Career change with a silver lining

With a change in career direction imminent, I’ve been doing some online trawling to get my head back around what’s important in the world of Teacher Librarianship. After about a decade away from the library coalface, working in technology integration, I can see there’s plenty of exciting things happening in school libraries in the 21^st century that marries nicely with my technology experience. The following is what I've been thinking about while I look at new employment options in Libraries.

Curation:
My last post listed some tools which have been useful to sort and keep online resources.  From a TL perspective these tools are heaven sent.  There are lots of amazing TL’s sharing ideas on platforms such as Pinterest, Learnist, Scoop it! and Educlipper and these are great places to find inspiration. For students and subject / classroom teachers too, collecting information can be overwhelming and curation tools hold the key to sort and keeping useful material.
Watch Know is also an interesting tool to find and share online videos with students and teachers.
I’m looking forward to following and learning alongside some very creative professionals in these spaces.

Digital storytelling:

There are a plethora of online tools that are perfect for students to share their own stories, retell the stories of others, make book trailers or have fun with a fractured tale. The story writing process is enhanced greatly by the ability to see stories spring into life. Photo and video editing tools as well as animation tools such as Puppet Pals, Powtoon and Goanimate for Schools present lots of choice for students to create quality productions with minimum fuss. The free editing tools on You Tube are also a simple way to create a video story and upload it to a wide audience.

iPads:

Perhaps the most exciting addition to any school library are the possibilities presented by iPads. Ebooks and animated books such as The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore offer a wonderful experience to share with students.  This genre is bound to become a huge force in the world of childrens' and young adult literature and already I'm dazzled by the creative output of publishing houses such as Moonbot and can't wait to see this genre explode.

iPads also offer the possibilities for students to share their own ideas and interact with literature in ways that were previously not possible. Aurasma is one app that holds enormous possibilities for students to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for books.

QR codes are a fun way to engage students with content and ideas as well – easy to make and a great way to engage the book collection with students via mobile technology.

From presentation to productivity, creativity to collaboration, iPads make video and photo editing, comic making and information creation and sharing all extremely easy and achievable with all age groups including our youngest.  The iPad also adds mobility to its reasons for success.

Social Media:

It’s all about collaboration. Sharing and discussing books online opens up the possibilities to engage in the online space – for all learners. TLs can set up Edmodo book chat groups, a Library blog can publicise new goings on in the Library and Twitter can connect the Library with other like minded professionals sharing and learning from each other. Collaboratively working on information gathering and presenting online brings the process into the 21st century and the creation of authentic projects that include online learning and sharing enhances the learning experience.

Communication:

There are so many tools out there to publicise what’s going on in the Library. Print publishing tools such as those on BigHugeLabs are fabulous for quick poster creation, and in an online format Glogsters are a great way of quickly presenting on a subject matter. Having a web presence to publicise the Library is easily achieved via website creation tools such as Wix and Weebly. Librarians are now animators as well using formats such as Powtoon and Go animate as publicity tools for their Libraries in engaging ways.

Information skills:

Online is king here. From tools such as Custom Google searches and Instagrok, online and collaborative graphic organiser and mind mapping tools, through to the different note collection tools such as Evernote,  Livebinders and Sling Note, and Easybib for citations, the information skills process is totally transformed. Students and teachers need to be aware of and be able to use effectively the online tools that are available to streamline the process with a 21^st century perspective.

Virtual worlds:
Creating and meeting in virtual spaces is a fascinating area where Libraries can engage with the outside world and there's lots to learn here. Second Life (an over 13's only space) holds incredible possibilities for connecting learners and I'm looking forward to venturing further into these realms.

Digital Citizenship:
With the continued opening up of spaces to communicate, collaborate and create online, it is part of the Library's responsibilities to assist students and teachers to understand what they can and cannot, should and should not do in the digital space. There are some great places online to help and Common Sense Media is a comprehensive website with curriculum materials that is a good starting point.

So the possibilities are awesome, and this is only scratching the surface. I'll be exploring all of these ideas and more in depth while I search for the perfect job to utilise my skills and keep excited about learning. I’m ready to combine my last 10 years of experience as a technology integrator and my professional background as a Teacher Librarian and embrace the change.

So much online, its time to sort it all out ….

For years now I’ve been cruising the online world for resources, ideas, insights, inspiration and creativity with lots of success. In the past, I would bookmark what I’d like to come back to, sent myself an email or worse still write up a sticky note for myself. I’ve made Word doc lists of weblinks and collected resources for students on our school Portal.

The exponential growth of the things I’m thinking about, following and saving has forced me to take a fresh look at how best to collect and keep all those great online resources.

There's probably not just one tool to do the job, but several out there that have varying features that will suit what I'm looking for. Here’s my list of essential curation tools and their features.

Twitter: Although not strictly a curation tool, it can be used as one for all those great tweets you have read and want to keep. I use the ‘favourite’ tool here and then look back on those essential tweets at a later date. Its great to trawl back now and again to find hidden and rare gems of knowledge.

Twitter is also a great way to record an event - conference or meeting. Rather than taking notes (which I never look at later), my tweets and the tweets of others are collected under a #hashtag and then are grouped for later viewing and reflection.

Pinterest: Pinterest is a visual online collection tool. Its taken off in the design world for obvious reasons, but plenty of teachers are on there as well. You can pretty much search any topic on pinterest and you find boards created by lots of passionate people. You can create multiple boards which is a great way of sorting your topics. Pinterst makes it easy to ‘pin’ things you see on websites once you add a bookmarklet to your toolbar. Its also available as a mobile app. As well as creating your own boards, you can browse the boards of others, repin their great finds and share your boards with others. Its great to follow other pinners who are pinning on similar topics of interest. The home feed is a collection of pins from pinners and boards you follow. It's updated every time someone you follow adds a pin.

Educlipper: Educlipper is Pinterest for education. There is a student and teacher account. Creator Adam Bellow is well know around education circles as the founder of EduTecher, a website with oodles of information about web 2.0 tools. It’s an easy way for educators to work with one another by sharing their own favorite links and creating a Personal Learning Network (PLN) in the process. The platform is school friendly and safe for students to use. Captuing and sending educational material quick and easily – articles, lesson plans, resources, images, it has endless possibilities for teachers and students.

Here's Educlippers vidoe introduction: 

Scoop it! creates your own online magazine. Browse and share articles, websites and resources online by “scooping” them onto your own “topics”pages. You can create multiple pages on different topics that interest you. Scoop it tracks your interests and offers you updated recommendations for you to read/view and rescoop if you like it. You can create blog-like entries by entering your own title, image, and text. There are several sharing mechanisms, widgets for your website and blog, buttons for your website or blog that link to your Scoop.it profile, an RSS feed for your Topic, or an easy to share Topic URL. If you would also like to use social networking tools to publicize your topic, you can share your scoops by posting to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr and WordPress accounts.

Livebinders is a different style of curation and appeals to the very well organized amongst us. Livebinders is a virtual 3 ring binder complete with tabs and dividers. Livebinders allows sharing and collaborating and has a multitude of uses. They are a great way to keep everything you need for organising your teaching resources, resources for parents and students and they can also be used as an e-portfolio. Binders can be public or kept private and there’s plenty of binders shared online with other professionals so you’re sure to find lots of great resources on the site. There is an under 13 restriction, so not suitable for primary school students, but excellent for high school students and teachers to organise their professional resources.

Plenty of choice here and there are other products out there that do similar things but I think these are 5 of the best. Each has great features, each is slightly different and offer the ardent web trawler amazing ways of keeping and organizing their valued content.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/verbeeldingskr8/3638834128/sizes/m/in/photostream/ 
Video Educlipper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky8rpvsyO9c 

The flatter the better

Several days after returning from the Flat Classrooms Conference 2013 held at Yokohama International School Japan, I've had some time to unpack my ideas and reflect on the experience.
The format of the conference is truly innovative - teachers and students at a conference together, learning together, thinking about global issues together all in an environment of innovation and motivation. We were truly fortunate to be in the presence of 80 students who actually care about their world and 80 teachers - who are willing enough to take their own time to travel across the globe and collaborate and connect with other educators.
The buzz in the room was awesome on Day 1 - and everyone was anticipating the great couple of days we were to be part of.
Over the next couple of days we were treated to some great thinking, some very moving stories and a feast of approaches to bringing our world together.
The theme "How can we help each other" set the scene and much of the Day 1 keynotes and interviews focussed on the Tsunami in Japan exactly 2 years earlier. Our problem to solve: how to bring students and teachers of the world together to help each other get through times of adversity, how to help each other prepare for a future of environmental uncertainty, how to help each other learn together and understand each other better.
One could be nothing but touched by the stories out of the Tsunami region - best personified in the award winning movie - "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom". Even if you can't get to a cinema to see this film, watch the trailer video - human emotions laid bare - beautifully filmed and a wonderful juxtaposition between total despair and hope for the future. All speakers provided the inspiration to begin our group tasks.

The conference then centered around time spent on formulating a group presentation and time learning and sharing about technology. Bootcamps on all manner of technology tools such as Mozilla's PopCorn Maker - a tool to mash up, enhance and share youtube videos and Infographic making were some of the sessions on offer. Not only did presenters share their use of these tools and give us time to play, but perhaps even more valuably we were able to share tools and how we use them with other teachers. iPad apps as well as Web 2.0 tools were discussed, played with and noted for the future. Networking at its best.
Kung Fu Web 2.0 was another way we shared, extremely briefly, our favourite tools - we pitched them for 2 minutes to a colleague and then they had 1 minute to ask questions. This is a technique I'll be using back in the classroom and also at Teachmeets. It was fun, made us think about the essentials and enabled us to learn more great tools to embed in our teaching.
The group task was probably the biggest challenge of the conference. Once teams were set we worked through the process which was divided into 3 steps:
1) The Brainstorm - How can we help each other - thinking of all the ways this can happen as educators.
2) The Pitch - Once an idea was agreed upon - we worked towards a 2 minute pitch to (and this is where it got really interesting) students. Reversely - students did the same and pitched to groups of teachers. We all gave each other valuable feedback. It was great to see in final presentations feedback that was given was taken up and incorporated.
3) The Animatic - This was a new skill for me - using the feedback and the original idea that was our pitch - and turning it into its next incarnation - part storyboard / part animation ... in preparation for a full video treatment.
Through all phases of the process we were given scaffolding - Alan Levine's work on Telling compelling stories was helpful - but honestly the process was for all of us quite challenging.
It was fabulous to see each animatic - student and teacher groups - presented on Day 2 and see the stories and idea forming.
Our final day found us again with the students. Placed into groups we worked through our perceptions and ideas about teaching and learning with emerging technologies - the students had so much to contribute here - they are the natural owners of the technology - and it was interesting to get their perspectives on how and when they themselves wanted to use technology in their learning. After discussion - students moved from table to table pitching our ideas for using emerging technologies to teachers in the room - the girls we worked with eloquently stated the case for using social media - I was really impressed with all the students' speaking abilities.
At the close of the conference we were treated to final films and presentations that only two days prior had merely been ideas. Inspirational. The range of issues covered and the sensitivity with which they were handled was awesome to see. With students like these I can see that the world's future is definitely in good hands.

The learning was special, the approach unique and the opportunity to meet and share the experience with like-minded, dedicated and innovative educators and students was once in a life time for me. Full of ideas I've headed home - collected my thoughts and hope to put some of the plans we made as teams into action - because flattening our world - connected across the globe to share experience, help each other and learn together is what education should be about.
Final presentations and more about the conference can be accessed at http://conference2013.flatclassroomproject.org/home
Cherry Blossom photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/8557848515/sizes/q/

I’m ready to fail … but excited by the prospect

Reflections of the Festival of Learning 2012

My brain is hurting after 2 full days of mixing it with some of the best and most innovative teaching professionals around this weekend in Sydney.

It was with enormous excitement that we all sat down to the first keynote – Adam Elliot of Harvey Krumpet fame. He definitely set the tone of the event – fun, imagination and vision. Adam and other successful animators are people I am constantly talking to my students about when they are tackling a creative task and trying something new with technology – think big and follow your passions. I always have in the back of my mind that when I’m introducing my students to techniques such as animation and film-making that I might have a budding Adam Elliot somewhere in front of me. It was amazing to hear his story of his Oscar nomination and award – so inspiring!

It was then down to business…..with so much choice over the two days – it was a difficult decision about where to head to start my 2 day learning journey. The Everest Theatre space was a-buzz and filling up so I took up a front row seat for “There’s an app for that”. We were treated to a fabulous range of speakers presenting short bites packed full of great take-aways, practical tips and advice for going mobile. I’ve now got a bunch of new apps to investigate this week including: Demibooks Composer (interactive ebook creator) Haiku Deck, Scribble Press, Video Star, Sock Puppets, Photofunia and ibuild (app making software). It was reassuring also to see teachers recommending apps that I have already considered including Skitch, Creative book builder, Popplet, Explain everything, Educreations and iMovie. Greg Alchin’s insight into the assistive capabilities really did show the versatility of mobile devices for all.

Through the day I explored the PLANE website – building relationships with teachers met during the day, investigating the different tools and looking at the possibilities for further professional development once the festival was over.

The theme of risk-taking was addressed by Dr Sarah Howard in the closing keynote for the day. This concept is one PYP educators are familiar with and one that is particularly relevant as I now contemplate the road ahead with technology back at my school. This keynote was an omen of what I was to reflect on during Day 2.

Over the last few years I have been on safe ground with a familiar with a range of tools, comfortable with desktop and laptop computers, increasingly better internet connections and wifi, web 2.0 tools and their possibilities and our easing into working in social spaces. Day 2 proved to be the ‘game-changer’, literally. Opting to head downstairs into the basement spaces for “Permission to Play”, I was ready to be impressed and a little daunted by what I saw and heard about. We’ve dabbled in Kodu and I’ve talked with students and teachers on and off about the possibilities of Minecraft and we’ve created games using 2DIY (2simple software) – however I was blown away by the work being done by Lucas Gillespie with Portal 2 and other game platforms, Bronwyn Stuckey and Quest Atlantis and Kate Booth (pre-service teacher) who presented on Sim on a Stick. This will be where my spectacular failure will begin. Not being a native gamer, its time to muscle up, have some fun, fail dismally and see the possibilities for my students in the game space and the virtual world. I knew it was coming, I’m unprepared, but I’m excited and ready to fail in order to excite.

Game on! 

Dr Jason Fox's closing comments and wrap up gave me permission to feel daunted, suggested the space to think, reflect and dream and allowed us to feel good about what's ahead - all in a set of beautifully crafted conference doodles.

I’m feeling a bit the same as when I was first introduced to Web 2.0 at a conference in Singapore in 2006 – completely energized by the possibilities. So what will be my 4 priorities over the rest of this term and into 2013?

• ·      Bed down the productivity and creative apps we want in our initial ipad roll out
• ·      Investigate the possibilities of virtual worlds and quest based learning by signing up to a Quest Atlantis teacher training session and check out Sim on a Stick as a starter to working in VW’s and approach some teachers who might be willing to take a risk
• ·      Look seriously at Minecraft and Portal 2 and get a little practice in!
• ·      Move forward with my PLANE journey
• ·      Excite my teachers to coming along for the ride

A HUGE thank you to PLANE, the generous fellow teachers who presented, my twitter network who showed friendship during the 2 days and my new network buddies, I’m looking forward to following you in the future – it was a brilliant 2 days.

My Random Top 5 iPad Apps for Learning

The exciting thing about the iPad (and indeed any tablet brand) is the proliferation of Apps that have uses in the classroom. The Apps I like the best are open ended and creative, assist critical thinking or collaboration and excite students to stretch their imagination.

This is my current Top 5. This will change as more Apps become available and are shared by educators around the world.

1) Aurasma. This App provides the potential to create and share an interactive learning environment. A little bit Harry Potter - a little bit QR code - Aurasma connects an image with a recorded video. The potential for educational applications is unlimited. Students can record their responses to books, talk about photographs or works of art, discuss historic events or describe a scientific principle. The student 'voice' is revealed via iPhone or iPad.

2) Skitch. This one's been around for a while but I like the interface Skitch offers. A nice feature is the inbuilt capture tool - take a photo in the App and immediately start annotating. All the tools are here - cropping, drawing, arrows, shapes. It all integrates with Evernote as well as sending via email or twitter. Students and teachers alike can share thinking, brainstorm ideas or just have plain fun with photos and other images.

3) Puppet Pals. This one's been a huge hit with the educational community and I can see why. Puppet Pals is a creative way to present stories - storyboard, create characters, and develop speaking and listening skills. The free version comes with several backgrounds and actors, the paid version allows for a more diverse selection of characters and backgrounds. You can even create your own. Its such fun and so engaging. Students love to see themselves as part of the action!

4) Faces iMake. This is a bit of fun and is hugely creative. It comes in a Lite version for iPhone, and a paid version for iPad. Remember Mr Potatohead? Well this App allows your imagine to run wild with vegies and other objects. Create unique faces, landscapes, objects, animals and share with the world via Facebook or email. Have students create a collage of a character in a novel or an historical figure, design their own self portrait or create a fantasy landscape in which to set their own stories.

5) Screen Chomp. Flipping your classroom? Screen chomp is an easy to use (and free!) recordable whiteboard. Show Me is a similar App. It has a multiple applications - as an assessment tool, as part of a digital portfolio, or as a record of your explanations that can be played over and over. Record on the whiteboard and narrate at the same time.

The Collaborative Zone

An ICT lab is an outdated model for learning ICT – whether it’s a Primary or High school setting. Desktop computers in rows, students working independently and barriers between students are not conducive to discussion, teamwork and creativity. Our iCentre – the learning hub of the school has multiple places for learning and incorporates a busy library, seminar rooms and an ICT space.

So what to do with such a space: to drag it into the 21^st century and use models of technology integration that enhance learning? ....... Enter “The Collaborative Zone”.

Firstly I’m working from the premise that I want students to do and feel a number of things:

•         A sense of fun and play should dominate; students should be excited about being somewhere that can operate in different ways to their classrooms.
•         There should be choice – space for small groups, big groups, individuals.
•         A range of activities can take place in the same environment
•         Students should have choice of technology throughout the room
•         Choice of learning furniture should also be available. 

I’m not keen entirely to throw out the desktop computers – they are new and do serve a purpose, however its time to cull the 1:1 desktop model. At least 2/3 can be relocated around the school. Spread the computers out around the wall desks and instantly there is space for two or three students to gather around. These small groups then can also accommodate group members on other devices – ipads, laptops etc. The space should reflect the technology use going on out in the community – a range of devices for a variety of tasks.

The rest of the space becomes more open and flexible and can include:

•        A circular desk for group work
•        A set of cube stools that can move around the space – gather at the Smartboard, congregate at the corners of the room, even head out the door to the undercover area adjacent to the Library.
•         Easy chairs around a coffee table
•         Portable white board / flip chart easels

The area also features a ‘Media Studio’ with green screen and lighting for video filming and production and sound proofing for podcasting.

The teacher’s desk makes a great ‘animation station’ or a place to build Lego robots. Relocating to share an office with the Librarian offers professional collaboration by the school's information specialists.

The iCentre as a hub and the 'Collaborative Zone' as its technology focused space will offer to students a multimodal learning environment - flexible arrangements of technology and furniture groups for creative playful multimedia learning.

The Socially Networked Classroom : Pt 1 - The Teacher

If you are reading this blog, chances are you already have made some social connections, possibly are in the process of developing a PLN and are already or are at least thinking about socially networking your students to each other and the outside world. Those of you who are at the beginning of this journey – hold on – it’s going to be an exhilarating ride. Get ready to be dazzled by the amount of opinion and content out there that’s being uploaded by educators on a daily basis. Your PLN (Professional Learning Network) is your best tool for finding out what’s new and innovative in classroom teaching and sharing your own knowledge and ideas with the world. There are educators online that are so generously sharing and its amazing the depth and breadth of the offerings, its staggering. Here are some ways to get into social networking as a teacher that I’ve tried and use regularly.
  Twitter: Make sure you sign up and start tweeting. Find some like-minded professionals and follow them. Look for people who tweet regularly, share links and stay more or less on the topics in which you are very interested in to start – you can be overwhelmed by tweeters so take it slowly to start! As you become less self conscious – you’ll really enjoy the interactions you can have online. Go to a Teachmeet: Although not strictly an ’online’ space, many educators that front up to these are also online – you will definitely find people with which to connect and these are the professionals that are really interested in what’s going on with technology, education and 21st century skills.
  Facebook: Use your Facebook as a learning space as well. Lots of education groups have a presence and if you are a regular Facebook user, it will be with very little effort you are connecting to your interest groups on a daily basis.
  Edmodo: Edmodo encourages groups of teachers (and students) to gather online in groups and discuss topics of interest. If you have something you are really keen to talk about online, think about starting your own discussion space and inviting others by email.
  Scoop.it: This is my new favourite. Create a Scoop.it account on a topic of interest – Scoop.it practically does the rest for you. It searches the Web, and as long as you have created a great set of tags, it will offer interesting posts, articles, Youtube clips – lots of different content direct to you and you can choose to ‘curate’ it onto your own site. You can add your own content too by using the bookmarklet. It works out a bit like an online newspaper, that you can update as often as the mood takes you. I highly recommend you give it a go. You could also try Tumblr.
 Blogs: There are lots of blogging platforms out there – Blogger and Edublogs are two popular sites to get started on. Weebly allows for a combined Website and Blog, which is very neat, particularly if you want to connect with other educators by offering content as well as opinion. Blogs are built for comment – don’t be shy add your two cents to someone else’s blog that you follow.
 Project 365: If you are feeling shy about writing a lot to begin with – maybe try a photo blogging site. These sites encourage you to upload a photo a day and talk about it briefly. Find some people to connect with and start conversations through the commenting facility. This is a great way to share what’s going on in your class with parents or other classes around the world.
Wikis (wikispaces): Wikis are great ways to connect with other educators on a particular topic of interest. You might like to join members of a PLN onto a wiki about something you are researching, collect web tools with others, and build a useful site cooperatively.
 Photo sharing sites like Flickr: Again educators are generously adding great content to their Flickr pages. You can share what’s going on in your classroom, create graphics and posters and add them to your Flickr stream. It’s a really good place to curate your images and they are accessible from any computer. Flickr has some great features which means you can work flexibly with your content – you can lock down a site to private, share with invited people or be public with your offerings.
Pinterest: This is pretty much the latest fad – think of a topic, scour the Internet for content. Pintrest is your personal online bulletin board to share.
Wallwisher: Post a topic, get contributors to add ideas, links, photos and videos. This is great for collaborative planning and thinking. Invite a few people to join you in a thinking session. These are great tools to use for professional development.
Many of these site (and others) have mobile Apps – so you can even connect with your PLN on the run - there's no excuse! And don’t forget to publicise your writing in a second forum. Your posts will be read if you tell your Twitter followers for example that you have just posted something for them to read.
Lots of these are not new, but are well used and worth mentioning and really work to establish you as a connected educator. The first step to a socially networked classroom is a socially networked teacher – give it a try!