OZeLIVE! – I volunteered

I volunteered to act as a moderator for the OZeLIVE! online education conference which ran from 27 February – 1 March 2015. http://australianeducators.ning.com/

Prior to signing up I was anxious that
a. maybe the presenter I was moderating for would have connection or other technical problems and I would not be able to help them
b. maybe I would have connection or other technical problems and not be able to help myself
c. maybe I would say/do something wrong
d. maybe I would forget to press the record button

1. – z. maybe etc. etc. etc. etc. (You get the picture – I was anxious!)

But I have received plenty of experience and practice in the use of Blackboard Collaborate in the Jo Hart’s Fine Focus and Serendipity sessions, Anne Mirtschin’s Tech Talk Tuesday sessions and the Thursday evening Australia eSeries sessions; so I really should not have been worried. Also there was a volunteer lounge where problems could be shared and brilliant  Australia eSeries people in there to step in and help sort out problems. Peggy George from the US and Chris Smith from Thailand also gave expert assistance and helped to solve problems as they arose.

So I really did enjoy the experience of acting as a moderator and do feel I was able to contribute enough to earn the Exhausted Volunteer Badge.

 

RSCON 5 July 2014

Last month I participated in RSCON 5 The future of education, an online symposium on the Blackboard Collaborate platform with presenters and attendees from around the world. The times of the sessions were not really Australia friendly and I was the only Australian in most of the sessions I joined. But it was certainly worthwhile to attend and it provides valuable PD for educators.

Website NING http://www.futureofeducation.com/

Those who missed RSCON 5 can still listen to recordings of the sessions here

Recordings http://www.futureofeducation.com/page/recordings-2014

Peggy George has compiled a collection of the tools and programs that were shared in the Swapalooza in a Livebinder at http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1399927

A participant’s badge was given for each session attended. Here is my collection of participant badges.

Here are some highlights, images, quotes and links from one of the keynote sessions I attended

Keynote Session Dean Shareski:  Whatever happened to joy?

http://www.futureofeducation.com/page/rscondeanshareski  

In a data driven, achievement focused system, does joy in learning matter anymore? Not that these are mutually exclusive but in our attempts to see results we often forget that joy should not be a means to an end but a worthy and important goal on its own. So how do we insure our students experience joy and wonder everyday? Let’s examine some practical ways that take advantage of new tools and affordances to be intentional and make our schools places of joy.

Moment 1 Why does Christina never smile?

Moment 2 Hearing a child singing when not in a formal music lesson – just for happiness

Link to trailer for The Happy Movie http://www.thehappymovie.com/

Wonder
Awe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QyVZrV3d3o&feature=youtu.be

How often do your students get to wonder?
What if each day your students left school with a great question?

All of Dean’s slides for the presentation are here
http://www.slideshare.net/shareski/what-about-joy-rscon-5

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to write this post but I do encourage you to visit the RSCON 5 NING and catch up with the excellent sessions that were presented on a wide range of education topics.

Details of future online conferences in the series can be found on the NING at http://www.futureofeducation.com/

 

OZeLIVE Reflections 3

The first OZeLIVE Conference http://australianeducators.ning.com/  was held 0n 22-23 February 2014

I offered to volunteer with as much trepidation as I had when I accepted the invitation to present a session at the OZeLIVE! Conference

Although I have been trained to act as a moderator during Jo Hart’s excellent Serendipity and Fine Focus webinars I was apprehensive about all the possible tech problems.

I am full of admiration for the excellent moderators I see at online conferences and very grateful for the work they do to make sessions run smoothly and to keep the notifications on Twitter and Facebook appearing.

I want to say how much I appreciate Steve Hargadon and Coach Carole and Shamblesguru for setting up the conference and all the moderators and other volunteers for their wonderful work keeping the conference running smoothly.
I would like to say an extra thank you to all the volunteers from overseas, like Peggy George, who gave up their time to help out in Aussie time!

I helped in a very minor way and I did enjoy the experience.
Maybe next year I will be a bit braver and give more assistance.

OZeLIVE Reflections 1 Day 2

The first OZeLIVE Conference http://australianeducators.ning.com/  was held 0n 22-23 February 2014

UNCONFERENCE SESSION

Day 2 began with a fun Unconference session hosted by Coach Carole http://www.coachcarole.net/  where we shared some favourite tools and some PechaKucha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PechaKucha

Scoop.it http://www.scoop.it/

Feed.ly http://feedly.com/#discover

Livebinders http://www.livebinders.com/

Symbaloo https://www.symbaloo.com/

Smore https://www.smore.com/

Peggy George Smore https://www.smore.com/w0cm

Educators CPD Online Scoop.It http://www.scoop.it/t/teacher-cpd-online

Diigo https://www.diigo.com/

PechaKucha about Jo Hart Serendipity Fine Focus webinars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtljDGZKjUE

GLobal connected learning global presentation which Reinhard invited global teacher to help him present virtually http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJnemKxYEhY

Robin Long Kids Afield – Empoweri​ng kids to explore the natural world via digital photography

http://designthinkingforeducators.com/design-thinking/

 

http://www.theeasyappcompany.com/app/easy-class-cam/

Tara Fagan and Vlad Finn Robots in the classroom

http://www.romotive.com.au/

http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2014/learning-agency

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwfC3DW9_B0&feature=c4-overview&list=UUqc_xE5JK-pl8Ok6NfP2aIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwfC3DW9_B0

Keynote Julie Lindsay Connect and collaborate for global understanding
 A pedagogical shift

Jo Hart E-ngage and E-mpower with E-tools

Cartoons area on Shambles … tools and ideas on how to use in classroom http://www.shambles.net/pages/school/cartoons/

Go! animate 4 schools
http://goanimate4schools.com/public_index

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/

Make beliefs http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Here is post on creating using make beliefs comix http://eschoolblogs.org.au/students/2013/11/20/using-comics-in-your-blog/

A blog post re Make Beliefs http://spritessite.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/makebeliefs-comix/

A blog post re Toondoo http://spritessite.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/toondoo/

Symbaloo  https://www.symbaloo.com/

ELFADA http://blogs.cyoc.wa.edu.au/elfadacourse/2012/04/03/making-your-blog-truly-yours/

Student blogging challenge
http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2013/10/27/week-7-connections/

Tasmanian blogs http://eschoolblogs.org.au

Anne Mirtschin The networked educator

http://murcha.wordpress.com/

About.me  https://about.me/

Flavors me http://flavors.me/

Linked.In https://www.linkedin.com/

Tasteach bloghttp://tasteach.edublogs.org/

Community College Lakes Entrance http://trainingkitchenlakesentrance.blogspot.com.au/

Student bloggers http://eschoolblogs.org.au/students/

Junita Lyon http://junitalyon.acfe.vic.edu.au/

Global gtchat http://globalgtchatpoweredbytagt.wordpress.com/

Classroom 2.0 http://www.classroom20.com/

Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/

International Dot Day http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/

Skype in the classroom https://education.skype.com/

Student blogging challenge http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/

Teacher blogging challenge http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/

Keynote Chris Betcher Conversations for Change
What should we keep?
What should we throw out?
What should we change?

“A curious kid with an Internet connection can learn anything”

“Give them something to care bout

Give them the tools to enable it

Give them choices

Get out of their way and let them do it.”

Mydailycreate blogspot http://mydailycreate.blogspot.com.au/