Marco Antonio Torres is an internationally recognized teacher and filmmaker who uses the movie-making process to make his classroom projects explode with empowerment and enthusiasm. Working along side the exceptionally talented Alas Media Team, this phenomenal workshop will take you through the entire movie making process.
This two day event will be a practical, hands-on session where teachers will learn not only valuable and practical tips on how to make a great movie, but also how to plan and manage such projects. Teachers will also find out how to market this program to their communities and also learn how to share the projects with the world! See how movies have a place in your content area classroom/ new studio. Lights, Camera, LEARN!
We will start by exploring a variety of apps, some that lend themselves to learning content such as math facts or spelling words and others that can be used in open-ended content creation such as storytelling or photography. Then we will link these apps in design to your curriculum. We will explore opportunities for mapping to the curriculum where students are creating, contributing and engaging globally on both the iPad and other mobile technologies.
Participants will:
Presentation Link: http://balancedtech.wikispaces.com/BLC12+-+iPad+Apps+For+Creativity
Project-based learning has been let down in too many instances with "fake", academic, theoretical problems that need solving. The learning processes involved are at best fuzzy for most educators: what is "collaboration", "student-designed" and "student-led" learning?
Do you love stories? Do you want to learn how to create your own interactive digital stories? Join members of the Scratch Team at MIT Media Lab for a hands-on introduction to storytelling with Scratch. Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy for young people (ages 8 and up) to create their own interactive stories and share their creations online with others. As students program and share with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively, while also learning important computational ideas.
In this hands-on session, participants will be introduced to Scratch, create interactive stories, view examples of stories created by young people and hear how Scratch is being used by educators for storytelling. No prior experience necessary.
Marco Antonio Torres is an internationally recognized teacher and filmmaker who uses the movie-making process to make his classroom projects explode with empowerment and enthusiasm. Working along side the exceptionally talented Alas Media Team, this phenomenal workshop will take you through the entire movie making process.
This two day event will be a practical, hands-on session where teachers will learn not only valuable and practical tips on how to make a great movie, but also how to plan and manage such projects. Teachers will also find out how to market this program to their communities and also learn how to share the projects with the world! See how movies have a place in your content area classroom/ new studio. Lights, Camera, LEARN!
Getting to the Park Plaza early? Consider EduBloggerCon. This event is a “collaborative conference” where attendees help to build and create the experience. At the start of the day, attendees will work together to develop sessions based on the submissions that attendees have indicated they are willing to facilitate or would like to learn about.
This event is free, and you can attend even if you are not registering for the full BLC conference. More information is available at http://www.edubloggercon.com/ebcEast2011.
Unpacking the broad assessment agenda we face in schools today and exploring new insights and solutions for the challenges we face. Let’s face it, the assessment agenda is fraught with mixed metaphors, blind alleys and confusing vocabulary! Let’s re-establish assessment in it’s rightful place as an integral part of any learning.
It is all about the grade at the end of the day. How can I break this everlasting cycle?
I want my students to be more central in their learning, how do I take steps towards this?
I think I am doing OK with assessment in my classroom, but how does this compare with elsewhere in the world? Do others face the same challenge?
Attendees will:
Alan November describes the "Digital Learning Farm" as a place where students come together to make valuable contributions to their classrooms for the benefit of their classmates and the world beyond their school's walls. This session will focus on the ideas behind these contributions and will introduce participants to a toolset that will get their students moving in the direction of empowered, purposeful learning. Examples include tutorial creators, student scribes, curriculum reviewers and more. All participants in this session will get a free copy of Alan's upcoming book, within which he discusses this concept in great depth.
Side-scrollers. Quizzes. Mazes. Simulators. Young people are using Scratch to create and share a wide variety of interactive games. In the process, they learn important computational concepts (for example, using variables for keeping score and conditionals for making game decisions), while also developing general problem-solving skills and design capacities.
Join members of the Scratch Team at MIT Media Lab for a hands-on introduction to game design with Scratch. Participants will be introduced to Scratch, learn to create games, view examples of games created by young people and hear how educators are using Scratch for game design. No prior experience necessary.
Bring your digital camera and join us on a walking tour of downtown Boston to explore night photography and to change the way you view Boston Harbour.
We will explore global projects engaging students to paint their city, home and themselves in a different light. We will investigate ways we can offer to depict stereotypes, such as inner city locations in inspiring ways.
We will be going on a photo safari around downtown Boston at night and will look at ways to investigate the how we frame our photos (what we focus on, what we edit out) as a starting point for reflective practice, for writing, art and critical thinking in the classroom. Learn about night photography and painting with light to ignite imagination and create highly dramatic photos to render the familiar a little strange.
Most -- if not all -- of the important skills in our lives are acquired outside the traditional classroom setting. Yet we continue to teach using lectures where students passively take down information. Peer instruction is a research-based pedagogy that actively engages students in the classroom and has been shown to dramatically improve conceptual understanding, even in large classes. While successfully implementing peer instruction doesn't require any technology, using the right technology can improve student engagement, increase learning, and make it easier to implement peer instruction in your classroom. In this workshop you will learn how to use Learning Catalytics -- a web-based technology publicly unveiled for the first time last year at BLC '11 -- to bring peer instruction to your students. You will get hands-on experience designing effective questions -- not just multiple-choice but also open-ended questions where students produce textual, numerical, or graphical responses -- and using Learning Catalytics to pose them to students. You will also see how to use Learning Catalytics to manage the discussions students have during class and promote engagement and conceptual understanding.
Learn how to tap Google's free online toolset and knock down the walls of your classroom, engage students and make connections in new and exciting ways. During this pre-conference session you will build robust learning solutions that you can immediately apply in your classroom. Develop a custom search engine based on your particular subject area or unit of study. Create an interactive map for your literature, history, math or science class. With these and other open-ended tools, the options are endless. When you return to your classroom in the fall your students will be stunned at what you did on your summer vacation!
Screencasting is a fun and exciting way for students to take an active role in their own learning. Student-created screencasts can be used for authentic assessment, tutoring and sharing concepts with a global audience. This workshop will start with the basics of how to get started with screencasting. With hands-on guidance and demonstrations, participants will learn how easy it is to record, edit and share their screencasts using Camtasia (a free copy of Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac will be provided to each attendee).
Participants will learn to create, organize and present crisp, professionally-pleasing screencasts. Other topics to be covered include:
Data is not boring. Data is not something that's just for math or science class. Since 2010 we've never had so much publicly available data about the way our lives are run, the environment, our geography, our history… But most of us don't know how to tap into the PDFs, tables, geocodes and charts to dig out the meaningful stories hidden in there. Learning how is one of the key new literacy skills our youngsters will need if they are to be fully participative members of society:
Are you already using iPads in the classroom? Just considering an implementation? Either way, this pre-conference workshop will be a rich source of ideas, resources, and information about learning with the iPad in the elementary classroom.
This hands-on workshop will explore productivity tools, educational activities and more, using built-in and freely available applications for Apple's iPad. With the iPad, learners can perform research, collaborate, interact with experts, and produce creative works! We will examine the iPad's iOS platform, unique features that support student learning, and applications and activities that support differentiated mobile learning. We will also discover tips and tricks to get even more out of your Internet communication device. Participants need to bring their own iPad to fully participate in this hands-on session. Do not miss out on this innovative workshop! Teachers, administrators, IT professionals and technology coordinators are welcome.
Presentation Resources: http://lainierowell.com
Do you like to eat with your fingers? Maybe the iPad is for you. Are you a “multitasker”? If so, perhaps the iPad is not for you. What real questions do you need to consider in implementing mobile technologies into a school culture? How does teaching and learning change when you have access to the right information at the right time.
In an age of overabundance of information what information do we need, do our students need? Learn about practical examples of how you can use iPads for empowered learning. This is not a session showing yet another list of the latest apps. Bring your iPad and be prepared to share an idea of how you are using iPads to change the structures of learning. Join Julia for this hands on popular session.
Please come to the workshop with your own iPad, your Apple ID's and passwords and your iTunes account.
Also, go to the following link and download the apps PRIOR to the session. Many of the apps require you double click them to launch them then sign up for an account. Please sign up for accounts for these apps prior to coming so that you can participate along with us and use them right away. If you have a laptop, bring it also.
Click on the link below to get the list of apps to download: http://ipadapi.wikispaces.com/
In a world of rapidly developing technology, are you having a difficult time finding a jumping off point? In this four-hour session you will take part in a hands-on learning adventure that models an immersion process you can use with your own students. You will interact with a powerful learning community as you explore a variety of Web-based tools and learn to integrate these same tools across the curriculum in meaningful and effective ways. The results will be expanded opportunities for developing a personal learning community, authentic work, global audiences and concrete ways that your students can make valuable contributions to their learning community.
Screencasting is a fun and exciting way for students to take an active role in their own learning. Student-created screencasts can be used for authentic assessment, tutoring and sharing concepts with a global audience. This workshop will start with the basics of how to get started with screencasting. With hands-on guidance and demonstrations, participants will learn how easy it is to record, edit and share their screencasts using Camtasia (a free copy of Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac will be provided to each attendee).
Participants will learn to create, organize and present crisp, professionally-pleasing screencasts. Other topics to be covered include:
How can leaders maximize student engagement and academic achievement? How can leaders encourage teachers and students to collaborate with peers and professionals around the world?
The goal of this session is to provide you with maximum capacity for effective leadership in the 21st Century. This session will outline essential skills for leaders and offer practical guidelines and creative solutions for building accountability into the planning process. Articulating vision and managing change will be emphasized, along with the following:
Join us as we journey through a Common Core based activity drawing on critical thinking, information literacy and project development. Explore the process changes involved in building the capacity of students to ask deeper questions, think critically about content, deconstruct information and support or challenge claims, as they respond to increasingly complex tasks.
An intentional play on the popular quote from David Coleman, a contributing author of the ELA Standards, the title of this workshop invites participants to engage with the standards using the media and mediums of todays leaners.
Throughout this high engagement, hands-on workshop, participants will explore a process for:
- asking effective questions
- mapping a project plan
- collecting, analyzing and sifting through evidence
- identifying authentic audiences
Closing discussion and reflections will offer participants an opportunity to connect design elements of the workshop with learning experiences for their students.
Presentation Link: http://brainyardworkshop.wikispaces.com/
Convene with a number of BLC veterans for a newbie survival session. We want you to get the most you can from your time at the conference, so let us show you the ropes. We will give you tips on choosing sessions, how to get around the hotel and how to find help. We will also highlight the various online tools used throughout the week to help us stay connected, and we let you in on the best places to charge your laptop. Finally, Boston is a great city and we will share some recreational recommendations!
Successful public charter schools have embraced innovation, entrepreneurship and 21st century learning throughout the past decade. For many of us, though, our schools have strongly established traditions, expectations and curriculum that are slow to embrace change. We are in a time of global transition, but how do we effectively navigate cultural and social expectations while meeting the needs of learners in the digital age? How can we generate real change in our schools when our local and national culture is steeped in 20th century educational traditions and benchmarks? In this session, you will take away applied examples for making the case, stimulating and building resonance for change in your school. You will pick up proven tactics that will help you create and support programming for integrated 21st century learning, change existing faculty mindsets and practices and meet expectations of parents and colleges.
What does assessment look like in a Digital Age classroom of Web 2.0 integration and multimodal projects? How do we distinguish between higher-order thinking and "bells-and-whistles?" In this session we explore the role of backward-design principles in developing effective Assessment 2.0 strategies. We will look at storyboarding techniques and rubrics that help establish a clear relationship between project goals and skill benchmarks. A fundamental goal is to identify characteristics of effective assessments that link to and measure student mastery of worthwhile learning goals.
Attendees will learn how to:
• Build a logic model for backward-design assessment
• Develop skill benchmarks tied to learning objectives
• Construct a storyboarding process that improves formative and summative assessment
• Find and create rubrics that evaluate preparation, content, format, design, presentation, and interactivity
Presentation Links:
http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/news-a-media/where-ett/204-tom-blc1 (Google Presentation)
Assesment 2.0 (PDF)
Stay after the keynote to learn more from Chris and have an informal question and answer session.
A leading safe, social curricular learning platform (ePals LearningSpace) will be demonstrated and show the advantages of this next generation social learning platforms for school use. This session will provide evidence and data on how social learning platform significantly increases writing, critical thinking, and engaged learning. See how to leverage "social learning" principles while maintaining easy teacher and district implementation in a safe way. Simplify integrated web 2.0 tools in the kind of way that prepares students for college and the career workplace where they will create, share and manage their work and ideas in a professional online environment with their peers. Presenters have done thousands of integrated school deployments worldwide and are industry leading experts.
Curricular content from the Smithsonian and publishing companies will be also be featured.
After sixteen years, cardboard Flat Stanleys have gone digital. Join the discussion on how one second grade class of students used digital cameras, Google Maps and laptops to learn about geography and their friends and family. There is now an “App for that” with the launch from Flatter World, but don’t be afraid to try this type of project on your own.
Join Peter as he challenges educators to incorporate the 4 C's ~ Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity in their approach to teaching and learning. Peter shares his new short film, "Above and Beyond", created in collaboration with The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This animated fable helps show that content mastery without the 4Cs will not provide students with the "wings" required to meet the demands of higher education, career, and life in a global society and world economy. In addition hear about Peter's essentials to foster creativity and innovation in the classroom. Participants leave with a renewed sense of engagement and a practical list of tools to tackle this challenge.
This is a specific post production, editing workshop focused for more experienced (or willing) people who feel they need more time to talk about strategies, techniques, and tools to help them get their movies to look and feel more PRO-like. First off, any teacher can make a better looking, flowing, sounding movie. iMovie and Final Cut Pro X are two tools that have been intimidating to some, but I will take this time to go over features and tip of both applications that can help you produce the movie you want to make. There are a lot of you who ask me for this workshop and here it is. I can also do my best to answer any of your specific questions you may have about these apps. I will showcase some of my favorite tips and techniques, project management advice, and direct you to online resources to continue your journey to better movie making!
This workshop will demonstrate the powerful effects of integrating student-created math video lessons, also called screencasts or mathcasts. The math videos are used as tutoring tools, a form of authentic assessment and for creating an enhanced “kids teaching kids” classroom culture. Perhaps best of all, the students enjoy creating these screencasts.
The video tutorials are used in classroom instruction and shared with a global audience via our iTunes podcast, YouTube channel, as well as our own Mathtrain.TV Web site. You will view student-created screencasts and discover how easy it is to create them for nearly any subject, as well as share them on-line using the screen recording software Camtasia Studio, Jing (free) as well as the free iPad app, ScreenChomp.
An actual student, Tiana "Paul" Kadkhoda, will be co-presenting and demonstrating how we create our screencasts.
Over the past three years, the November Learning team has visited over 20 schools in the United States, in Canada and in Asia as a part of our Innovative Planning Partnership (IPP), a process that assists schools and districts in developing technology integration plans that lead to more empowered teaching and learning immediately and in the future. By completing a review of current technology and professional development plans, a school/district-wide survey, a series of classroom observations and meetings with school leaders, teachers, students and parents, we have been able to define clear steps of how to integrate and align technology across the curriculum.
During this session, I will share what we have learned during our visits, including the top five crucial areas that are often forgotten about as schools make the transition from paper to digital environments.
Have you been wondering about those curious little square codes that are showing up more and more in magazines, stores, theaters, and everywhere else? They are QR Codes and they have the power to link the real-world to the digital-world. In this session we will explore ways to use those little black and white codes to communicate and educate.
Participants will learn:
-more about what QR Codes are and how they work
-how to quickly and easily create your own QR Codes for free
-how to use QR Codes to give students access to rich information and experiences through links to movies, podcasts, text, URLs and more
Be sure to bring your smartphone to fully participate in this interactive session!
Presentation Resources: http://lainierowell.com
Armed Conflict. Gender Equality. Water and Sanitation. Children in an ever-increasing globalized world need to understand interconnectedness, respect and value diversity, have the ability to challenge injustice and take action in personally meaningful ways. Through TeachUNICEF’s free online interdisciplinary resources, educators can foster global citizenship in the classroom and explore critical global issues.
Attendees will learn:
• The importance of global education in the classroom
• Understand what is global citizenship and components of global competency
• How to utilize TeachUNICEF’s web resources
• Take action! TeachUNICEF and service learning
Useful links for this presentation:
• http://www.teachUNICEF.org
• http://www.theoneminutesjr.org/?thisarticle=571
• http://www.unicef.org/photoessays/index-pe_29913.html
Reading is a lifelong skill that is critical to student success. Not until myON reader was launched was a program able to personalize learning and provide books and assessments digitally. Launched in 2011, myON reader is a personalized literacy environment that matches students to a recommended book list based on their interests and reading level that provides anytime, anywhere access on any device. The myON platform uses the MetaMetrics Lexile® Framework for Reading to provide valid and reliable embedded assessments and scientifically based predictions of future reading abilities.
During this session you will:
In this one-hour interactive discussion, my students and I will share reactions and reflections on activities inspired by previous BLC events. Participants will also share ways they have (or will) put BLC ideas into action. Various topics will include:
-Flickr used as a way to make abstract thinking concrete (an idea inspired by Darren Kuropatwa’s use of Flickr in his calculus classroom)
-Student film as art, instruction, and introductions (inspired by the film making workshops of Marco Torres and Alas Media)
-The Digital Farm (inspired by Alan’s presentations of the same name)
-Student Scribes in an English Classroom (inspired by Alan’s podcast with Darren Kuropatwa)
Presentation Link: http://tinyurl.com/BLCathome
Curation belongs in school. It should be part of your students’ search toolkit, part of your librarian’s strategy for collection development, part of your professional development plan, part of your effective Web presence! Learn how digital curation can enhance and inspire a school's learning culture. Joyce will define curation as a learning strategy and discuss what might be curated, the best new tools for curating, the role of student work and effective online strategies for scaling your practice as a teacher or a librarian to meet the needs of your learning community.
Presentation Link: http://joyceatblc.wikispaces.com/
The 2012 Horizon Report acknowledges that is time for the adoption of 'Game Based Learning'. Alan November recently tweeted - ‘You never get an F in gaming, there's no penalty for risk taking in gaming.’
We are seeing the second generation of children who have enjoyed mastery of the word processor, with all its agility and opportunities to revise or refine, however, with this abundance of technology, assessment tasks rarely allow students to demonstrate their new multi-literacy skills or unleash their creativity.
Today's students need an edge. They need to engage in tasks that will make them comfortable with uncertainty, allow for team work, connect globally and permit creativity. Educators need to begin a journey of change that enlists the use of games within the curriculum.
The session, will focus on why and how gaming can equip students with 21st century learning skills, inspire them to stretch and enrich their knowledge and understanding, and demonstrate how 256 Middle School students took a journey of learning through an integrated assessment task focused on sustainability, using Minecraft to deliver their final product.
The outcomes of this workshop will demonstrate:
• How Minecraft was used for in an integrated assessment task,
• How gaming can enhance creativity and innovation,
• Student feedback,
• Examples of student work, and
• How to use tools such as video, blogs, Edmodo and Quia to gamify the classroom.
Creativity, Innovation, Problem Solving… buzz words no longer! To meet the complexities of today’s world, our students need more than skills — they need Habitudes! Successful students, workers, and citizens have identifiable habits and behaviors which allow them to manage emotions, communicate effectively, and sustain themselves as independent and successful lifelong learners. We’ll explore intentional lessons and conversations that nurture and develop these habits and attitudes; the Habitudes that ensure our students’ success far beyond our classrooms.
Student journalism can be about so much more than simply reporting on the school play and the football game. I will tell the story of the Student News Action Network, an online youth news service with contributors in more than 50 countries, and will share resources and techniques for teachers to empower their students to be effective digital storytellers.
Teachers will learn
Alan November challenges us to give students the opportunity to proclaim "stand on our shoulders” by doing work that is valued by others and that peers can build on to transform the world. In promoting “stand on our shoulders” work in your school or district, you want to move from pockets of innovation to sustained innovation.
Hear strategies to use in your search for the Holy Grail—Scaling Up:
• Promote a framework that emphasizes providing students the opportunity to do transformative work (what is transformative work and how does it create a sense of ownership among students);
• Strengthen professional learning networks with an emphasis on teacher-leadership and looking at student work;
• Implement policies that promote digital citizenship rather than just focusing on restricting users [encourage students to bring cell phones & other devices to school for learning, decrease restrictions on access to the internet (including YouTube, Twitter, & Facebook), and remove policy barriers to display of student work & photos on the web]; and
• Provide anytime/anywhere access to the resources of your network through a bring-your-own-technology initiative and a private cloud.
How large is the gap that truly exists between the real and ideal for learners? Are there ways to “tweak” (small shift) content-driven instruction that will enlist students as deep questioners, critical thinkers and effective problem-solvers (big impact)? What if we created a “Destination Postcard” of the ideal learner, and designed learning experiences from there? Join this Switch-inspired think-tank on lesson design strategies that empower students to think and act their way to the acquisition and connection of content while developing learning dispositions. (Common Core Compatible)
Attendees will engage in discussion and consider activities designed to help educators:
Consider content acquisition as a vehicle for learning (means not end).
Create a classroom of “disruptive technologists,” seeking learner-driven ways to leverage digital tools, environments and processes.
Apply concepts from Switch (Chip & Dan Heath) to identify “small shift / big impact” possibilities in lesson (re)design.
Presentation link: http://bit.ly/ssbi-links
The Values Exchange (VX) is a unique web-based thinking environment. The VX community allows students to explore any social issue using 'Facebook-style' technology and powerful social concepts (my feelings, hopes, ideals, equality, law etc). Students eagerly grasp the chance for online debate about situations that really matter to them. Students can post unlimited issues of their own, and explore a comprehensive dashboard of results as soon as they submit their ideas.
This session will explain exactly how teachers can use the Values Exchange Community to enhance their teaching in all areas of the curriculum. In addition, participants will:
understand the background to this thinking environment
how students can best use it
how to set up their own cases for debate
how to engage students in exploring results and interpreting rich meaning from the data
Everyday the Year 3 (2nd Grade) pupils at Rosendale Primary School in London negotiate their day.
Since September 2011 NoTosh has been working with the teachers at Rosendale Primary School. One of the key elements that emerged was how their innovative child centred curriculum was restricted by the traditional notion of the timetable. So we helped them re-design it, handing over the control to the 8 and 9 year olds.
Attendees will:
- See an overview of the project and how it fits into ongoing Design Thinking work
- Explore the curriculum model that puts the pupil at the centre of learning
- Review their own timetable to reveal questions and challenges - and surface the traditional blocks in the way
- Take away a new perspective on what teachers or school has control over
- Hear the views of pupils and staff who are innovating in this way in their classes
- Have time to reflect on their own practice and what it would take to change
With heightened expectations for what it means to meet the needs of our graduates as they prepare for college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century alongside the requirements of meeting state standards and district curricula, the teacher often feels pulled in several directions as to how to accomplish what can often look like competing goals. This workshop, using the case study of child labor during the Industrial Revolution, will demonstrate how teachers can “globalize” the curriculum – making meaningful modern connections and offering suggestions for instruction and assessment that embody the skills and thinking required in the digital age including electronic surveys, blogging, web site evaluation, skyping with outside experts, and creating and posting video clips.
Attendees will walk with the following tools:
• Design model and criteria for a performance assessment.
• Strategies for embedding important digital and information literacy skills.
• Strategies for globalizing curricula.
Members of our faculty engaged in a yearlong exploration of effective innovative practices to create optimal models in modern education at the secondary school level. School visits, research, discussion and reflection reshaped our approach to learning. We will share our findings of systemic, curricular and specific classroom models, evaluation and assessment, use of technology as a tool, project-based learning and the ever-shifting roles of the teacher and the student and discuss how we are implementing change at our school.
In this session you will:
-Learn how we planned, organized and implemented our study
-Discover what best practices we observed and how teachers and schools developed successful classes and programs
(-Learn about authentic PBL and ethics education)
-Hear what we learned about our own professional and personal growth by challenging and questioning ourselves and each other as education professionals
-Discuss how you can do a similar faculty project at your school
Ewan McIntosh entered the teaching profession in Scotland as the country undertook a national drive to make every school an “assessment for learning school”. Formative assessment is in his bones, yet what he hears from US politicians, education ‘experts’ and school district administrators about formative assessment is distinctly, erm, not formative assessment.
- what is the difference between assessment for learning, as learning and of learning?
- What does great formative assessment look like in practice?
- Why do we need to worry more about getting formative assessment right in order for our students to succeed in summative, standardized testing? What does the research tell us?
Student journalism can be about so much more than simply reporting on the school play and the football game. I will tell the story of the Student News Action Network, an online youth news service with contributors in more than 50 countries, and will share resources and techniques for teachers to empower their students to be effective digital storytellers.
Teachers will learn
Presented by Special Guest, Greg Whitby
Traditional schooling is no longer relevant in today’s world and there are expectations that schools (and school systems), reform and innovate to better prepare children for the demands of life and work in the 21st century. How do education systems and school leaders respond to this challenge? What frameworks, structures, roles and responsibilities are necessary to support reforms? What capabilities do teachers require and what does effective teaching look like in schools? How do we bridge the equity gap regardless of the background, interests and abilities of all children?
This workshop will:
• explore the changing nature of schooling in today’s world in the context of moving schools from "cottage" to "enterprise" using technology to support learning and teaching.
• share insight into a "whole of system" response to 21st century schooling at superintendent, leader and teacher level
• provide practical structures and frameworks for leading a 21st century system and school
• demonstrate practical examples of building teacher capacity through an inquiry and knowledge building model
Re-Imagining Schools will look at ways to develop sustainable professional development that supports a technology infused curriculum and develops leadership within your faculty. We will investigate innovative ways to restructure the boundaries of learning and teaching. Empower teachers using technology to re-imagine new roles for themselves and their students that will allow students to connect with others globally learn in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible. This is intended for administrators and lead teachers who want to look at managing change.
How large is the gap that truly exists between the real and ideal for learners? Are there ways to “tweak” (small shift) content-driven instruction that will enlist students as deep questioners, critical thinkers and effective problem-solvers (big impact)? What if we created a “Destination Postcard” of the ideal learner, and designed learning experiences from there? Join this Switch-inspired think-tank on lesson design strategies that empower students to think and act their way to the acquisition and connection of content while developing learning dispositions. (Common Core Compatible)
Attendees will engage in discussion and consider activities designed to help educators:
Consider content acquisition as a vehicle for learning (means not end).
Create a classroom of “disruptive technologists,” seeking learner-driven ways to leverage digital tools, environments and processes.
Apply concepts from Switch (Chip & Dan Heath) to identify “small shift / big impact” possibilities in lesson (re)design.
In the last few years, education has finally noticed gaming and virtual worlds, but this gaming attention has been characterized by two very different perspectives. Some see engagement, concentration and collaboration, while others see isolation, social dysfunction and addiction. Often, educators have difficulty seeing the relevance of a particular game to some portion of their curriculum. Central to this theme, is that the ideas and attitudes one associates with "play" are clearly disconnected from those we associate with "learning". This presentation will dispel the myths surrounding gaming, draw clear connections between games and learning and give attendees practical examples and resources to begin using these powerful learning platforms and reintroduce the concept of playful learning.
During this session, learn how to utilize reading and writing as a means to encourage problem-finding, as a means to encourage service learning, and as a means to encourage literacy. Students in a high school novels course connected, blogged and created authentic projects inspired by their texts. Follow an English teacher’s journey to create a meaningful, rigorous course where technology empowers and homework is a gift you give. Social reading and writing tools will be shared during the session.
Link for presentation: http://bit.ly/erinolson
Do you hear that our students should have global competencies to compete with others in different countries? The rapid evolution of ICT has expedited the global interconnectedness of our society and the cross-cultural interactions among people. It has become an important agenda in school education to prepare our students to be competent in such a global society.
However, what abilities specifically should we help our students develop? How should we design our subject curricula and classroom activities? Most importantly, does it sound proper that the students learn to compete with others?
In finding the answers through this session, participants will:
There are an abundance of learning opportunities implicit in a connected world. Tools now exist that make it possible for even our earliest learners to communicate with people and classrooms outside of their building, city or country. Primary students, too, can be global learners. We’ll talk about the “why’s”, curriculum connections and the practicalities of how to make it work in YOUR classroom.
You’ll leave with:
* a list of tools that help young children to connect
* ideas for using connections to enrich your curriculum
* suggestions for choosing an effective blogging tool
* an online handout with the material from the presentation
Presentation Link: http://kathycassidy.com/presentations/connected-from-the-start/
As global STEM teams becoming an everyday reality, our students have to become competent and be fully prepared working with colleagues from different cultures both face-to-face and virtually. Join our session to learn more about:
Global Diversity and Global Team-work skills;
A learning framework working across cultures;
Some fundamental dilemmas that people of all cultures facing while working in global teams;
You will also learn more about one of innovative approaches teaching and learning Global team-work skills via GTEC Global Virtual STEM Classroom;
You will be provided with recommendations ready for forming global partnerships and implementation at your school
This workshop outlines essential skills for leadership, and offers practical
guidelines and creative solutions of building accountability into the planning and implementation process. Articulating vision and mission, managing change, and aligning technology to primary curricular goals are emphasized. A shift in perspective from technology to information and communication planning is a critical next step. We will explore opportunities for “leader as a role model.” We will also explore various opportunities for professional development design including empowering educators to join global professional communities.
The workshop will include response to the following critical leadership questions, such as:
How do we retain our educational and social values during this transition?
How do we redesign the culture of learning from a classroom with walls to every classroom expanding to global boundaries?
How do we build capacity within our schools for massive opportunities for professional development?
How do we engage our parent community, board and alumni as strategic partners in this transformation?
What should every student know to be prepared to make meaningful contributions to society?
What is the emerging definition of life-long learning?
How can we design more motivating and rigorous student work?
What is the balance of online learning with face-to-face learning?
How can school leaders provide the role models needed to set the tone and expectation of this transition?
Critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, communication and creativity are not 21st Century skills; they have been the goal of education for the last twenty years. Teaching students skills they need to be successful in their future is a philosophical idea built upon strong constructionist theory. Web 2.0 tools don’t change education, passionate teachers do. Join Mike and Garth as they discuss the philosophy behind their integration of technology into curriculum. Learn not just about free web 2.0 tools, but more importantly learn how these tools inspire students to learn for more than just a grade. 21st century learning is about changing the focus of why we teach and then using technology to improve how we teach.
Presentation link: http://www.teachersfortomorrow.net/blc12.html
Who said you need a fancy video camera to capture a great story? Any still camera and audio recorder (even a phone) is all you need. Come discover how simple it is to tell compelling stories through photography. Whether you are experienced or just starting out with photography, we’ll show you how to create photo stories like the pros.
This workshop is for educators who want to get started creating and using podcasting in their classroom. We will cover the basics of planning, recording and publishing your podcast. We will walk you the all the steps from planning, classroom management to publication and syndication. This workshop is for teachers new to podcasting.
Common Core Standards
Speaking and listening
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
Listening Standards, Grades 10-12, Item 4
Present information, findings and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance and style are appropriate to purpose.
Listening Standards, Grades 6-12, Grade 6, Item 6
Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
Listening Standards, Grades 8, Item 6
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
Presentation Link: http://anewadventure.wikispaces.com/Podcasting
Blogging with your students is a process, not an end in itself! This process mirrors the effort you and your students put into it. Learning the logistics of using a blogging platform is easy. Experiencing the shift in teaching and learning takes time and pedagogical commitment.
The presenter will share a guide for educators with step-by-step directions for teachers to learn about blogging FOR their students.
The session will look at the following essential components of the process:
Very few schools have the amount of technical support that they need, one of the most overlooked technical resources schools have is their students! If you have staff who are reluctant with technology, using students as in class liaisons is a great way to bring the teacher along while empowering the students. The student learns by teaching and the teacher learns by listening. In this session, we’ll cover a variety of examples of how this is accomplished where everyone involved benefits.
Link for presentation: http://tinyurl.com/blc12students
Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann are prominent voices and advocates of the Flipped Classroom. This presentation looks at the current status and the future of the Flipped Classroom.
Teachers who flip their classes quickly realize that using teacher-created videos allows them to create dynamic, active and rich classroom experiences for their students.
A single educational model can never meet all educational needs of teachers and students, but used in conjunction with one another, Universal design for learning (UDL), Project Based Learning (PBL), Standards Based Grading (SBG) and The Flipped Classroom can help teachers meet the various needs of all students.
Participants will leave with a granular view of the Flipped Classroom as well as a broader view of where the Flipped Classroom fits into the larger picture of education. Participants will see examples from classrooms utilizing aspects of PBL, UDL, Flipped Class and SBG.
This session enables educators to realize the potential solutions that video can provide in today's schools. Furthermore, this session will show how video can increase collaboration among students, schools and educators throughout the world.
Presentation Links: Greg's website or download his presentation PDF
In January, 2012, Tom Daccord was invited by the Ministry of Education in Singapore to serve as Outstanding Educators in Residence, working with educators from across the system to examine 21st century learning and technology integration. In this session, Tom will share his experience working with teachers, school leaders, educational technology administrators, and ministry leaders. Participants will understand:
-The signature strengths of the Singapore system: clear instructional goals, an aligned and coherent system, sophisticated talent development, an ICT mentor program, and a culture of continuous improvement.
-How these key ideas can be adapted within U.S schools and districts.
Presentation Links:
http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/news-a-media/where-ett/204-tom-blc1 (Google Presentation)
Singapore BLC12 (PDF)
Embark upon a journey through the dawn of the information age with college student, Travis Allen. Experience the life of a true digital native who boldly refused to accept the status quo in the classroom. Learn how he uses his tablet, and only his tablet, in all of his courses. More importantly learn how you can be a part of a revolution for change in education.
School IT architectures have been built upside-down and their design reflects what we might call the factory model of education. They primarily support administrative functions yet the core business and by far the largest volume of data is in the classroom, not the front office. That is partly because the template for school IT architectures was enterprise, not education, and partly because we had difficulty imagining other uses for IT beyond email and record-keeping. (To be fair, that in turn was a reflection of the limitations of the technology.) 21st Century learning calls for a new architectures, ones that are platform agnostic, where school itself is seen as the operating system and users can connect anywhere, anytime: an ∞:1 program. This session looks at the influence of three powerful currents--the coming internet-of-things, the steady rise of mobile technologies and the consumerization of educational technology--and recasts the functions of the IT network and team, moving them from a maintenance to a creative department and one that supports users--that is people, not hard- and software.
Presentation Link: http://ovenell-carter.com/blc12-preso-1-the-1-program-or-why-your-11-pr
Transform your teaching and learning by creating and sharing authentic assessment using free screen recording software. See real examples of schools, teachers, students, peers and universities who are creating screencasts to comment on student essays, provide meaningful feedback on student work and contribute to a library of tutorials.
This session focuses on various simple, easy and useful ways to incorporate screencasting with students whether using a Mac, Windows or iPad device.
An actual student, Tiana "Paul" Kadkhoda, will be co-presenting and demonstrating screencasting options.
Are you ready to turn education upside down? Perhaps you have tried a little Flip of your own and want to learn more. You might be beginning an investigation to discover what a Flipped Classroom is with the thought of possibly trying some kind of flip yourself. This is a must attend session before jumping in the air and doing a full flip. Together we will investigate and contemplate what might work best for specific classroom needs. You will leave with a better definition, resources to explore, and tools to begin your flip. Best of all, you will discover how to incorporate Bloom’s higher order thinking skills and blend the learning environment. You may just begin to Flip your idea of what Flipping really is!
We can empower all of our students to make a difference in the world, giving people purpose and mastery for learning. Two example projects will be highlighted:
She's the First where a group of students raised money to send a young woman from Tansania to the Kisa Secondary School.
The Van Meter Dreams to Life Foundation technology was put into the hands of inner city school children in Des Moines.
You will also learn to tap your students' passions via Twitter and other social tools such as FlipSnack and VoiceThread to connect your students with authentic community around the world. You will leave this session inspired to let your students be heard through their VOICE.
Shannon's presentation link: http://bit.ly/shannonmmillerblc12
Are you already using iPads in the classroom? Just considering an implementation? Either way, this session will be a rich source of ideas, resources, and information about learning with the iPad in the elementary classroom. This fast-paced session will explore productivity tools, educational activities and more, using built-in and freely available applications for Apple's iPad. With the iPad, learners can perform research, collaborate, interact with experts, and produce creative works! We will examine the iPad's iOS platform, unique features that support student learning, and applications and activities that support differentiated mobile learning. We will also discover tips and tricks to get even more out of your Internet communication device. Participants are encouraged to bring their own iPad to participate.
Presentation Resources: http://lainierowell.com
How would you complete that sentence? Think visually.
In this hands on session participants will mash up their ideas with powerful images, painlessly share them with the group and spend the lion's share of our time together thinking deeply and discussing our shared vision for what real learning looks like in our classrooms. We'll touch on ideas of ethical and responsible use of technology, creative commons and some thoughts about visual design. We will model a simple process teachers and administrators can take back to their schools to engage their colleagues in meaningful discussions that culminate with creating a core set of shared values. Ideally these core values will inform the conversations administrators and teachers have about their professional growth. Teachers can also use the same process with their students to foster deep discussions around the content they are learning in their classes.
If time permits, we'll also discuss how these ideas can be shared globally. (You'll need a flickr account, get it before BLC12, and access to your email for that. NB: You do NOT need to do this to participate.)
Bring your own laptop.
Presentation link: http://j.mp/DarrenBLC12
The Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry (ITSI) project prepares diverse students for careers in information technologies by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based science projects that use computational models and real-time data acquisition. ITSI has produced dozens of activities in elementary, middle and high school science using a range of commercial sensors as well as open source or research-based models.
Teachers can customize ITSI science inquiry activities easily to fit their classrooms and engage their local communities using the web-based interface. All activities are embedded in software that allows students to read the activity, answer questions, make predictions and collect data, analyze results, run a computer-based model, take and annotate snapshots of that model, and save their work within one application. It also allows the collection of formative and summative assessment data, which is available to the teachers.
This workshop will allow you to try out the activities and see how they would fit in your school. Project materials are free and available online.
Presentation link (zip file): Download zip file.
Music is so important to all of us. And, for so many years, if one didn't catch the music instrument bug early (or frankly couldn't afford an instrument), you became a listener, not a participant. NOW..... STOP THE PRESSES! LISTEN! ANYONE CAN MAKE MUSIC! PROMISE! This workshop will focus on how digital technology has allowed us to have access to instruments and our own professional production studio. Also, we have easy access to a plethora of FREE online just-in-time lessons and tutorials. Now, from idea to having a song up on iTunes is a process now that can take a few hours (or less). Think about that! No longer do you need to worry about copyright issues (from using other people’s music) when your students are creating their own music. This will be a FUN and LOUD workshop. COME! Spend an hour with us and BECOME THE MUSICIAN YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE!
The Flipped Classroom Model is gaining momentum as a new means to transform educational processes. At the core of this model is the ancient art of questioning to draw out student understanding. To help you make a research-based case for adopting this model, Sonny Magaña will share recent findings by the University of York and Marzano Research Laboratory on the impact of technology-supported questioning strategies on student engagement and academic achievement.
A “DUCK” is an authentic, renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle. On this narrated city tour you’ll cruise by all the places that make Boston the birthplace of freedom and a city of firsts, from the golden-domed State House to Bunker Hill to fashionable Newbury Street; from Quincy Market to the Prudential Tower, and more. Learn little known facts and interesting insights about our unique and wonderful city.
And this is not any ordinary street tour…. You will “splashdown” as your ConDUCKtor takes your DUCK right into the Charles River. Bring your camera, ipods and videos – share the ride with family members and colleagues. We’ve booked Ducks especially for BLC participants.
Price: $36 – The Duck Boat will pick you up outside of the hotel at the Valet entrance.
Building Learning Communities is invited to a Creativity Reception at FableVision Studios located on the top floor of the Boston Children’s Museum with gorgeous views of the city. Come to meet and be inspired by Peter H. Reynolds, his twin brother Paul, and his team in this fabulous creative workspace from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm. The Studio is 1.1 miles from the Park Plaza (15-minute cab ride with traffic or 25-minute walk). The address is 308 Congress Street, (on the top floor of the Boston Children’s Museum).
Over the last decade Geetha has researched change at many levels and it is her hypothesis that breaking patterns of practice established over decades of mimicking western and colonial education “methods” is hard to do alone, by either hero Principals or indeed by groups of evangelical school teachers. The educational system resists change and in order for reform to have a long term impact Geetha has adopted a “memetic” view to curriculum development. What this means in lay terms is that in large part members of educational communities are either skeptical, evangelical, critical or plain mimics of change initiatives and in order to orchestrate breakthroughs and not result in breakdowns change needs three critical components- a safe closed space for practitioners to try and fail; continuous and formative support by creative and critical specialists and most importantly an overarching and unambiguous vision.
Presenting at this conference, Geetha will draw on a series of innovations she has implemented at institutions in India and draw from this a kind of pattern language – that will enable these innovations to spread across borders and across spaces.
The approach and methodology outlined in the case studies presented will be of interest to a wide range of educational practitioners ranging from technology innovators to instructional designers, theoretical scholars to everyday educators.
The integration of design thinking, sustainability and embodiment should also be of interest to practitioners who want to build pedagogies that will revive the human spirit while simultaneously create cultures of stewardship for our planet.
Learn how to create an engaging presentation with Prezi. Prezi is a free software for educators and students that allows building presentations that are not just linear. In this workshop, you will not only learn how to use Prezi, but you will also better understand how to be an effective communicator on stage. The audience will co-create a Prezi.
With iPads increasingly becoming the device of choice for 1:1 programs, school districts and classroom teachers have the ability to create their own, custom-made content that can be published and distributed to students online, directly to the iPad.
In this session will focus on finding, annotating and creating customized articles and books for the iPad.
Participants will learn how to:
• Create and distribute PDF documents to the iPad
• Use apps to annotate PDF documents directly on the iPad.
• Create an iBook with cover image, table of contents, text, image and embedded with video
with iBooks Author.
• Convert existing files to ePub file format, and upload and distribute custom ePub files from
the cloud for quick download to the iPad.
• Develop strategies for management and distribution of epubs
Presentation Links:
http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/news-a-media/where-ett/208-tom-blc2 (Google Presention)
iPads Creating Digital Content (PDF)
Remember the days of hanging your child’s work on the refrigerator for everyone to see? In today's changing world the refrigerator is no longer relevant. Students need a window to the world where they can publish, share and connect with others around the world. In this session participates will learn how to create their classroom’s window to the world. Digital publishing in the classroom is much more complicated than placing a computer or iPad in front of your students. You, as a teacher, can shift your philosophical understanding of teaching and learning. Garth and Mike will discuss the positives and negatives, problems and road blocks and how allowing students a digital voice has effected teaching and learning in our lives. Further, we will discuss the methodology necessary to prepare students for leaving Digital Footprints worth following. Think of the excitement in August as you introduce a new way to connect with your students, parents and the world. Join us and empower your students to leave digital footprints worth following.
Presentation link: http://www.teachersfortomorrow.net/blc12.html
No longer should you be concerned about spending precious classroom minutes mining the Internet looking for information. Join us as we take a tour of the tools and strategies that Google has developed to help you and your students focus on synthesizing the information you’ve found rather than spending precious classroom time trying to find it. Explore how to use Google’s latest search techniques with your students and develop strategies to help your students do meaningful queries rather than just hunt for data.
Presentation Link: http://goo.gl/ylmH8
Stay after the keynote to learn more from Geetha and have an informal question and answer session.
We thought about titling this session, "Stop Giving Them The Answer: Let Them Figure It Out Themselves!", but thought that sounded a little too edgy. Join us for a strategy-building session on how to foster student-owned learning in the classroom (and live!). Don't expect one size fits all answers - but questions, strategies, possibilities, examples, and maybe a few awkward silences...
In this session, participants will explore ways to:
• Engage and empower students as critical thinkers, questioners, connectors and creators of content
• Build student repertoire of problem-solving strategies
• Promote and develop student capacity for finding the right information, right relationships and right resources, all at the right time.
Presentation Link: http://balancedtech.wikispaces.com/BLC12+-+Less+Is+More
How do educators create real student centered learning and essential educational transformation? More than a presentation, you will have the opportunity to listen to testimonies from educators, students and various professionals. Along the way, Mike will share some tools he has created to assist your students. These include ”Ten Basic Google Search Techniques” and a “Seven Step (A-G) Web Evaluation Program." Learn about amazing free web resources such as Intel Thinking Tools and investigate student creativity with some video creation ideas. Have the opportunity to smile, laugh, engage and reflect on both practice and possibilities. Walk away with points to ponder, antidotes, a reason to transform and resource material that you can share with your personal learning community.
Yes! Primary students, too, can have digital portfolios that allow them to reflect and record their learning. Just like their older counterparts, young learners want to showcase their learning for a wide audience and obtain feedback beyond the teacher’s comments. We’ll discuss what works effectively with our youngest students.
You will leave with
· A model for using digital portfolios in your classroom
· Examples of effective digital portfolios
· Ideas for age-appropriate tools to demonstrate learning
· A wiki with all of the information from the session
Presentation Link: http://primaryportfolios.wikispaces.com/
In a word or two you remember the whole story: glass slipper, sour grapes, cold porridge. You remember more than the facts (a step mother & two step sisters, an absent father, a godmother) you remember the relationships and deeper connections between the characters (nasty step mom & sisters, warm but lonely friendships with the animals in the house, a dream of a better life).
The challenge for teachers and students is not to find problems but to find stories. Powerful narratives, in a word or two, bring to mind a wealth of ideas and relationships; more than just facts. How can we find the stories that make our teaching sticky? How do we help kids find, and more importantly tell, the stories that make their learning sticky?
We’ll look at some strong examples and send you on your way with a toolkit of ideas and practices to make teaching & learning sticky in your class.
Presentation link: http://j.mp/DarrenBLC12
Elementary students in the United States communicated via email with students in Australia in my research, published in The Reading Teacher. This session will provide teachers with qualitative research results and specific instructions for setting up and implementing ePals in their classrooms. Teachers will learn about the impact of authentic communication activities on students’ motivation/engagement, written language production and cultural learning and empathy. Results and implications for subgroups of general education students, special education students, and second language learners are reported. Student writing samples will be shown. Methods of using the new ePals global community, projects, and activities will also be shared. Learn benefits of globalizing student writing. Assist students in improving their written language and cultural understandings.
You mean there is educational value in World of Warcraft?” Absolutely! In this session, Peggy Sheehy will discuss her experiences playing World of Warcraft (WoW) with her students and a team from Pender County Schools in North Carolina and one in Manitoba, Ca.. Come hear as she shares her own gaming experience, the professional educator community that has emerged as her guild in World of Warcraft, “Cognitive Dissonance” and her joint venture with Lucas Gillispie (Pender County Schools) in a project that initially targeted at-risk students in an after-school program designed to build community, leadership, literacy and student confidence in a variety of curricular areas using WoW. For the past two years, the project, which evolved into an ELA elective, The Hero's Journey," was brought into the academic day. English Language Arts, digital citizenship, leadership, teamwork, communication, web 2.0 and social networking are all addressed in a blended curriculum using 3D GameLab courseware, JRR Tolkien's, "The Hobbit," and the commercial video game, World of Warcraft.
Curation belongs in school. It should be part of your students’ search toolkit, part of your librarian’s strategy for collection development, part of your professional development plan, part of your effective Web presence! Learn how digital curation can enhance and inspire a school's learning culture. Joyce will define curation as a learning strategy and discuss what might be curated, the best new tools for curating, the role of student work and effective online strategies for scaling your practice as a teacher or a librarian to meet the needs of your learning community.
Presentation Link: http://joyceatblc.wikispaces.com/
In this workshop, you will learn how social networks can be used to connect, create, and collaborate with each other and the world. I will share my experiences using social networks such as Skype, Twitter, Edmodo, Facebook, Diigo, Blogger, KidBlog, Collaborize Classroom, StudyBlue and more with my students at Van Meter Community School and others around the world. You will also hear from representatives of these various platforms via Skype and share your own experiences with others in the workshop as well. Participants will not only see how I organize my life in these social networks, but you will also have the chance to sign up and get connected within them as well. You will leave this workshop having new places to connect, tools to use with within your classroom and library, and a global community that opens you up to new ideas, people, and places.
Presentation Link: http://bit.ly/shannonmmillerblc12
The Values Exchange (VX) is a unique web-based thinking environment. The VX community allows students to explore any social issue using 'Facebook-style' technology and powerful social concepts (my feelings, hopes, ideals, equality, law etc). Students eagerly grasp the chance for online debate about situations that really matter to them. Students can post unlimited issues of their own, and explore a comprehensive dashboard of results as soon as they submit their ideas.
This session will explain exactly how teachers can use the Values Exchange Community to enhance their teaching in all areas of the curriculum. In addition, participants will:
understand the background to this thinking environment
how students can best use it
how to set up their own cases for debate
how to engage students in exploring results and interpreting rich meaning from the data
Learn about the Encyclopedia of Life project, a global effort to document information about all of the estimated 1.9 million species on Earth (www.eol.org). The focus will be on how EOL, a completely free resource, can be used for curriculum development resources and to actively engage students in the process of doing science with its participatory tools and to become familiar with this life-long learning resource. Anyone can access, reuse and repurpose the authoritative scientific content, podcasts, media, and literature found on EOL. Web-based tools allow students to better access, use and share biodiversity information and to be involved in science projects, while also learning about media and technology. The following tools will be demonstrated, with specific case examples of their use:
Virtual Collections http://education.eol.org/page/collections
Electronic field guides http://education.eol.org/ideas/tools/fieldguide
Education LifeDesk tool http://www.edulifedesks.org/
The presentation will draw upon information and results gained from specific projects in formal and informal learning settings.
School IT architectures have been built upside-down and their design reflects what we might call the factory model of education. They primarily support administrative functions yet the core business and by far the largest volume of data is in the classroom, not the front office. That is partly because the template for school IT architectures was enterprise, not education, and partly because we had difficulty imagining other uses for IT beyond email and record-keeping. (To be fair, that in turn was a reflection of the limitations of the technology.) 21st Century learning calls for a new architectures, ones that are platform agnostic, where school itself is seen as the operating system and users can connect anywhere, anytime: an ∞:1 program. This session looks at the influence of three powerful currents--the coming internet-of-things, the steady rise of mobile technologies and the consumerization of educational technology--and recasts the functions of the IT network and team, moving them from a maintenance to a creative department and one that supports users--that is people, not hard- and software.
Presentation Link: http://ovenell-carter.com/blc12-preso-1-the-1-program-or-why-your-11-pr
With heightened expectations for what it means to meet the needs of our graduates as they prepare for college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century alongside the requirements of meeting state standards and district curricula, the teacher often feels pulled in several directions as to how to accomplish what can often look like competing goals. This workshop, using the case study of child labor during the Industrial Revolution, will demonstrate how teachers can “globalize” the curriculum – making meaningful modern connections and offering suggestions for instruction and assessment that embody the skills and thinking required in the digital age including electronic surveys, blogging, web site evaluation, skyping with outside experts, and creating and posting video clips.
Attendees will walk with the following tools:
• Design model and criteria for a performance assessment.
• Strategies for embedding important digital and information literacy skills.
• Strategies for globalizing curricula.
This game changing program was developed in order to better serve our students and eliminate the learning obstacles that often stop learning from taking place. This flipped school approach allows an at-risk student to learn in the same type of supportive atmosphere as a more affluent student. Thus creating educational equality in our public schools. By using today’s available software enables local, state and national educators to put the best teacher presentation in front of all students at all times. For the first time, we have the opportunity to take advantage of each teacher’s strength and expertise.
Presentation Links: Greg's website or download his presentation PDF
The 2012 Horizon Report acknowledges that is time for the adoption of 'Game Based Learning'. Alan November recently tweeted - ‘You never get an F in gaming, there's no penalty for risk taking in gaming.’
We are seeing the second generation of children who have enjoyed mastery of the word processor, with all its agility and opportunities to revise or refine, however, with this abundance of technology, assessment tasks rarely allow students to demonstrate their new multi-literacy skills or unleash their creativity.
Today's students need an edge. They need to engage in tasks that will make them comfortable with uncertainty, allow for team work, connect globally and permit creativity. Educators need to begin a journey of change that enlists the use of games within the curriculum.
The session, will focus on why and how gaming can equip students with 21st century learning skills, inspire them to stretch and enrich their knowledge and understanding, and demonstrate how 256 Middle School students took a journey of learning through an integrated assessment task focused on sustainability, using Minecraft to deliver their final product.
The outcomes of this workshop will demonstrate:
• How Minecraft was used for in an integrated assessment task,
• How gaming can enhance creativity and innovation,
• Student feedback,
• Examples of student work, and
• How to use tools such as video, blogs, Edmodo and Quia to gamify the classroom.
Presented by Special Guest, Lachlan Hull
During my presentation, I would like to explain how I use a classroom management tool created by the team at ClassDojo to build a sense of group accountability through personal behaviours amongst the young students in my class during 2011. I would also like to talk about how I have continued to use ClassDojo in my classroom in 2012 and how I have assisted this tool to be integrated throughout our school.
I would like to discuss how I used Angry Birds (iPad application) with my students to apply the games concepts to real life situations; relevant to my students. I would show evidence of students work and the end result of our project, illustrating how my students created an giant Angry Birds level from the data they collect from playing the game.
Attendees would learn:
• Different ways I have assisted students to become accountable for their behaviours in class.
• Ways of creating positive classroom environments with the help of ClassDojo.
• Ways of engaging students in exploring real life situations with the assistance of Angry Birds.
• How I’ve learnt from my mistakes to engage students in their learning.
View my presentation slides (PDF)
View a video Lachlan created in Australia of his project (on YouTube)
Create and publish interactive multi-touch lessons and books for the iPad, with Mac’s free iBooks Author. Or just create almost any type of book just for fun. Flipping your class? You and your students can design engaging class resources with galleries, video, 3D objects, animation and interactive diagrams.
This session is for beginners and will demonstrate how fast and easy it is to create your first captivating iBook for the iPad.
Learn about the Encyclopedia of Life project, a global effort to document information about all of the estimated 1.9 million species on Earth (www.eol.org). The focus will be on how EOL, a completely free resource, can be used for curriculum development resources and to actively engage students in the process of doing science with its participatory tools and to become familiar with this life-long learning resource. Anyone can access, reuse and repurpose the authoritative scientific content, podcasts, media, and literature found on EOL. Web-based tools allow students to better access, use and share biodiversity information and to be involved in science projects, while also learning about media and technology. The following tools will be demonstrated, with specific case examples of their use:
Virtual Collections http://education.eol.org/page/collections
Electronic field guides http://education.eol.org/ideas/tools/fieldguide
Education LifeDesk tool http://www.edulifedesks.org/
The presentation will draw upon information and results gained from specific projects in formal and informal learning settings.
Fast and easy collaboration is what makes Google tools an ideal learning environment. The goal of this session is to provide you with the knowledge as well as practical strategies to make collaboration a natural way of learning in your classroom.
This session will be a rich source of ideas, resources and information about these collaborative tools. Attendees will:
-Learn about specific Google tools that provide an easy-to-use, integrated way for teachers and students to collaborate
-Explore practical workflow models for sharing and collecting assignments
-Participate in a collaborative activity that can be replicated in classrooms
-Discover how real-time collaboration, powerful sharing controls and seamless compatibility make learning more engaging and a teacher’s life easier
If you are ready to move from content consumption to content creation and community building while developing more self-directed learners, this session is for you.
Presentation Resources: http://lainierowell.com
Ideas for activating your network to not only connect but to create
Our professional networks are brimming with resources and links and it sometimes feels like too much! One of the best ways to narrow the focus is to crowdsource specific content. Networks should not simply be about connecting with fellow educators, we need to activate the huge potential they have and create together!
Learn alongside Tom Barrett who has been spending the last 5 years crowdsourcing resources that support teacher’s professional development as well as inspire engaging learning in the classroom!
- How can I make crowdsourcing a part of how I design materials for teachers and students?
- How do I engage all of my staff to be able to engage in creating resources together?
- How can I filter the vast amount of resources that I see everyday in my online networks? How do I make the most of the resources available?
- What tools can I use to help create resources with other teachers in my district?
Attendees will
- understand how a network can be a powerful tool for co-creation and not just connections;
- reflect on their own creative practices and how crowdsourcing might fit in;
- see real world examples of how crowdsourcing innovations are being applied in sectors beyond the education sector;
- see a range of examples of successfully crowdsourced resources for education.
- take away a range of tools and models to crowdsource unique resources for your classes and schools;
- see crowdsourcing in action!
Educator Melissa Spears explains how technology has changed the landscape of her classroom; allowing her more flexibility, an expanded reach and a myriad of new resources. Using technology in her classroom, Mrs. Spears can take her students on a field trip to Alaska, or to a meet and greet with authors, all without leaving campus! Find out how her students stay ahead of the curve with captured lessons and with a few simple commands, Mrs. Spears can reach the kids who have missed a lesson or need review.
Presented by Special Guest, Greg Whitby
Traditional schooling is no longer relevant in today’s world and there are expectations that schools (and school systems), reform and innovate to better prepare children for the demands of life and work in the 21st century. How do education systems and school leaders respond to this challenge? What frameworks, structures, roles and responsibilities are necessary to support reforms? What capabilities do teachers require and what does effective teaching look like in schools? How do we bridge the equity gap regardless of the background, interests and abilities of all children?
This workshop will:
• explore the changing nature of schooling in today’s world in the context of moving schools from "cottage" to "enterprise" using technology to support learning and teaching.
• share insight into a "whole of system" response to 21st century schooling at superintendent, leader and teacher level
• provide practical structures and frameworks for leading a 21st century system and school
• demonstrate practical examples of building teacher capacity through an inquiry and knowledge building model
Re-Imagining Schools will look at ways to develop sustainable professional development that supports a technology infused curriculum and develops leadership within your faculty. We will investigate innovative ways to restructure the boundaries of learning and teaching. Empower teachers using technology to re-imagine new roles for themselves and their students that will allow students to connect with others globally learn in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible. This is intended for administrators and lead teachers who want to look at managing change.
Realistic fiction offers students the opportunity to learn about people and cultures from around the world. The web provides the authentic connection between students and people from around the world. Using these two resources, lessons can be created that engage and challenge your students to read more and with greater understanding. We will share classroom examples of books used with students and how we connected fiction to the real world. One example is the web site our students created for the novel Mississippi Trial 1955. We will focus on literature appropriate for grade 5 - 9. The concepts can be adapted for all grades.
Common Core Standards:
Informational Text, Grades 6-12, Grade 8, Item 9
Analyze a case in which two or more text provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
Writing Grades 6-8, Grade 8, Item 2a-f
Write information/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization and analysis of relevant content.
Presentation Resources: http://empathyblc.wikispaces.com/
The Values Exchange (VX) is a unique web-based thinking environment. The VX community allows students to explore any social issue using 'Facebook-style' technology and powerful social concepts (my feelings, hopes, ideals, equality, law etc). Students eagerly grasp the chance for online debate about situations that really matter to them. Students can post unlimited issues of their own, and explore a comprehensive dashboard of results as soon as they submit their ideas.
This session will explain exactly how teachers can use the Values Exchange Community to enhance their teaching in all areas of the curriculum. In addition, participants will:
understand the background to this thinking environment
how students can best use it
how to set up their own cases for debate
how to engage students in exploring results and interpreting rich meaning from the data
An open and honest conversation with two Flipped Classroom proponents about when flipping a class is appropriate, and when it is not, and how to flip your class effectively. Presenters will demonstrate various ways to easily create video lessons. Presentation will address many common misconceptions and concerns about the Flipped Classroom.
Learn how to:
-Determine what to flip in a classroom
-Decide where in the learning cycle to incorporate a video lesson
-Create a video lesson your students will love that is appropriate for them
-Provide access to instructional videos for all students
-Flip you classroom in an inquiry based and constructivist environment.
During this session, learn how to utilize reading and writing as a means to encourage problem-finding, as a means to encourage service learning, and as a means to encourage literacy. Students in a high school novels course connected, blogged and created authentic projects inspired by their texts. Follow an English teacher’s journey to create a meaningful, rigorous course where technology empowers and homework is a gift you give. Social reading and writing tools will be shared during the session.
Link for presentation: http://bit.ly/erinolson
With the app store now available for more than just your iPhone and iPad, it can be overwhelming to know which apps to download. In this workshop we’ll give you some of the essential apps for your classroom and share some of our favorites apps that will help you and your students create. Come with your favorites, too, and build a collaborative list of good resources that we'll share with all.
This interactive workshop will explore and provide examples of best practices in writing instruction, vocabulary instruction, setting expectations and goals, and the integration of new online tools to improve student outcomes in these disciplines. In the 21st century, “new literacy” implies the effective use of online tools such as the ERB Writing Practice Program (WPP) and Word Voyage, an online vocabulary practice program based on Greek and Latin Roots. These will be shown as examples that offer a differentiated, multi-grade approach that meets each student where he or she is with English fundamentals. These programs for the student and teacher offer immediate scoring and suggestions for revision, next step tutorials, exemplars. They also provide instruction in word roots, parts of speech, etymology, spelling, syllables, sentence writing, and grammar. Performance data follows the students through the grades, highlighting areas that need growth. Teachers work on a stream-lined platform that allows them to address the needs of each student.
A good teacher knows that his/her students are responsible for their own grades. So why aren’t the students also responsible for doing the majority of the work? News flash, they are!
Come hear how middle school spanish teacher, Alyssa Katz, has transformed her teaching. The culture in our classroom has shifted to students unlocking the answers, learning to problem solve, seeing their full potential, and realizing that they already have all the tools they need to be successful. You will hear her many strategies for building self-directed students who are engaged, motivated and actively LEARNING! This session is supported by Jennifer Beine Bowden.
Presentation Resources: http://portal.sliderocket.com/BEPVW/Empowering-Students-BLC-2012
Have you been on Twitter for a while? Do you feel like something is missing? There's a good chance that you are not maximizing your experience. Signing up for and learning the basics of using social tools are generally pretty easy. But to really gain value, you need to understand the more advanced features of what these tools have to offer. This workshop will provide you with several examples of how to tweak your usage to gain the most value out of your time online.
iPads are making their debut in many schools. There are many questions to be answered.
Can iPads replace laptops? Are they just another bandwagon or a tool that can improve teaching, student learning and productivity like no other device? Let’s talk about how immediate access and availability to information, productivity tools, a global network, assistive technology as well as being able to create content and media, all on one device, can change a classroom’s learning environment.
Audiences will:
This workshop will help educators to ensure all learners understand how to apply key lifelong learning skills: planning, questioning, conversing, visualising, emoting and critiquing. These competencies help students became more fluent and creative in designing and producing their media texts where the message must be clear and intentional. Student work uses language, image and sound for self expression, communication and social advocacy.
This framework assists teachers to decide on, and co-develop big ideas with students and to recognise what students bring, not only their prior knowledge but also their misconceptions. It identifies what the intended learning will look like at a particular year level of schooling, and the evidence required for learning to be assessed. This includes the development of formative assessment tasks and providing students with regular feedback.
You will also learn how to tap a Youtube channel and Facebook communication strategy to build a professional community of shared best practice.
Throughout the program we found more teachers started to engage in critical and reflective conversations with colleagues around their learning design and how digital learning tools can be used for student achievement and for them to produce work of quality.
The learning objectives within the Common Core State Standards represent a rigorous application of research, media and higher-order thinking skills, as students develop their capacity to engage in complex text and tasks that have real-world implications.
Essential to this effort are the lifelong learning skills, habits and dispositions that serve as the foundational structure for all learners. Without thoughtful and purposeful attention to these and other requisites we risk our investments of time, money and energy yielding little return – like pouring concrete without proper supports in place.
Join us for a rich discussion focused on the core tools our leaners need to build capacity and develop competencies in discovering meaning, analyzing content, comparing information, synthesizing, applying and sharing their understandings.
Participants will:
- Identify the requisite skills, dispositions and learning habits that support the Common Core
- Consider resources designed to foster student development of foundational tools and structures for learning
- Share critical shifts in the roles of teachers and students in a standards-based learning environment
- Explore how learners are being empowered to extend their thinking, research and learning beyond current boundaries
Presentation Link: http://brainyardworkshop.wikispaces.com/
Placing easy to use digital tools in the hands of our students can lead them to build very creative solutions such as tutorials to help classmates learn. We know that many children prefer to learn from their peers. Giving our students a sense of purpose toward making a contribution to the learning community can be one of the most powerful and effective ways of improving achievement for all students. We have under estimated the capacity of our students to lead and contribute to their learning community.
When we think of people who made the biggest impact in our live, it was not their expertise or accomplishments that provided me us with direction, guidance and reassurance to accomplish our goals; it was their sincere belief in us. They let us know through their words and actions that we mattered.
The children in our lives want that same validation. In fact, every single person you will ever meet shares this common desire. They want to know they matter.
Mattering a universal human need, and it’s one you have the opportunity to satisfy. In this session, we will explore specific and actionable ways to answer “yes” to the following questions:
Do you see me?
Do you hear me?
Do you care about me?
Do I matter to you?
What are the ten big things modern TLs must teach to ensure learners at all levels grow as transliterate citizens? From a better understanding of intellectual property to best tools for telling stories and communicating new knowledge, while addressing the CCSS, Joyce and Shannon count them down and reveal strategies for delivering instruction.
Presentation Link: http://joyceatblc.wikispaces.com/
Photography is BEAUTIFUL! I don’t know of many people who don’t LOVE an aspect of photography. Capturing moments, experiences, and stories is such a personal and HUMAN experience. Now, with the ease of use of digital cameras-- anyone can not only make high grade images, but can push the creativity envelope and create new art from a photograph. This workshop will FOCUS on how to make a better picture with what you have on you, we will show you how to explore more creative features available on your camera as well as in post production. Smart phones are dominating this space now and we will share some of our favorite apps for making magical images. We will practice shooting options and even talk about ongoing learning opportunities online. Attend this workshop if you want to learn how to make a better image, learn about enhancing the image, and sharing your art! SEE you there!
In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the award winning "Me, Myself and I" Digital Literacy Project. This fully resourced modular project has been running successfully in classrooms from Grades 5 - 9 in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore the UK, and the USA. Participants will be given access to resources for all 9 modules along with guidance on how to adapt each module to meet local priorities and curriculum requirements. Taking the theme of "Learning as a Journey" the resources have been designed to equip students and teachers with essential skills, knowledge and understanding, along with contemporary strategies and an essential toolkit of key Web 2.0 tools to support learning across all areas of the curriculum. This exciting digital literacy project also focuses on developing self and peer assessment capabilities and student autonomy through the use of personal digital narrative and a range of learning management tools.
This session is sponsored by Learnology.
Google Apps for Education provides a free cross platform set of tools for educators. You can create Web sites, collect homework, manage student portfolios and much more. If your district has adopted Google Apps for Education or is thinking about it, then this session is for you. We will walk through real examples and best practices of how to utilize these tools in an educational setting. You do not have to have Google Apps for Education to join this session, but are curious about what it has to offer.
Link for presentation: http://tinyurl.com/blc12google
The benefits of collaborative, engaging, dynamic education are touted again and again. But the task for IT is to figure out how to open up those learning opportunities while still ensuring safety, security, and CIPA compliance. See how you can extend the traditional classroom into a safe online learning environment that gives teachers and students access to Web 2.0 tools and resources they need for more engaging and active learning--but also provides IT with safety, monitoring, and reporting.
The digital age has changed what it means to be literate. A teacher’s toolbox should now include digital devices, apps and websites that can engage learners. We can support the traditional definition of literacy while allowing students to create, collaborate and connect as they learn to read and write. But where do you start? We’ll look at what it means to be literate today and some of the digital tools available to enhance that literacy in an early years classroom.
You will leave with
· A link to materials from the presentation
· Ideas for starting point to make your classroom “connected”
· Resources to support your continued learning
Presentation Link: http://kathycassidy.com/presentations/reboot-read-write/
Maintain academic rigour while transforming the way kids learn through problem finding curricula? Rebuild a school from its first brick right through to its first pedagogical principles without harming great grades? Ewan McIntosh and his team have been working with MLC School, Sydney, Australia, to do just that, helping the faculty, students and local community change the very way they think about learning, teaching and the space around them.
Teachers often spend class time delivering content, and then students go home and do individual processing work for homework. In the “flipped classroom,” teachers use technology to reorganize classroom time, so students maximize the value of time in class with their teachers and peers. Students do content acquisition individually at home and spend class doing the difficult processing work that can greatly benefit from teacher coaching and peer collaboration. Students can work at their own pace, and come into class for activities more likely to require peer assistance or teacher coaching.
In this session, social studies teachers will learn how to flip their classrooms.
Participants will learn how to:
• Use online social studies content for flipped activities
• Use simple screencasting and media production tools
• Use collaborative platforms to maximize the value of class time together
• Find innovative social studies educators piloting flipped activities
Presentation Link: http://tinyurl.com/edtechteacherflipped (Google Doc)
Welcome to a session that builds on successful past practices and transforms them for today’s digital learner. Integrating appropriate technology into a lesson will make a past “great idea” even better. Educators have a vault of awesome activities that have proven to be successful with students. Learn how to take these perennial gems through an amazing process of reinvention, remixing, and transformation. You will discover how to create new 21st century lessons through a simple but effective ten step method. An included document will show you how to leverage technology while riding a foundation built on content standards and 21st century skills. It will be the best ten steps you take as you transform your school and classroom into a hub of engaged student centered learning. A must attend session that will have you and your students taking that first step.
In this session we will show you how to take your Twitter use to the next level. We’ll help you decide who to follow, who not to follow, and how many make sense for you. We will demonstrate a number of Twitter tools, elaborate on Twitter etiquette and clear up your Twitter vocabulary questions. We will also suggest ways to leverage your use of Twitter to get the most out of it for your purposes.
Attendees will learn...
to find the best people to follow for them.
to leverage the power of the community for their purposes.
to use Twitter more efficiently.
to use a variety of Twitter Tools.
to use proper Twitter etiquette.
Presentation Link: bit.ly/twitterblc12
More slaves exist today than at any point in history. This one-hour interactive presentation will demonstrate how, through the use of free web 2.0 tools, a teacher can still deliver “traditional” curriculum while using social justice and media literacy to increase student engagement and develop empathy. Students will share the multimedia work they produced and explain the connections they found between their fight against modern slavery and their developing communication skills.
Topics will include:
-Wikis
-Google Docs
-Video production tools
-Copyright rules
-YouTube
-Twitter
Presentation Link: http://tinyurl.com/BCDSfightsSlavery
See the wiki which will be sent to all registered at a later date. You can sign up there to facilitate or attend one of these "skill" sessions to learn the "how-to" about one of the many tools you will hear about over the course of the conference.
This will also be a time to chat with others working in the same careers as you.
The social highlight of the conference week! Your registration includes the Annual BLC Bash that will be held in the magnificent ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel.
Stay after the keynote to learn more from Eli and have an informal question and answer session.
This birds of a feather session is intended to actually build a learning community by providing an opportunity for you to meet with others to share ideas and learn from one another about creative ways you are using iPhone/iPad/iPod apps. This is a moderated session where presentations will be by participants in the room. This is your two minutes of fame to share something cool, leading edge or extremely powerful for learning. Come with something to share and come learn about ways people are using their favourite new apps and build an App learning community at BLC.
SmartGraphs is a project that studies the educational value of digital objects embedded in graphs that “know” about themselves and that provide scaffolding to students to help them learn about graphs and the concepts conveyed in graphs.
Digital SmartGraphs can be authored or customized by teachers and accept inputs from students’ responses, sketches, functions, models, and probes. The software analyzes the graphs for the kinds of features that experts recognize and then engages students in conversations that instruct and assess student knowledge.
SmartGraphs is guided by collaboration between the Concord Consortium and the Pennsylvania State Department of Education Classrooms for the Future program, through which 145,000 laptop computers are deployed to serve 500,000 students. Other states, districts, or schools that are also interested in providing meaningful software to help students interpret visual graphical data from existing graphs or real time data collected with probes will thrill with this free Open Source software tool!
Presentation link (zip file): Download zip file.
Google Apps for Education provides a free cross platform set of tools for educators. You can create Web sites, collect homework, manage student portfolios and much more. We will walk through real examples and best practices of how to utilize these tools in an educational setting and go over some of the more advanced features.
Link for presentation: http://tinyurl.com/blc12google
Creativity, Innovation, Problem Solving… buzz words no longer! To meet the complexities of today’s world, our students need more than skills — they need Habitudes! Successful students, workers, and citizens have identifiable habits and behaviors which allow them to manage emotions, communicate effectively, and sustain themselves as independent and successful lifelong learners. We’ll explore intentional lessons and conversations that nurture and develop these habits and attitudes; the Habitudes that ensure our students’ success far beyond our classrooms.
This workshop will demonstrate the powerful effects of integrating student-created math video lessons, also called screencasts or mathcasts. The math videos are used as tutoring tools, a form of authentic assessment and for creating an enhanced “kids teaching kids” classroom culture. Perhaps best of all, the students enjoy creating these screencasts.
The video tutorials are used in classroom instruction and shared with a global audience via our iTunes podcast, YouTube channel, as well as our own Mathtrain.TV Web site. You will view student-created screencasts and discover how easy it is to create them for nearly any subject, as well as share them on-line using the screen recording software Camtasia Studio, Jing (free) as well as the free iPad app, ScreenChomp.
An actual student, Tiana "Paul" Kadkhoda, will be co-presenting and demonstrating how we create our screencasts.
Alan November challenges us to give students the opportunity to proclaim "stand on our shoulders” by doing work that is valued by others and that peers can build on to transform the world. In promoting “stand on our shoulders” work in your school or district, you want to move from pockets of innovation to sustained innovation.
Hear strategies to use in your search for the Holy Grail—Scaling Up:
• Promote a framework that emphasizes providing students the opportunity to do transformative work (what is transformative work and how does it create a sense of ownership among students);
• Strengthen professional learning networks with an emphasis on teacher-leadership and looking at student work;
• Implement policies that promote digital citizenship rather than just focusing on restricting users [encourage students to bring cell phones & other devices to school for learning, decrease restrictions on access to the internet (including YouTube, Twitter, & Facebook), and remove policy barriers to display of student work & photos on the web]; and
• Provide anytime/anywhere access to the resources of your network through a bring-your-own-technology initiative and a private cloud.
An open and honest conversation with two Flipped Classroom proponents about when flipping a class is appropriate, and when it is not, and how to flip your class effectively. Presenters will demonstrate various ways to easily create video lessons. Presentation will address many common misconceptions and concerns about the Flipped Classroom.
Learn how to:
-Determine what to flip in a classroom
-Decide where in the learning cycle to incorporate a video lesson
-Create a video lesson your students will love that is appropriate for them
-Provide access to instructional videos for all students
-Flip you classroom in an inquiry based and constructivist environment.
In this session we will show you how to take your Twitter use to the next level. We’ll help you decide who to follow, who not to follow, and how many make sense for you. We will demonstrate a number of Twitter tools, elaborate on Twitter etiquette and clear up your Twitter vocabulary questions. We will also suggest ways to leverage your use of Twitter to get the most out of it for your purposes.
Attendees will learn...
to find the best people to follow for them.
to leverage the power of the community for their purposes.
to use Twitter more efficiently.
to use a variety of Twitter Tools.
to use proper Twitter etiquette.
Presentation Link: bit.ly/twitterblc12
Inspired by MIT’s Media Lab, NuVu Studio is an innovation center for middle and high school students where teams build multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects. NuVu nurtures creative problem solving, collaboration, and presentation skills. This session is entirely led by students. Past participants of the program will share their experience, explain the program’s influence on their learning, and demonstrate how the NuVu culture is shaping the everyday curriculum at Beaver Country Day School outside of Boston.
How can essential questions, digitized lectures, student research, collaboration, student blogging, historical fiction, self paced, and mastery learning come together to change teaching and learning in your classroom? Join Mike and Garth as we dissect the process of creating a 21st century webquest, based on the essential questions of your curriculum, that allows students to collaborate and develop depth of understanding and master content. Using constructionist methodology, flipped teaching and free applications, you can provide students with the opportunity to guide their own learning. During this session we will talk about the philosophy and design of WebQuests, how to share your WebQuest with students and how WebQuests can be used to change teaching and learning.
Presentation link: http://www.teachersfortomorrow.net/blc12.html
The iPhone, your iPod, and the iPad once were considered NON creative devices because one couldn't really create anything on these devices. Well, ITS NOT TRUE! Not only can you create an unlimited variety of things, I use them as a portable (very) production studios! I can plan, produce, edit, and showcase a move ALL DONE FROM my mobile devices. This WILL REVOLUTIONIZE LEARNING! We will look at the different applications that can make this happen from cool planning tools, to amazing production resources, to powerful editing apps, and finally to our names on a marquee. We will show you how you can make a movie on your iDevice. Bring it! We’ll show you just HOW COOL having a movie studio in your pocket really is.
Ideas for activating your network to not only connect but to create
Our professional networks are brimming with resources and links and it sometimes feels like too much! One of the best ways to narrow the focus is to crowdsource specific content. Networks should not simply be about connecting with fellow educators, we need to activate the huge potential they have and create together!
Learn alongside Tom Barrett who has been spending the last 5 years crowdsourcing resources that support teacher’s professional development as well as inspire engaging learning in the classroom!
- How can I make crowdsourcing a part of how I design materials for teachers and students?
- How do I engage all of my staff to be able to engage in creating resources together?
- How can I filter the vast amount of resources that I see everyday in my online networks? How do I make the most of the resources available?
- What tools can I use to help create resources with other teachers in my district?
Attendees will
- understand how a network can be a powerful tool for co-creation and not just connections;
- reflect on their own creative practices and how crowdsourcing might fit in;
- see real world examples of how crowdsourcing innovations are being applied in sectors beyond the education sector;
- see a range of examples of successfully crowdsourced resources for education.
- take away a range of tools and models to crowdsource unique resources for your classes and schools;
- see crowdsourcing in action!
What happens when bullies use social media?
What happens when a kid, bully or bullied, shoots a video and posts it to YouTube? (The answers aren’t all bad.)
And why is she smiling?
A conversation with educators about cultivating empathy in our students to combat bullying in and out of school in an increasingly digital environment. Participants will leave with a wealth of powerful visual material and discussion starters they can use in their schools with their students. We’ll share ideas to effectively lead these sort of difficult conversations and share resources we can easily access anywhere any time.
[While it’s not required to attend the session it would be a good idea to have a twitter account before arriving at BLC12.]
Presentation link: http://j.mp/DarrenBLC12
In this workshop, you will learn how social networks can be used to connect, create, and collaborate with each other and the world. I will share my experiences using social networks such as Skype, Twitter, Edmodo, Facebook, Diigo, Blogger, KidBlog, Collaborize Classroom, StudyBlue and more with my students at Van Meter Community School and others around the world. You will also hear from representatives of these various platforms via Skype and share your own experiences with others in the workshop as well. Participants will not only see how I organize my life in these social networks, but you will also have the chance to sign up and get connected within them as well. You will leave this workshop having new places to connect, tools to use with within your classroom and library, and a global community that opens you up to new ideas, people, and places.
Shannon's presentation link: http://bit.ly/shannonmmillerblc12
This game changing program was developed in order to better serve our students and eliminate the learning obstacles that often stop learning from taking place. This flipped school approach allows an at-risk student to learn in the same type of supportive atmosphere as a more affluent student. Thus creating educational equality in our public schools. By using today’s available software enables local, state and national educators to put the best teacher presentation in front of all students at all times. For the first time, we have the opportunity to take advantage of each teacher’s strength and expertise.
Presentation Links: Greg's website or download his presentation PDF
Fasten your seat belts for the fast and exciting Driving Question; "How can educators integrate Project Based Learning and 21st century skills into STEM education? Even if you only teach just one subject, you can still incorporate STEM and PBL into your classroom. Are you a member of an interdisciplinary team or planning group? ...then it gets even better! Discover dozens of engaging online programs and opportunities that allow STEM and PBL to push your students’ creativity and innovation. The results will be a PBL educational experience that will rev up student engagement and inquiry…full STEM... or should we say... STEAM ahead! View several brief demonstrations of software and take a tour of some amazing web sites. Learn from practicing educator Michael Gorman, who was named STEM Educator of the Year by the Indiana US Air Force Association, an Indiana Teacher of the Year Semi-finalist, a BIE National Faculty Member, and a facilitator for the Siemens Discovery Education National STEM Academy. Walk away with resources that will allow for a real partnership between STEM and PBL! Join Mike in a session that promises to be an exciting PBL entry event giving participants ideas and content they can use tomorrow!
Rich digital content is at the core of the 25 mathematics and science courses that are posted for the free use of all at www.njctl.org, the homepage of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The courses are comprised of more than 44,000 interactive whiteboard slides, with robust embedded formative assessment questions; homework; class work; assessments; curricula; and pacing guides. These teacher developed resources are all part of CTL’s Progressive Science Initiative (PSI) and Progressive Mathematics Initiative (PMI): programs designed to support high levels of student achievement in K-12 Common Core mathematics as well as high school physics, chemistry and biology. PSI and PMI share the same core philosophy, pedagogies, assessment strategies and technology. Dr. Goodman, the founder and development leader of PSI-PMI, will be discussing how those have been woven together to create a uniquely successful approach to science and mathematics education.
How will you avoid exposing your audience to “Death by PowerPoint”?
Learn why audiences today expect more than bullet lists, over used templates and clipart. How do you design compelling presentations? This presentation is for teachers who want to step up their own design practices in their teaching, online presences, as well as help students use images to support their learning.
Attendees will:
Realistic fiction offers students the opportunity to learn about people and cultures from around the world. The web provides the authentic connection between students and people from around the world. Using these two resources, lessons can be created that engage and challenge your students to read more and with greater understanding. We will share classroom examples of books used with students and how we connected fiction to the real world. One example is the web site our students created for the novel Mississippi Trial 1955. We will focus on literature appropriate for grade 5 - 9. The concepts can be adapted for all grades.
Common Core Standards:
Informational Text, Grades 6-12, Grade 8, Item 9
Analyze a case in which two or more text provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
Writing Grades 6-8, Grade 8, Item 2a-f
Write information/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization and analysis of relevant content.
Presentation Resources: http://empathyblc.wikispaces.com/
Change comes not when you introduce new technology, but when people adopt new behaviours. Best practices are best developed collaboratively and collegially and in this session you will explore ways to establish the right climate for fearless innovation and to extend a compelling invitation to students and their families (often overlooked), teachers and administration so that all participate. The key is seeing that everyone--from early adopters to the hard core skeptics--has a crucial role to play. You will leave with guidelines, some practical tips and a suite of tools for cultivating and managing change.
Presentation Link: http://ovenell-carter.com/blc12-preso-2-the-grassroots-of-change
When it comes to using technology in the classroom, it is easy to become distracted by the glitz, glimmer and gimmicks of activities high in "cool factor” but lacking in rigor or academic value. How do we design learning experiences that challenge students at their learning edge and draw on or strengthen their repertoire of digital skills and literacies? How do we “locate the learning” in student-created content and projects? How do we avoid the allure of “BLING” (cool tech tools) and focus on the power of “BANG” (meaningful student-owned learning) to effectively “widen the walls” and “raise the ceiling” of our learning environments? (Common Core Capatible)
In this session, participants will explore ways to:
- Apply TPaCK, SAMR and HEAT frameworks as pedagogical lenses when designing lessons strengthened by use of technology.
- Challenge students to find authentic ways to leverage available tools for deeper learning.
- Seek balance over time among content acquisition, lifelong learning skills and the development of tool fluency.
Presentation link: http://bit.ly/bvb12-links
In this session, participants will learn how to build robust, tagged libraries of content using Diigo. These libraries, which can be accessed from any device connected to the Internet, allows teachers and students to bookmark Web sites, images and notes that can be made more meaningful through the use of embedded highlights and sticky notes. But the learning doesn't stop there. Learners can also organize together in groups to share research with peers locally or anywhere around the world. We have seen Diigo being used at every level of education, and graduate students have said that this one tool has changed research forever.
From West Point to HSBC (biggest bank in the world), one of the most valued skills is to understand different cultural perspectives and points of view. If we want our students to be competitive in the global economy, we must challenge them to co-create and present to a worldwide authentic audience. Any classroom can be organized to be a global communications center, and we can design more rigorous and motivating assignments that engage our students to communicate globally with purpose. Expand boundaries of potential and give your students courage to engage with the world.
Ewan McIntosh entered the teaching profession in Scotland as the country undertook a national drive to make every school an “assessment for learning school”. Formative assessment is in his bones, yet what he hears from US politicians, education ‘experts’ and school district administrators about formative assessment is distinctly, erm, not formative assessment.
- what is the difference between assessment for learning, as learning and of learning?
- What does great formative assessment look like in practice?
- Why do we need to worry more about getting formative assessment right in order for our students to succeed in summative, standardized testing? What does the research tell us?
Presented by Special Guest, Lachlan Hull
During my presentation, I would like to explain how I use a classroom management tool created by the team at ClassDojo to build a sense of group accountability through personal behaviours amongst the young students in my class during 2011. I would also like to talk about how I have continued to use ClassDojo in my classroom in 2012 and how I have assisted this tool to be integrated throughout our school.
I would like to discuss how I used Angry Birds (iPad application) with my students to apply the games concepts to real life situations; relevant to my students. I would show evidence of students work and the end result of our project, illustrating how my students created an giant Angry Birds level from the data they collect from playing the game.
Attendees would learn:
• Different ways I have assisted students to become accountable for their behaviours in class.
• Ways of creating positive classroom environments with the help of ClassDojo.
• Ways of engaging students in exploring real life situations with the assistance of Angry Birds.
• How I’ve learnt from my mistakes to engage students in their learning.
View my presentation slides (PDF)
View a video Lachlan created in Australia of his project (on YouTube)
Rich digital content is at the core of the 25 mathematics and science courses that are posted for the free use of all at www.njctl.org, the homepage of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The courses are comprised of more than 44,000 interactive whiteboard slides, with robust embedded formative assessment questions; homework; class work; assessments; curricula; and pacing guides. These teacher developed resources are all part of CTL’s Progressive Science Initiative (PSI) and Progressive Mathematics Initiative (PMI): programs designed to support high levels of student achievement in K-12 Common Core mathematics as well as high school physics, chemistry and biology. PSI and PMI share the same core philosophy, pedagogies, assessment strategies and technology. Dr. Goodman, the founder and development leader of PSI-PMI, will be discussing how those have been woven together to create a uniquely successful approach to science and mathematics education.
In the last few years, education has finally noticed gaming and virtual worlds, but this gaming attention has been characterized by two very different perspectives. Some see engagement, concentration and collaboration, while others see isolation, social dysfunction and addiction. Often, educators have difficulty seeing the relevance of a particular game to some portion of their curriculum. Central to this theme, is that the ideas and attitudes one associates with "play" are clearly disconnected from those we associate with "learning". This presentation will dispel the myths surrounding gaming, draw clear connections between games and learning and give attendees practical examples and resources to begin using these powerful learning platforms and reintroduce the concept of playful learning.
Participants will be introduced to the hugely successful United Classrooms Global Collaboration Project, connecting classrooms in the United States with partner classes in Australia. This fully resourced project has been designed to foster high quality, online curriculum-facing collaborations through the development of concrete offline relationships. Attendees will be presented with a starter pack containing the full project overview and all related materials before being offered an opportunity to identify a partner class from a list of Australian schools.
The project creates opportunities for students to:
This session is sponsored by Learnology.