You can read more about the changes I’m going through at http://collablogatorium.blogspot.com/2008/12/moving-physically-and-digitally.html
Please, add this feed to your reader for us to keep talking and interacting and I hope to meet you at
Archive for the 'Learning' Category
I’m moving back to Brazil and making some moves digitally. All to make my motto work, simplicity.
You can read more about the changes I’m going through at http://collablogatorium.blogspot.com/2008/12/moving-physically-and-digitally.html
Please, add this feed to your reader for us to keep talking and interacting and I hope to meet you at
You can read more about the changes I’m going through at http://collablogatorium.blogspot.com/2008/12/moving-physically-and-digitally.html
Please, add this feed to your reader for us to keep talking and interacting and I hope to meet you at
As we’re in full steam preparing for one more exciting free online session for educators all over the globe through the Electronic Village Online, I was just following my thwirls when I saw Nik Peachey ’s tip of http://flickriver.com
Well, I thought I’d better give it a try as it was totally related to what I was doing, planning our Weekly tasks in our images4education session, and, more specifically, working on tasks for Flickr.
So, here’s the result:
I chose the tag Uniqueness, but it could be any, as well as a combination of a username and its tag. I think Flickriver will be useful when our group is in action and we could decide for a unique tag, participants upload a photo and we play around with Flickriver to see where it takes us in terms of images.
I could even imagine doing the following activity with students. They enter a tag they want to, five random photos will be displayed and they could have the photos as a springboard to a very creative story! How cool is that? Well, teachers, teachers, teachers…Always finding a pedagogical twist to social media!
PS: the funny thing? I was checking Nik’s link to his blog and realized he, in fact, wrote about Flickriver. So, enjoy two blog posts on the same topics by two educators. You might find something useful!
Want to find more useful resources to use images in the classroom? Check our Diigo group which we’re using to collect the resources for our Images4Education session in January 2009.
Group EVO2009-Images Bookmarks
Well, I thought I’d better give it a try as it was totally related to what I was doing, planning our Weekly tasks in our images4education session, and, more specifically, working on tasks for Flickr.
So, here’s the result:
I chose the tag Uniqueness, but it could be any, as well as a combination of a username and its tag. I think Flickriver will be useful when our group is in action and we could decide for a unique tag, participants upload a photo and we play around with Flickriver to see where it takes us in terms of images.
I could even imagine doing the following activity with students. They enter a tag they want to, five random photos will be displayed and they could have the photos as a springboard to a very creative story! How cool is that? Well, teachers, teachers, teachers…Always finding a pedagogical twist to social media!
PS: the funny thing? I was checking Nik’s link to his blog and realized he, in fact, wrote about Flickriver. So, enjoy two blog posts on the same topics by two educators. You might find something useful!
Want to find more useful resources to use images in the classroom? Check our Diigo group which we’re using to collect the resources for our Images4Education session in January 2009.
Group EVO2009-Images Bookmarks
A friend of mine in Italy, Seth Dickens, has kindly asked me to talk a bit about edublogging. We had planned for an interview, but due to technical issues, we went for a recording.
Edublogging… How many times have I written about it, gave tips, presented, and tried to inspire others? Fact is the ones who endure the first stages of discoveries and experiments are the passionate educators, those who teach with heart and soul, who truly believe in their transformative potential as an educator. These are the ones who, later on, become passionate edubloggers.
The point of my talk was what I’ve been saying from the beginning and what I wrote about in the article “Blogging in the Classroom: It Doesn’t ‘Simply Happen‘ “. Persistence, fearlessness, being passionate and knowing that you have something that will add value to someone are key to make it a successful endeavor.
We make lists of how to be a successful blogger, but formulas are not in the core of Edublogging, conversations are. Conversations don’t mean that you need to get tons of comments. They mean a talk to yourself, commenting on other people’s blogs, and yes, getting comments when your readers feel the urge to interact with you. I sin as a blogger, for I am not consistent as I should be or as would be willing to. However, I’ve decided to let it go, for I have little ones and a husband to care for. I have professional projects and other ways to connect. Nowadays, Twitter is my means of quickly connecting to others, though it’s not a substitute to blogging. Twitter is connection, blogging is reflection + connection. One complementing each other in my circle of learning.
Through blogging, edublogging my mind pours out, I learn, share, re-shape who I am and how I see things. But, my ultimate question is how could I show that to other educators? Maybe I can’t. Just through their own blogging journey they will learn what passionate blogging is all about, some will just find the excuse for not even giving a try. Blogging is a transformational act one should be willing to undergo. It won’t work if it’s just mechanic, technical. No. It’s humanistic, contextualized, personalized, collective, cultural, intense.
I’ll never forget some memorable posts that show the power of blogging:
Marina’s post - A psychologist talking about her experience about being a clown.
Having Dennis Newson as our class mystery guest
Motivating my adult students to predict a short story by Edgar Allan Poe we read in parts in class.
The rich cultural exchanges my group had with Dennis Oliver’s group in the US due to our International Exchange blog.
Emerson, a quiet adult student in class, surfacing as a wonderful blogger and commenter.
Discussion with Russian students and readers about the Brazilian movie “The City of God”.
Sharing Love Stories
Wow! Just so nice to travel back in the past through blogging. It’s a record of a moment, a state of mind, it shows us and our learners in ways we’d never share in the old brick and mortar classroom in such intense exchange and connection. These are just some of the examples mainly with students in it, but there is the other side of edublogging as a professional and personal development. This is another story and certainly deserves another blog post!
Edublogging… How many times have I written about it, gave tips, presented, and tried to inspire others? Fact is the ones who endure the first stages of discoveries and experiments are the passionate educators, those who teach with heart and soul, who truly believe in their transformative potential as an educator. These are the ones who, later on, become passionate edubloggers.
The point of my talk was what I’ve been saying from the beginning and what I wrote about in the article “Blogging in the Classroom: It Doesn’t ‘Simply Happen‘ “. Persistence, fearlessness, being passionate and knowing that you have something that will add value to someone are key to make it a successful endeavor.
We make lists of how to be a successful blogger, but formulas are not in the core of Edublogging, conversations are. Conversations don’t mean that you need to get tons of comments. They mean a talk to yourself, commenting on other people’s blogs, and yes, getting comments when your readers feel the urge to interact with you. I sin as a blogger, for I am not consistent as I should be or as would be willing to. However, I’ve decided to let it go, for I have little ones and a husband to care for. I have professional projects and other ways to connect. Nowadays, Twitter is my means of quickly connecting to others, though it’s not a substitute to blogging. Twitter is connection, blogging is reflection + connection. One complementing each other in my circle of learning.
Through blogging, edublogging my mind pours out, I learn, share, re-shape who I am and how I see things. But, my ultimate question is how could I show that to other educators? Maybe I can’t. Just through their own blogging journey they will learn what passionate blogging is all about, some will just find the excuse for not even giving a try. Blogging is a transformational act one should be willing to undergo. It won’t work if it’s just mechanic, technical. No. It’s humanistic, contextualized, personalized, collective, cultural, intense.
I’ll never forget some memorable posts that show the power of blogging:
Marina’s post - A psychologist talking about her experience about being a clown.
Having Dennis Newson as our class mystery guest
Motivating my adult students to predict a short story by Edgar Allan Poe we read in parts in class.
The rich cultural exchanges my group had with Dennis Oliver’s group in the US due to our International Exchange blog.
Emerson, a quiet adult student in class, surfacing as a wonderful blogger and commenter.
Discussion with Russian students and readers about the Brazilian movie “The City of God”.
Sharing Love Stories
Wow! Just so nice to travel back in the past through blogging. It’s a record of a moment, a state of mind, it shows us and our learners in ways we’d never share in the old brick and mortar classroom in such intense exchange and connection. These are just some of the examples mainly with students in it, but there is the other side of edublogging as a professional and personal development. This is another story and certainly deserves another blog post!
Jane Hart has released the list of 100 learning tools in 2008 based on the contribution of 223 educators.
How about focusing on learning about, at least, one of these tools and trying it out to make your classroom even more engaging?
3 educators.
How about focusing on learning about, at least, one of these tools and trying it out to make your classroom even more engaging?
3 educators.
Teachers as catalysts
communities
anectdotes
empowerment
learning
excitement
audience
connecting
inclusion
democracy of learning
Stephen Heppel
me
we
see
mutuality
exchanging
the sense of others
the sense of us
No more words. Listen.
communities
anectdotes
empowerment
learning
excitement
audience
connecting
inclusion
democracy of learning
Stephen Heppel
me
we
see
mutuality
exchanging
the sense of others
the sense of us
No more words. Listen.
Last year, I wrote about the environment. This year I want to add my voice to the worldwide blogging effort to raise awareness, to discuss an issue which is latent in my country, poverty.
Join me. Join everybody else in the world. Say it out loud and let others hear you. Let us make this a way to foster true change, to reach souls, to seek solutions.
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
Join me. Join everybody else in the world. Say it out loud and let others hear you. Let us make this a way to foster true change, to reach souls, to seek solutions.
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
I just got this video via Twitter (a microblogging site) from a dear friend, Ana Maria Menezes, a mineirinha, who has a bag full of tricks to share.
The story is simple, but then, I just realized that it is a wonderful springboard to explore language. Imagine a group activity, or even a collaborative project with sister classes in which they have the same claymation and learners are responsible for creating the stories to go with the animation. They could even record the stories.
How motivating would that be? Is it the kind of experiential learning we could add more frequently to our lesson plans? Do you have any other ideas to go with this video? Or do you have any other video that could be used for the same idea?
Originally posted at http://webtools4educators.blogspot.com/2008/10/telling-story.html
The story is simple, but then, I just realized that it is a wonderful springboard to explore language. Imagine a group activity, or even a collaborative project with sister classes in which they have the same claymation and learners are responsible for creating the stories to go with the animation. They could even record the stories.
How motivating would that be? Is it the kind of experiential learning we could add more frequently to our lesson plans? Do you have any other ideas to go with this video? Or do you have any other video that could be used for the same idea?
Originally posted at http://webtools4educators.blogspot.com/2008/10/telling-story.html
Serendipity. Just seeing my thwirl swirling on my screen when I saw Jefflebow there. Well, out of curiosity, because these guys at edtechtalk are always around new stuff, I decided to click on the link Jeff suggested to test mebeam. Bang! I was there with him, John Schinker, Dave Cormier and Jen Madrell. What a great pleasure to see all those little video thumbnails. I laughed to myself because I had no idea they would all be there. It’s just like getting in the wrong room when people are into interesting conversations and you interrupt them…Well, Jeff has this very fast-thinking (forward-thinking, too!) reactions and asked if I wanted to join them. I asked when and he said it was in 10 minutes. There I was busted and glued in the room of those edtechtalkies who know how to run a show! It was great. Except that I don’t know if Dave liked the fact that I pushed him into some discussion related to his teaching approaches and mine, as well, based on his rhizomatic view of learning. Interesting discussion with a taste that I want to go futher on the discussion…or, at least, go deeper into the topic.
One week, or maybe more, considering the Pre-session part. The online session for Brazilian Educators I started to moderate this week is in full steam. Those common words pop up here and there, overwhelming,scared, no time, busy. All part of any educator’s life even when they are not talking about technology. I’m in awe to see the willingness to succeed, this hunger for understanding that these educators have shown. The best part is to connect to educators in different parts of Brazil in diverse educational settings plus my dear friends at Casa Thomas Jefferson, the binational center I work for in Brazil.
I can’t think of the many times I tried to inspire my fellow workmates, to let them see what was out there in the online sphere that they and their learners would benefit from…Well, I guess it’s a matter of being ready, mature to face this totally new space for them.
Of course, the beginning is daunting, but I’ve been trying to soothe more agitated souls who feel uncomfortable, insecure to get started. Even before reading the tutorials, “listening to me”, some feel that “this” is not for them. Yet, most of them realize it is! They are grasping what the Web is about, they’re adding information to our wiki, they’re already blogging, they are doing the weekly tasks, interacting in forums, making new human and neural connections, going on Web2.0 Safaris, talking at edmodo. I, as a moderator, am there to give my helping hand, but letting them get their feet wet. Some of my friends have finally that I’m not extraterrestrial, and this is world is closer to them and to their learners in a way that they could never imagined if it weren’t for their own experiential learning.
This to prove that workshops can trigger interest, but living, feeling what it is like as a learner, can truly make the difference.
Below is just a sample of our collaborative effort. I showed them an image of Web2.0 tool logos before they read or say anything related to it. They said what that represented to them. I added my comments today after letting them interact to each other.
Note: I just loved using docstoc for the first time!
_______________________________________________________________
Webtools4educators_week1 – Get more Business Documents
Dear all,
Here’s what everybody has written so far in this forum as for Friday morning. I compiled the main points so that you have a better view of the thoughts of the group as a whole.
Very interesting points of view. What I wanted to know here was really how much you knew about the Web2.0. From what I realized, nobody mentioned it. Just Lueli after doing her homework, the Web2.0 Safari! That’s great, because everyone here has the chance of a fresh start. Of course, we might have seen some, or very few, of the web2.0 tools shown in the image. Do you think I know them all? OF COURSE NOT! Do we need to know them all?
Well, we would need a lifetime and maybe some more reincarnated lives to be able to handle all that is out there. All that without sleeping! So, no, you won’t get to know most of them here. You’ll bump into some as we go along and after the course is over. Yes! The main idea was to make you realize that there’s a whole new world out there to be explored, conquered with persistence and confidence. And, I guess, this session is the place for it, mainly giving you confidence to get out there! The tools, you’ll always be able to find. The purpose here is to start the connections that enable interactions as many of you mentioned in your reflections, leading you to social learning, mentorship, partnership. You’re not alone on the web. As soon as you start your online networking, you build up your online presence, you’ll take larger steps with a confident attitude, for you’ll learn where to ask for help, how you can organize yourselves in the midst of this sea of information, how you can aggregate dispersed resource into a meaningful one. You’ll learn to be a learner again. You’ll learn that what you preach to your students about the importance of making mistakes, also holds true for you in this brave new online world.That’s the idea!
No, Pat Fleury and Lueli, you’ll not be illegal digital immigrants looking for a green card. Your green card has been officially issued this week! And you’ve already started this enriching trip to whatever destination you set for yourselves and your learners. Soon, you will all get your digital citizenship as netizens!
Overwhelming, Gabi, Telma, and all, sure! My question is: how to turn overwhelming web2.0 tools into effective, pedagogically sound resources for your 21st century classrooms?
A big yes to you, Kelly! The new online endeavor is everybody’s chance to find out you can do unimaginable things with your never ending creativity. Right, Pat Faustino?
I agree with you, Daniele, that we need to put our classroom walls down and truly connect to our digital natives and immigrants in ways that truly make sense. Just like Cecília mentioned, we need to see what is going on around us. We need to be part of it.
True, Cleverson, it’s a complex system, but let us embrace it because, as Vini points out, being digital is not an alternative any more, it’s the way to go.
Don’t get me wrong. No! We won’t neglect what we’ve done for our students and for us so far. We won’t feel small facing this huge online space. No! We’ll make it part of what we are as teachers and what we believe education is all about. Adaptation to this process will take a while, we might change our views, take other directions, but we’re already there!
After all we’ve been exploring this week, what do you feel is the biggest difference between what was once the Net and what is has become? They call it Web2.0, but names are just names…I want to know how do you feel what’s out there nowadays differs from the past online world?
Uff! Guess I got excited with all that you’ve been writing!
I can’t think of the many times I tried to inspire my fellow workmates, to let them see what was out there in the online sphere that they and their learners would benefit from…Well, I guess it’s a matter of being ready, mature to face this totally new space for them.
Of course, the beginning is daunting, but I’ve been trying to soothe more agitated souls who feel uncomfortable, insecure to get started. Even before reading the tutorials, “listening to me”, some feel that “this” is not for them. Yet, most of them realize it is! They are grasping what the Web is about, they’re adding information to our wiki, they’re already blogging, they are doing the weekly tasks, interacting in forums, making new human and neural connections, going on Web2.0 Safaris, talking at edmodo. I, as a moderator, am there to give my helping hand, but letting them get their feet wet. Some of my friends have finally that I’m not extraterrestrial, and this is world is closer to them and to their learners in a way that they could never imagined if it weren’t for their own experiential learning.
This to prove that workshops can trigger interest, but living, feeling what it is like as a learner, can truly make the difference.
Below is just a sample of our collaborative effort. I showed them an image of Web2.0 tool logos before they read or say anything related to it. They said what that represented to them. I added my comments today after letting them interact to each other.
Note: I just loved using docstoc for the first time!
_______________________________________________________________
Webtools4educators_week1 – Get more Business Documents
Dear all,
Here’s what everybody has written so far in this forum as for Friday morning. I compiled the main points so that you have a better view of the thoughts of the group as a whole.
Very interesting points of view. What I wanted to know here was really how much you knew about the Web2.0. From what I realized, nobody mentioned it. Just Lueli after doing her homework, the Web2.0 Safari! That’s great, because everyone here has the chance of a fresh start. Of course, we might have seen some, or very few, of the web2.0 tools shown in the image. Do you think I know them all? OF COURSE NOT! Do we need to know them all?
Well, we would need a lifetime and maybe some more reincarnated lives to be able to handle all that is out there. All that without sleeping! So, no, you won’t get to know most of them here. You’ll bump into some as we go along and after the course is over. Yes! The main idea was to make you realize that there’s a whole new world out there to be explored, conquered with persistence and confidence. And, I guess, this session is the place for it, mainly giving you confidence to get out there! The tools, you’ll always be able to find. The purpose here is to start the connections that enable interactions as many of you mentioned in your reflections, leading you to social learning, mentorship, partnership. You’re not alone on the web. As soon as you start your online networking, you build up your online presence, you’ll take larger steps with a confident attitude, for you’ll learn where to ask for help, how you can organize yourselves in the midst of this sea of information, how you can aggregate dispersed resource into a meaningful one. You’ll learn to be a learner again. You’ll learn that what you preach to your students about the importance of making mistakes, also holds true for you in this brave new online world.That’s the idea!
No, Pat Fleury and Lueli, you’ll not be illegal digital immigrants looking for a green card. Your green card has been officially issued this week! And you’ve already started this enriching trip to whatever destination you set for yourselves and your learners. Soon, you will all get your digital citizenship as netizens!
Overwhelming, Gabi, Telma, and all, sure! My question is: how to turn overwhelming web2.0 tools into effective, pedagogically sound resources for your 21st century classrooms?
A big yes to you, Kelly! The new online endeavor is everybody’s chance to find out you can do unimaginable things with your never ending creativity. Right, Pat Faustino?
I agree with you, Daniele, that we need to put our classroom walls down and truly connect to our digital natives and immigrants in ways that truly make sense. Just like Cecília mentioned, we need to see what is going on around us. We need to be part of it.
True, Cleverson, it’s a complex system, but let us embrace it because, as Vini points out, being digital is not an alternative any more, it’s the way to go.
Don’t get me wrong. No! We won’t neglect what we’ve done for our students and for us so far. We won’t feel small facing this huge online space. No! We’ll make it part of what we are as teachers and what we believe education is all about. Adaptation to this process will take a while, we might change our views, take other directions, but we’re already there!
After all we’ve been exploring this week, what do you feel is the biggest difference between what was once the Net and what is has become? They call it Web2.0, but names are just names…I want to know how do you feel what’s out there nowadays differs from the past online world?
Uff! Guess I got excited with all that you’ve been writing!
Time, overwhelmed, overloaded, chaotic are some of the frequently used words in the Connectivism online session that has just started with Stephen Downes and George Siemens.
Due to hurricane Ike and the need to evacuate from Key West, I was disconnected at first and enjoyed some quality time with my family. Then, I started connecting, reading things here and there. Now, I’m in full swing, interacting with some in the MOODLE forums, Facebook group and reading some interesting blog posts. Still a lot is needed for my synapses to make sense. So, here’s my take. I won’t complain about being overwhelmed, overloaded, time-constrained, I will take another direction. I’ll set two goals that I want to achieve during these weeks of Connectivism even with limited hours on my day.
My two main goals will be:
Get out of the comfort zone of my circles of friends and network, and connect to other participants’ ideas, reflections. I tend to stick to the Webheads, my dear ones, and I still can do it, but I’ll try to fit in other circles of like-minded educators.
Learn about learning and find ways to effectively apply what I apprehend from the Connectionist principles into my e-moderating practices. If possible, trying to adapt some of it to the Web Tools 4 Educators session which is just beginning.
With almost 2,000 participants in this open course, only by having an individual focus with attainable goals, will we have real chances of thriving and making the best out of this networked experience.
PS: I love to observe how the connections are being made and the roles people take in such an open-ended approach of a course. Interesting to say the least.
Due to hurricane Ike and the need to evacuate from Key West, I was disconnected at first and enjoyed some quality time with my family. Then, I started connecting, reading things here and there. Now, I’m in full swing, interacting with some in the MOODLE forums, Facebook group and reading some interesting blog posts. Still a lot is needed for my synapses to make sense. So, here’s my take. I won’t complain about being overwhelmed, overloaded, time-constrained, I will take another direction. I’ll set two goals that I want to achieve during these weeks of Connectivism even with limited hours on my day.My two main goals will be:
With almost 2,000 participants in this open course, only by having an individual focus with attainable goals, will we have real chances of thriving and making the best out of this networked experience.
PS: I love to observe how the connections are being made and the roles people take in such an open-ended approach of a course. Interesting to say the least.