CSSE

This year, CSSE (Canadian Society for the Study of Education) conference was held just 'down the highway' in Calgary at the end of May, beginning of June. I was fortunate to have two proposals accepted, I was unfortunate because I had to cancel at the last minute. The faculty of education at BU was well represented with several colleagues attending and presenting, a few graduate students were also presenting. By all accounts it was a great time. Last year in Ottawa was my first CSSE conference, and it was very enjoyable. One of the presentations was with a colleague and was the initial findings of our case study of a rural 1:1 school. I thank my colleague and research partner, Dr. J. Kirk, for doing the presentation (we did put plan it out and prepare it together). My other presentation was a roundtable (I went to a few last year and enjoy them - more of a discussion than a paper presentation is) about a multiple case study of social media use in a rural high school, unfortunately it had to be cancelled. With all that said, I am pleased to post the slides for the presentation and the handout I had prepared for my roundtable. For the handout I decided to use piktochart and experiment with a  more visual approach.

Overcoming the Obstacles: A Case Study of a 1:1 Computing Initiative in a Rural High School. from Michael Nantais

Social Media Pedagogy - CSSE roundtable handout - 2016 from Michael Nantais

Professional & Personal Accounts ... or just one?

At one of the sessions at the Social Media & Society conference in July, a presenter asked the audience about our use of SoMe - do we have personal and professional accounts or just one? My answer was that I use one, while another participant expressed that he used two. A short discussion ensued as to our reasons. I understand and respect the separate account perspective - whatever works for you! Most people do that, it seems, so that the personal and professional are kept separate. Often it is expressed that some of the personal is not appropriate for the professional setting. Fair enough. I also understand why some K-12 teachers keep separate social media accounts. I certainly understand that inappropriate use can have repercussions, we see examples of that all the time, but that goes beyond having two account.

My use of one account for each medium is based on a few premises. I believe that the 'online me' is - well, me. Sure, I try not to use profanity online, but I do post about my favourite beverage, beer, and I do post some political or other thoughts, but just like offline, I don't go about spouting anything that comes to mind - I try to use a filter.  I also think a person's role has a part to play in that choice. For me, I see a modelling role, and also I teach older students. The majority of them already have one post-secondary degree and are entering a profession - namely teaching - and should be able to relate at a personal and professional level. I also feel, as mentioned, that I am who I am - so take it or leave it. I also think that folks who share some of their character are more (I don't care for this over-used word, but) authentic, or real. It is nice to know a bit about the person as they are. So, if you follow me on SoMe, you will see a mix of personal and professional.

A Journey Completed ... Another Continues

about to begin the defense

I am very pleased to announce that on June 27, 2014, I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Manitoba. I have many people to thank for their support and assistance along the way, most of all my advisor, Dr. O. Cap, my committee, Dr. M. Atleo, Dr. D. Hlynka, Dr. D. Mann and external, Dr. K. King. Having Dr. King as external was exciting since she has written so much about transformative learning and technology so her input was meaningful and impacted the final product. Others were also important (my wife & family to be sure!), but also several colleagues at BU and my cohort friends throughout the program. I will leave a reflection of the entire process for another post, however, I will include the slides I used in the defense, and the abstract. A link to the final dissertation will be added once it clears the submission system at the UM. For now ... I am done! Mike Nantais, Ph.D. - who would have guessed?

Ph.D. Oral Defense presentation from Mike Nantais

Social Media Pedagogy: A Multiple Case Study Approach (abstract) by mnantais

Being Connected - a Twitter Reflection

A few weeks ago I tweeted my 6000th tweet. I marked it with a shout out to my current & past students at BU. This 'milestone', and I use the term lightly (I am not a prolific user of twitter, well that might be relative, I tweet more than many, but less than many others), along with being a participant in someone else's Ph.D. research,  prompted me to reflect back over my use of social media. It was really starting this career as a teacher educator and educational researcher that prompted me to start using social media to connect. While I had dabbled in some forms of Web 2.0 and social media as a school Principal, I started really using social media seriously in 2009 for many reasons. Primarily I thought I should know more about the media that many educators were using and beginning to use in the classroom. I did not want to be one of those people who criticize social media without a real knowledge of it. As I started using twitter - and adding in other media - slideshare, several Ning groups, LinkedIn ... (I now have too many social media accounts to keep track of) that I began to realize even more value. About this same time I also began blogging - this one is my first, started as part of a course in my Ph.D. program, and I added a few more after that. I found twitter to be the mainstay of my PLE, it was a way to share and discover resources, articles and posts of interest, but was even more so a tremendous way to connect and keep in touch with others. It is also, at times, a source of amusement! I follow many educators at all levels (I think it is vital to keep current with what is happening in schools given my role as a teacher educator & researcher) in addition to many other people from many walks of life. I have met so many of these people face-to-face, through online chats and other ways and each adds value to me as a person and a professional. I could go on to name some of the people I have met, but there are many & I have mentioned some in previous blog posts. This is the real value of twitter (& social media) - it is a technology, but it is much more - it is about people, and it does us well to remember that the people we meet - in person or online, that give life value.

SocMed13

(this post also appears on the blog ICTology)

Last month (May 3-5), my colleague, Dr. Jackie Kirk and I attended the first annual Social Media: Implications for the University conference held at York University in Toronto. The conference was not large, however it was amazing in the diversity of presentations and fairly unique in the format. The presentations covered areas of administration and recruiting, research on using social media for a variety of purposes in the university, and a few sessions offering a critical look as well. The format was unique in that each day had a keynote address of about an hour in duration, and sessions were about 20 minutes with 10 minutes or so for questions and discussion. This kept the presentations moving and concise and interesting discussion. The other interesting piece of the format was that there were no concurrent sessions, ALL participants sat in and listened to all presentations. Ths worked very well, in my opinion, since I heard several sessions that I might not have chosen to go to, yet was glad that I did indeed hear them. This gave a broader perspective of the use of social media in areas such as recruitment & retention, sociology, drama, archaeology, and more. It also allowed for the participants and presenters to get to know one another. I made several contacts, interestingly, by conversing on the twitter backchannel then having lunch together! I came away with some new insights and ideas and was able to make some great new friends and contacts as a result. I commend the organizers, Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano and Jana Vizmuller-Zocco of York U., for their hard work on a successful conference.

For our part, Jackie & I presented on "Student Engagement Using Social Media in Teacher Education". The slides we used are below, we took a contextual and story based approach, and I believe our session was well received based on the comments and discussion afterwards. Oh ... the other great thing about the conference was that the weather was beautiful, a big difference form the continuing snow and cold weather in Manitoba!

Beautiful day on York campus

Talking about our plane's problems :(

The other fun note was that on the flight home - which was delayed due to plane troubles and needing to disembark and get another plane (not the fun part!), Jackie and I were surrounded by about 15 grade sixers from Newfoundland heading to a town near Winnipeg for an exchange. Many people might not enjoy that - but they kept us smiling with their chatter and exclamations as the plane bumped about due to turbulence on the landing. We hope they had a great trip and that their teacher kept his sanity :-)




Our slides:

A Tough Question

Recently my friend Rob Fisher (@RobCFisher), a Principal at a school in Northern Manitoba, asked me to skype in to a group of aspiring school administrators for a few minutes. I was one of three guests he had skype in to talk about being a connected school leader. The question he asked me to consider was to reflect back about how I thought being connected through social media, as I am now, would have affected my role as a Principal. You see, I left the Principalship about 5 years ago to a new career in the Faculty of Education at Brandon University. It has been since that move that I really began to get connected - to explore and use the tools of social media. Rob's request had me thinking and reflecting - how would it have changed me? Has being connected online changed me? Would I still be a Principal?

 Rob's request has prompted me to do some self-reflection (that is having an effect on current events as well). Whether or not I would have stayed on or not is difficult to answer - maybe I would have - my connections through blogs, twitter ... and more - provide a source of many resources, ideas, conversations, provoke thinking & self-reflection, and support. They provide all that now and it has added to my growth as an educator - of course, my experiences in my Ph.D. program has prompted much growth too. That is why it is hard to answer, learning can indeed be transformative and changes in perspective can occur  as a result of a single dissonant or life-changing event. I think most of us, however, grow through our experiences in a cumulative way. My years in admin were ones of great growth, so have my experiences as part of an amazing cohort of people in my Ph.D. program over the past 4 years, so has my almost 5 years in higher education - teaching adult students, as well as working with thoughtful and intelligent colleagues. And, of course, so have my connections made with so many people through my interactions on twitter, blogs, flickr, diigo, instagram, google+, MOOC participation ... Many of my views about education have evolved as a result of these experiences. Whether or not I would still be a school Principal might be a moot point, but if I was connected more as a school Principal, I know my PLN would have provided me, as it does now, with:

• resources
• conversation, both to reinforce and to provoke thought: critical, reflective & creative
• new ideas
• support
• inspiration, and
• fun!

No matter your role, getting connected, building a PLN can be of benefit to you. Let it grow!
(Thanks, Rob - it was a short call, but fun!)

Ninth International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice

by Mike & Jackie (originally posted on ICTology, imported September/15)

This August, we had the amazing experience of attending and presenting at the The Ninth International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices, held August 15-19, 2012 at  Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England. The castle, owned by Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, is a beautiful setting for a conference (see photos included). The SSTEP group is a part of AERA, and focusses on the improvement of teacher education through self-study. The process for acceptance is extensive, the proposal, then the paper submitted are subjected to blind peer review. Our paper & presentation was titled: Using Social Media to Engage Teacher Candidates in Relevant, Timely, and Rich Learning Experiences (proceedings for previous conferences area available - and I am sure this one will be as well). In a nutshell we examined our practice as we tried various ways to engage our students in discussions via social media. In particular we looked at a Ning network we had set up for current students and alumni of our teacher education faculty. Our goal was to create a network where our students could engage in rich, deep discussions that extended beyond the classroom. The Ning allowed us to include practicing educators, including many enrolled in our graduate program, to join the discussion with teacher candidates. We tried to find strategies that would lead to a dynamic, meaningful community of learners, and in the long term, we would like to find ways to help the community to become self-sustaining and a place for current and former students to share & engage one another. Our presentation is below, followed by some photos of the beautiful castle & grounds.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENGAGE TEACHER CANDIDATES IN RELEVANT, TIMELY, AND RICH LEARNING EXPERIENCES from Mike Nantais

Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England

The Castle from another angle. Amazing setting for an academic conference

Jackie & I presenting in the Board Room in the Castle

Social Media in Education: National Rural Education Congress

( originally posted on ICTology, imported in September/15)

On March 28 we presented at the National Congress on Rural Education, held is Saskatoon, SK. Our session looked at social media & education. We started by asking "What is Social Media?" and proceeded to why use it, then into our journey & experiments at BU. After this we transitioned to ask; What about in K-12, and tried to give reasons to use social media and gave several examples of real classrooms and schools who make positive use of social media for learning.

One of the highlights of the conference was the student Journalists who produced video and print reports of the conference.

Our Prezi and associated links are below;

Social Media in Education on Prezi

Links to resources:
ICT @ BU: links to real schools & classrooms using Social Media
Social Media in Schools (web site created by M. Nantais)

Using Social Networks in Teacher Education: Session Reflection

Post by : Jackie Kirk & Mike Nantais ( originally posted on ICTology, imported in September/15)

Last Friday at the Manitoba Educational Research Network (MERN) Fall Forum, we hosted a session called “Engaging learners using social networks in teacher education”. Our purpose was to share our initial findings from the pilot project of a social network within the Faculty of Education at Brandon University that we have been working on since the spring of 2010. Although we accomplished our task, the discussion that ensued during the session sparked our thinking far beyond our local community. Our presentation is included here for your reference;

original Social Media in Higher Ed on Prezi

One of the first discussions (one that we left and didn’t get an opportunity to come back to) was the question of why some people are reluctant to join the current trend toward online social networking. This is a question that has been tossed around in many of our social circles. Why does it seem like such a struggle to put your ideas and thoughts out into the public forum for critique and feedback? In an interesting post called “Making Connections”, Harold Jarche, wrote about how various social media connect people in different ways. Most interesting, in light of the reluctance described earlier, was the video he included (which I have embedded below). Harold writes;

Dr. Brené Brown says that, “Connection is why we’re here; it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. This is what it’s all about.” What keeps many people out of connection is that they feel they are not worthy of connection. Brown explains that people with a stronger sense of belonging believe they are worthy of love and belonging. These people also fully embrace vulnerability. Her conclusion, from many observations and interviews, is that the best way to live is with vulnerability and to stop controlling and predicting. To me, this sounds like adopting a perspective of life in perpetual Beta. I think that the vulnerability we show when embracing social media is actually a path to a better life. 

In our own use of social media, we have experienced this first hand. Mike, who is active in using twitter, blogging and other social media, struggled when he began, and still does to an extent. Is what we have to say worthwhile? Does it offer anything new? Will it be met with criticism or indifference? Yet, once that threshold is breached, the learning opportunities grow. The entire video clip (a TedxHouston Talk by Dr. B. Brown) is below;

The most controversial part of the discussion centered around the power, the privilege, and the future of social media within society. Many people within the digital community have talked about the opportunity that social media provides for anyone who has internet access (about 75% of Canadians according to http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/ca.htm) to be involved in the general flow of information about everything from politics to health and wellness to consumer products. That participation by average citizens is literally changing the dynamic of knowledge as capital. It seems possible that the traditional power hierarchy is going to tumble as a result of ‘Average Joe’ having the opportunity to share his opinions in a forum where literally millions of people can read them.

One of the things that we found most intriguing about the discussion in our session, regarding social media and its relationship to power in society, was the suggestion that some people shared a fear that the current open discussion forum offered by social networks would be infiltrated and overtaken by government and big business. Is it possible that the free spirit of online social networking will devolve into a medium for rhetoric and advertising in the clutches of former power brokers who would betray public trust by manipulating a faux-public-opinion to support and maintain historical power structures??

A preview of our Ning illustrates the positive side of social networking. Almost 300 students, faculty, and alumni who have joined our Ning sign in and contribute to discussions on a regular basis. We have started discussion groups for each of our classes but we encourage students to stray outside of their own groups to comment on any interesting discussions. Some discussions that have been started by students have received 30-40 responses from other undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and administrators working in the field, faculty members, and people working within the provincial ministry of education! It has proven to be an authentic on-going discussion about education that extends beyond the walls of our classrooms and engages our pre-service teachers at a completely different level. Check it out at: http://bu-facultyofed.ning.com/ If you’re a member of the BU Faculty of Education community (student, faculty, or alumni), we would welcome you to sign up for a membership while you are on our site and get involved in the discussions! So, although there’s a chance that social networking could take a turn for the dark side in the future, right now we are enjoying the benefits of the free flowing discussion!

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