Monthly Archive for July, 2007

A year ago I was invited by Jeff LeBow to be an intern at the Webcast Academy. It was a pleasure to have such an invitation. I felt I had to move on, learn new skills that could give me another perspective in this edtech world. I invited my friend Erika to be there with me. She had no option. She became an intern, too. We listened to Jeff’s screencasts, tried to record with Audacity, and failed! I was there every Sunday, at my in-laws house, inhaling that smoked barbecue smell, longing for some caipirinhas, but was there with Jeff’s gang of interns. I had lots of fun connecting to them, learning from them with their successes and failures.

At that time, I was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle of Webcasting together. I could connect some pieces, but others were just loose in my mind. Erika was pulling her blond hair out! We thought we’d never manage. It was not for us. However, we acquired many new skills then that we were not even aware of. We learned how to play around with audio/sound, we felt more confident about speaking out, speaking our minds, we used our knowledge (or lack of!) to take our students to a next level in the classroom through podcasts. I didn’t graduate at the Webcast Academy. I just received my USB Microphone when it was too late, for I didn’t feel like enduring. Or, at least, I thought so. I disconnected for a while. But, Worldbridges has always been in mind. Erika and I even started a Wiki page called BrazilBridges. The future in streaming was part of our plans!

After some period of other projects and webcasting disconnection, I started bumping into Jeff LeBow again in different venues. And I always reminded myself and him that I hadn’t discarded Webcasting. It was just a dormant project. Jeff was always there, a great listener, encouraging us to take the plunge. During the Webheads Convergence this year, I was listening to the streaming and participating in a skypecast. I connected to Cheryl Oakes (Women of Web 2.0), whom I had met in our fantastic EVO session – BaW – in 2006, and Doug Symington, who became a successful Webcaster. I started blabbing, talking about drinks, Key West, then into more serious stuff. I didn’t know we were LIVE! I thought the webcasting was over. Mistake! I was saying all those trivial things for who knows who? At the same night, I had an interesting talk about education and web 2.0 tools with Jeff and Doug. I couldn’t sleep! My mind kept processing what I heard and said. I reconnected! Yes, Webcasting!

I needed a project for the Webcasting venue, and partners, too! Webcasting is a team process, not an individual achievement. During the Webheads Convergence, I was in the WIA chatroom with some friends. The chat started, and all of a sudden it ended up with our idea to do something fun, informal, informative, organic together. The Teachers4TELL (Technology-Enhanced Language Learning) idea evolved. We planned things, created a Wiki, a Yahoogroups, but still we needed to learn how to Webcast!!! We had a tentative date for our first get-together. It didn’t happen. We were not prepared for Webcasting. Jeff was there, communicating with us, giving me a streaming crash course using Yugma, but still we were not ready, I was not ready.

Some time passed by…In between emails, chats, ideas, Cris Costa, Dennis Oliver and I decided to become interns at the Webcast Academy. Our ideas were not enough to Webcast. We needed technical skills. Cris, just like me, was also a frustrated streamer. Yesterday, was our day! We had previously gone through all of the Book of Webcasting Screencasts and decided to meet to see if we could get something out of our headphones! I tried first, before connecting to Cristina. Speechless when I heard my voice in the Webcast Academy Sandbox! I was streaming, my heart thumping! WoW moment. Then, Cris and I went step-by-step with all the windows, softwares, input, output, and she was also able to stream. How cool is that?! We were overexcited with our accomplishments of the day. The adventure and challenge have just begun. The Revolution has started!

We had some technical problems because of lack of knowledge or forgetfulness (too many details to handle!) in our collaborative venture, but we are sure we’ll solve them together and with the intrepid (in Cheryl’s words) Webcast Academy gang. Jeff, thanks for bearing with us and never giving up on these Portuguese-speaking girls! Webcasting is all about connecting and believing you can.

Through the connections we are able to make with our students nowadays, the learning outcomes are totally unexpected. We keep questioning the kind of schools we want, the way learners digest the information, how they deal with their own learning, the educators we are/want to be…Learning nowadays can take learners/educators literally everywhere.

Flex StudentsSo, let me tell you about this little (or big!) learning experience. I taught a group of adult students in Brazil for one year and a half. I was supposed to be with them for only a period of 2 months, max 4 months. However, they kept asking the Coordination to have me as a teacher. The fact is that there are tons of fantastic teachers at the binational center I work for. So, why me if they could have a chance to have a different teaching styles, accents, learning experiences? They kept saying that they liked the things we did in class and OUT. Yes, out! Except that nowadays I don’t even consider it as out, but just part of the classroom. The walls are extended to the computer screen. Indeed, I kept an open channel for communication with them. One no, many! They could talk to me in Skype. And they did! The funny thing is that they always start the dialogue in English! They could reach me by mail, in Orkut. However, I guess that the main learning experience for them were the blog exchanges we had. The International Exchange was a special ongoing communication with Dennis Oliver’s students in Arizona.We read a book and discussed on the blog, we communicated with Cris Costa’s Petty Officers in Portugal, we interacted with Terry, an American living in Lybia, we discussed current news, we listened to music and talked about it. All through blogging, dialogue, conversations…

Karen and meHowever, my main curiosity was to know how this blogging experience would influence my students’ learning paths and I was not there anymore. Well, here I am in key West and this week I had some clues on my curious educator mind. Karen, one of my students, spent some time in the US and took some days to visit me. If we hadn’t had those bonds, connections, email exchanges, blogging, would she be comfortable to visit me? My guess is that it would mostly not occur at all. Then, while she was here she mentioned how she realized that she was using and understanding what we talked about in class. Certainly, metacognitive skills in use. I could see her attempts to get her messages across. Sometimes she would look at me for help, but then I said, “just do it, Karen! You can speak English!” And she did! She left Key West with the feeling that she could really communicate, she learned about the cultural aspects in relation to the language she was learning, and all because of our connections!

Karen and Kids …Another curious aspect while Karen was here. She asked my kids to help her with words and pronunciation in English. Six months ago, my kids didn’t know English at all, except for some words they learned at school. Now, they are teaching Karen not only about English, but also about American culture and their own kids’ life. Here, you see them showing her their new online pet, the Webkinz. But this is another story…

Wait for some Karen’s funny stories about misunderstandings in the next post!