning. He shared this video from a uni student which powerfully speaks for itself:
He asked us to consider where our students (and a lot of their parents) operate…. Facebook, Twitter etc and challenged us to consider why it was that we weren’t connecting with their world or with them in that arena.
He reminded us that the internet is a place of learning. That, if you consider the internet as a place where you ‘look stuff up’, you’re missing the best part. He consistently encouraged us to connect, to learn from others and to share what we have learnt to help others. His way of connecting (all of the videos here were in George’s Keynote) with his audience, along with his true, clear message had the most immediate effect I’ve ever seen at a conference.
The demand from delegates who wanted to connect was so strong, he ended up coming back for a second day to run workshops specifically on setting up Twitter and WordPress (blogging) accounts. I am so happy to welcome so many new people onto this learning pathway we’re all strolling along – together. I’d really like to thank George for inspiring people (and me!) to connect more effectively. Now we really can “make learning visible”. What better model for our students is there?
If you were at #cegsa2012, or you’d like to connect with those who were, then George has invited us to add our Twitter handle to a list (the url for which is on the top of this document) and see who else was around Keep connecting!
On Friday 18th of May I will be running another 1 hour #Edtech showcase session at Flinders University. This time the focus will be on QR codes and the many ways teachers are using them to engage students and add a little ‘je ne sais quoi’ to their learning and teaching. I’ve already given one lecture on the use of QR codes for differentiation in the classroom but I always look forward to these more general, discovery sessions.
For those of you who are not sure what a QR code is you might be surprised to realize that you’ve probably seen them on advertisements, posters and even (at Christmas last year ) on the bins in Rundle Mall! They’re being used more and more by advertising agencies to connect us to the content that they’re selling. They’re a bit like bar codes .. but they’re cleverer. A traditional bar code can only be read horizontally and in turn, can only hold a small amount of information. A QR code, on the other hand, can be read both horizontally and vertically and can, therefore, hold a lot more information. Teachers are using it to create links to website URLs, YouTube Videos, Twitter and more. The codes are helping to bridge the gap between the very analogue world of pen and paper and the digital information available online
During the workshop we will explore what QR codes are, how you can make them and then, more interestingly, how you can use them in your classroom!
If you don’t have a QR Reader on your Smart phone or tablet device then can I recommend I-Nigma. They have a reader for every kind of OS you can imagine!
If you’re coming to the course then I look forward to meeting you and to working with you You’ll soon find links to the resources I’ll share with you appear below this text. If you can’t make it – or your reading this long after the event is over, then have a nose through the prezi too. I’ll post it here on the day of the course. It’s full of great links, ideas and resources to get your started.
If you’re using QR codes already and would like to share what you’re doing and how it’s going then PLEASE feel free to share your good practice in the comments below.
If you haven’t found or explored Ifttt (If This Then That) .com yet and you’re the kind of person who uses multiple Social Media sites and enjoys using tools like Evernote then you’re really missing out. This amazingly simple, and yet clever concept, (all the best ideas seem to be those things don’t they!) is helping me to get even more out of my PLN (Personal Learning Network) and keeping me a tiny bit more organised than I was before.
If I Favourite a Tweet send to Evernote Please IFTTT
If This Then That (IFTTT.com) works on the basic premise that you can tell the internet what to do. For example, IF on Twitter(THIS) a new person follows me THEN Automatically tweet a thank you message (THAT) or IF someone mentions me on Twitter (using @teachertechnol in their message) (THIS), THEN automatically tweet a thank you message and remind them to come and visit me here on the blog (THAT). Or, and I pinched this idea from @louisaguest (thanks Louisa) IF I see a (THIS) tweet that has an interesting link on it that I’d like to get back to later and I choose to favourite it THEN send a copy of that tweet to a notebook in (THAT) my Evernote Account so that it’s instantly available on all my internet connected devices and I can access it when I’m ready.
In short, IFTTT helps me to keep on top of my ‘Twittequitte’ and helps me to store a heap of valuable resources that I can explore later when I have the time to do so properly.
How to use IFTTT.com
The first thing to do would be to head on over and get signed up. Once you’re in, you’ll be greeted by your very own IFTTT.com dashboard. From here you’ll need to familiarise yourself with three words:
Tasks
These are the things that you’re asking IFTTT.com to do on your behalf. Just like the one’s I’ve described above.
Recipes
These are task models that others have created that you can borrow. They are a great way to get started if you’re not sure how you might use the tool to begin with. I certainly spent a little time exploring what other people were doing before deciding where to start.
Channels
These are the sites/networks/ tools that you can control and use in IFTTT.com. ‘Channels’ define Triggers and Actions, the basic building blocks for creating ifttt tasks. There are over 40 really familiar channels including:
Plenty to choose from there and you can get them to work for you automatically. For example, you might want to send a copy of your latest instagram to your dropbox every time you take a new picture or, you might like to tweet a link to your latest tune in sound cloud when you submit one. The possibilities are endless!
Set up a task
When you’re ready to get started, click the big white button with the words “create new task” written on it. The site will take you through the process in 7 easy steps.
The first thing you’ll see is a big sentence asking you which channel will trigger your “This”. Click on the word “this” and you’ll be presented with a heap of channels to choose from. Select one of them. If you’re not already connected (by authorising IFTTT to use it) then you’ll need to follow the prompts to connect the network or tool to the site. In the image on the left, I’m activating the weather channel on my IFTTT account. Once that’s complete, I have to choose what will trigger the action I request. You can see me setting up my weather channel in that image on the left. All I had to do was select where I was in the world and add that to the IFTTT channel list.
Once I’d done that I then had to decide what the trigger for that channel would be. In this case, I choose to have the weather channel alert me when it’s raining. So, I selected the “current conditions change to” option and then told it what kind of change I wanted to be alerted to. There are lots of options here. You can be alerted when the temperature rises or falls above or below a certain temperature (nice science project there?), you can be alerted 15 mins before sunset or sunrise (to make sure you don’t miss the opportunity for a romantic walk and an awesome Instagram shot) or you can even ask it to warn you about high pollen counts and make sure you’ve taken your hay fever tablets before you leave for work.
Next, you chose an action channel. Which one of the web tools that you have access to will perform the action you request? In this case, I chose my Gmail account and asked it to send me an email to my Teacher Technologies email address when it started to rain. I named the task “Brolley Alert”
After checking over the settings I wanted the email to use (see image to the left), I was able to personalise the action even further and ensure that I am going to receive all the information I need when it’s time!
All that was left to do was to name my task and hit ‘create task’ to confirm my request. Unfortunately, even though the autumn weather here in Adelaide has been quite wet recently, it hasn’t rained since I created this task… so I can’t show you the outcome! However, I feel much happier that I won’t get caught in the rain without my brolley when it does
Give it a go. Get your Social Media and Web 2.0 tools working harder for you. Share your recipes with us in the comments below. I’ve already learnt a lot by seeing what others have created so I’d love to see the spirit of sharing continue on this post
Each word below links to resources related to it. Simply select the area for which you need a resource. Each resource contains a "Click here" link to the relevant downloads / site.
Enjoy! If you were apart of this story then thank you 
For those of you who are not sure what a QR code is you might be surprised to realize that you’ve probably seen them on advertisements, posters and even (at Christmas last year ) on the bins in Rundle Mall! They’re being used more and more by advertising agencies to connect us to the content that they’re selling. They’re a bit like bar codes .. but they’re cleverer. A traditional bar code can only be read horizontally and in turn, can only hold a small amount of information. A QR code, on the other hand, can be read both horizontally and vertically and can, therefore, hold a lot more information. Teachers are using it to 
Next, you chose an action channel. Which one of the web tools that you have access to will perform the action you request? In this case, I chose my Gmail account and asked it to send me an email to my Teacher Technologies email address when it started to rain. I named the task “Brolley Alert”
After checking over the settings I wanted the email to use (see image to the left), I was able to personalise the action even further and ensure that I am going to receive all the information I need when it’s time!
