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:
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/
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.
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
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
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
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)
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.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
