Class Reflections

I have to say, this was an interesting way to attend a conference. No travel expenses…no registration…freedom to attend what I wanted when I wanted!  The assignment indicated we were to watch/listen to at least one session in each of the four sections of the conference. I ended up watching many more because I wanted to see the variety of techniques used to communicate session messages and I was having a hard time deciding what I liked. I’ve decided there are some things I really like about this media format.  I can watch them whenever I choose …and when I lose focus, I can replay all or part of it. If I start a session that I don’t find interesting I can cancel it and look for another one without offending anyone. I like the videocasts that are divided into segments …1) I can follow the author’s organization more easily…and 2) the length of the segments are easier to handle.

There were some sessions I definitely did not enjoy as much as others.  I decided I liked the ones that included visuals better than the ones that were audio only. And, if it were audio only, I liked the shorter ones better than the longer ones. All of the narrations seem to have a distinctive style…a low, quiet voice…as if someone is telling you a secret.

Here are some of the sessions I watched/listened to:

Keynote – David Warlick- “Inventing the New Boundaries”

A videocast

Interesting ideas about boundaries and redefining the classroom and teacher/student roles

He talks about a new information landscape and an unpredictable future…the world is changing so rapidly, it is impossible to predict what the world will be like for our students in 20 years. So much change…we are preparing our students for a future that we cannot describe.

Another interesting point – To read is not enough to be literate…you need to know how to locate information and evaluate information…and information must compete for attention…how true!

He also talks about celebrating change. You have to know the territory. He learned because he is connected to a community who can help him learn. There is power in the community that collaborates.  Some of the teachers in my school are trying to develop collaboration in their PLCs…many are well established and the idea of this type of collaboration is an easy transition.

Section 1 – Classroom 2.0 I listened/observed the following two sessions in this group:

1. Initiating and Sustaining Conversations: Assessment and Evaluation in the Age of Networked Learning”
2. “Release the Hounds”

I liked the format of the second one. It included four narrated powerpoint programs. The length  of session 2 was just right and I learned more from the second session than the first session.  “Release the Hounds” had interesting visuals and some great links. I spent a lot of time clcking my way through these links and learned a lot about many of the new tools

Section 2 – NewTools

1.      “Oodles of Googles”- a series of six short movies describing how to put a report together online by using Google Tools…uses notebook, web history, docs, page creator and the group tool for summation and reflection. This session was well-organized and easy to follow but the mention of the use of copy and paste was bothersome…it could be misconstrued as an appropriate way to “write” a paper. There was no mention of citing references, extracting main points and rewriting the material in one’s own words.

2.      “More Than Cool Tools” -I couldn’t get the main movie file to load properly and the teaser was a little strange. Tried several times.

Section 3 – Obstacles to Opportunities

1. The Technology Specialist as Teacher Leader: Strategies to Ensure Successful Technology Integration and Student Learning in Schools” Patrick Ledesma  FCPS! A videocast. This session was interesting because it created by one of our colleagues. He had many good points but I wonder how he would balance his 5 points at a secondary school  300+ teachers and staff members and 2400+ computers.  I especially liked his point about highlighting teacher instructional technology best practices
2. “Web 2.0 Share the Adventure” – Sylvia Martinez- A podcast about including students as partners …as allies, mentors and  teachers. Lots of ideas for projects.

Section 4 – Professional Learning Networks

1. “The Collaborative ABC Movie Project” –  A mixture of podcast, spresent, youtube, jumpcut… a collaborative project…includes steps taken…great potential…one difficulty navigating from one technique to another…if we did this type of project, we could use blog or wiki as central station for keeping group members on task.

Some conclusions about K12 Online Conference 2007 – The quest ion is would I have watched/listened to as many sessions as I did if I had not had this assignment? Honestly? Probably not. It was time-consuming and I feel I have only scratched the surface. Also, at my school, we have only a handful of teachers who are ready to try out these new techniques. We are still very busy trying to help our teachers feel comfortable with the many initiatives that the county has already developed. Currently, we are trying to re-instill a positive feeling about technology at our school. We ‘ve just been migrated from child domain to the main domain and we’ve experienced many frustrations including extreme slowness logging on to the network (5 to 20 minutes). It has been very disruptive to instructional time in the classroom and many teachers are very disgruntled. We have to be very careful about what we introduce to our faculty these days…it is very important that it works , that it works with ease and that it has positive instructional value.