Passion Projects

Photo by Randalyn Hill on Unsplash

 So, teaching remotely this term, I wanted to mix things up. I decided I was not going to have zoom classes 4 hours a week. I know from having meetings over zoom for the past year, it can be mind numbing 😫, and sitting in front of screen for most of a day - and more so a week - is not good for anyone 😵. Since many of the other courses are fully on zoom - plus assignments outside of class -  I decided that I would use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning. One of the projects I decided on was a passion project. Everyone has things they wonder about and would like to learn about - well, they should anyway - so I took this idea, often used in K-12, and decided to go for it. The stipulations were straightforward - explore a topic related to using technology in education, make a plan, carry it out, learn, create some artifact to show the learning, reflect on the process and what you learned, share with at least one other classmate and with me.  Boom! Off they went, and the results were amazing and projects varied!  The students seemed to embrace the project, and many commented how they enjoyed doing it! My hope is that they can embrace such projects, or at least some inquiry learning, in their future classrooms. Some of the projects included:

• Several on video production - using videos in math, or physical education, or ... 
• A few looked into podcast creation and how it can be used in the classroom.
• A few looked at various apps that could be used in different subject classrooms: math, geography, the gym, etc.
• Some looked into coding, including making games, and robotics.
• One looked at using VR in physical education.
• Not to be left out, a number of music ed students looked into software for music recording or tutorials and creating amazing artifacts. One looked at using tiktok to deliver short tutorials.
• Another looked at creating tours in google earth to use in geography courses.
• Yet another collated and reviewed resources for teaching about reconciliation.
• and on and on ...

This was one project I actually enjoyed going through and providing feedback - and there were over 60 of them! My own reflection was - why didn't I do this along time ago! I will not be teaching again after this term - as noted in earlier posts, I will soon retire, but I would keep using this project if I was still in the game, and I encourage any of you out there to give it a try, the results were well worth it!

Reflections on the School Year That Was

Last year I was on sabbatical so it was the first time in 38 years I have not been in a classroom. This year saw a few changes in my workload, as well as picking up some of the courses I have previously taught. I enjoyed the year out of the classroom - first one in 37 years or so, but I also enjoyed being back. I also think this year proved once again that a person should be always learning, and reflecting on that learning. I have always told my students (aspiring teachers) that as a former Principal, if a teacher thinks they know all there is to know - I would not want them on my staff.

In Fall I taught my first graduate level course - Intro to Curriculum, not only that but it was online as well. I held biweekly zoom classes and Moodle in between. This was a big learning experience on many levels. I had students from 4 different countries and from across Manitoba. We had great discussions about curriculum and how it plays out in various jurisdictions. I am sure I learned as much as the students. I also will make adjustments in future grad courses from what I learned about delivery. One new thing I tried was to have the final major assignment an ignite style presentation (along with an annotated bibliography), the result was fantastic and the students agreed that they enjoyed them. I will continue to embrace different ways of presenting learning - and will include writing as part of it, but not all ;-)

Taken (by me) in July 2016 at Emerald Lake,
Yoho National Park,B.C.

In my B.Ed. courses (they were all ed tech courses) I continued to make use of blogs, as usual there was mixed reaction, but what was interesting was that some of the students giving push back, relented in their summary post and admitted the value - some even enjoyed doing them and vowed to continue the practice. I was considering giving more choice with alternatives to the blog, but I am now thinking of keeping the assignment but adding suggestions for posts for those who struggle with that. I also want to find ways to help students dig deeper in their posts and make it truly reflective. Some offer summaries of what we did - I want them to dig into topics of interest and how they may/have impacted their thinking about teaching/learning. Being reflective and thinking about practice is - to me - important in being a good teacher who grows and continues to learn, somehow I want to promote that, I think I model that - 38 years as an educator and I by no means profess to know it all and am always on the lookout for new ideas. One thing I can do better is take more time to read and write!

Another major assignment I use in my ed tech course is building (starting to) an eportfolio. I go over the why and give ideas for the how - we usually brainstorm what should be on it and I use example s(with permission) from previous years. Again I had some push back on this assignment form some, most of my students find it a useful exercise and something they can build on and use. The process also gives them some hands on creating a web site. I have been thinking though, that I should do some research and survey admin in the province to see to what extend these are useful artifacts, and what types of information they suggest is most useful for seeking employment.

One thing I do want to be sure to employ is more choice - I am a believer in giving choice
, but I want to allow more in a few major assignments ... but mostly I want to encourage and model deep and critical thinking about the use of ed tech.

One final thing, a few weeks ago I was fortunate to hear Yong Zhao speak in Winnipeg. While I am not sure his idea of entrepreneurship is the be all and end all, I really enjoyed his message and way of thinking. He is an interesting speaker and provides good evidence and prompts thinking. If you have not read his work, I encourage you to do so. While I have read and used his work before, I bought a few more of his books and am reading one now. I like his analogy of standardized testing, and standards in general - how educators are 'sausage makers' and despite all the talk and work about differences and embracing passions, we test to see how the sausages came out by comparing them to a standard. At one point, he answered a question about PISA and other standardized tests saying they might have some good aspects, but overall are destructive!

A break, some research work - and then back to planning these changes for next years' courses!

I {heart} My Job!

This post is a little different. First off, at the end of January, I was granted tenure in my institution with unanimous support at all levels - it is rewarding having the confidence of peers. I am now a full time permanent member of the Faculty of Education at Brandon University, after switching careers (in a sense) after being in the public school system for 30 years - I was really young when I started :-). I have now been an educator for 35 years (wow, that's a long time) and have learned much, and continue to learn. This post is about how I love my new career. First off, there is much freedom to pursue interests and do research, and I have found that conducting research is an enjoyable and worthy pursuit. Then there is the teaching ... every day I am in the classroom I have a smile on my face and am amazed and heartened by the young people learning to be teachers. It is a joy to watch as they transform into thoughtful, reflective professionals. When I think back to my teacher education - one year, I know I was not where I see most of my students now. I truly believe that the two year after degree program is superior. It allows greater time to be mentored in the field and to learn the theory and practice - praxis - in the 'classroom'. The time in the faculty provides time for discussion, exploration and reflection that is not readily available in the field. Both experiences are vital and the growth is obvious.

As an example, this week students in my Internet for Educators class gave group presentations on topics of their choosing. It was enjoyable to sit back and listen as they presented, using many technologies in a fluid, integrated way. The content they provided was remarkable, yet I was struck by how they all used different tools and how the group members interacted as a team. The tools included google docs, wikispaces, glogster, video, todaysmeet, polleverywhere, wallwisher (now padlet), and more. They were entertaining and creative and lead to some interesting discussion. These people will be wonderful teachers, and will be leaders of change and innovation. Their entusiasm helps keep me young, and they make me proud. We often hear that this generation is self-centered and don't have a great work ethic, but don't believe it, the future of education - at least in Manitoba, looks to be in good hands. No wonder I <3 my job!

A Little More About Connected Learning ...

An important part of the classes I teach are student blogs. In my first year courses (an after degree program - so first year of a B.Ed.) the blog is a choice, this term over half have chosen to embark on reflective blogging, most for the first time. In my final semester course, Internet for Educators, blogging is a requirement. As the first topic of #Etmooc winds up, I would like to present the blogs that my students are writing and invite readers to take a look and perhaps leave a comment or two. I leave links to the blog bundles below.

Blogs from 'Using ICT in the classroom'
Blogs from 'Internet for Educators'

I have used blogging in my courses for a few years now, and am always amazed at the quality of writing, sharing and reflective thought. It is a great way for students to explore ideas they have encountered, wonder aloud, and share resources and experiences. I also find that I learn just as much about students through their blogs as I do in our face to face classes, connecting in this way often leads to deeper conversations in the classroom - or informally outside of it. In the Internet for Ed class (I wrote about abut this course in my last post), I like to think the learning is rhizomatic. I first came across this idea in this article by Dave Cormier, I found the idea fascinating and the analogy an apt one. We listen to speakers, examine ideas and concepts and the students then explore the ideas and take them where they want to go. It is fun to read their ideas, and chat about them. The students themselves have made connections with each other and with some of the guests, who often comment on their posts as well, or connect on twitter. I guess it is perhaps not truly rhizomatic since I (or the invited speakers) choose the general topic, but the students have freedom to go wherever their interests and thoughts take them. The learning I witness (and I learn much myself as well) is exciting to see as these promising educators wrestle with some big ideas.

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 Networking in Teacher Education (MADLaT 2012)

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

Mike , Jackie & Clark are presenting a session called: Social Networking for Students in Higher Education at the 2012 MADLaT conference held in Winnipeg, MB on May 4. The session description is:

Is learning social in nature? Sociocultural learning theories suggest that learning occurs through social interactions with others and that learning is often mediated by cultural artifacts and tools (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). This presentation will examine online social networks as a tool for learning in higher education. The presenters from Brandon University will share their experiences with using a social network for education students to extend their learning beyond the time and space of the classroom. Presenters will also share the results of a follow-up study that considered both the design of the network and users’ opinions.

This session will look at our work as we have tried various social media tools and approaches to enhance our coursework in the Faculty of Education. A few years ago, we set up a Ning social network for our Faculty. Jackie & Mike have been using it to engage our students in discussions that extend beyond the classroom, and several other Profs have joined in using the Ning as an extension of the classroom. This year, Clark (an M.Ed. student) has conducted a focus group, as part of his thesis work, in which he is looking at the design of the network. In this session, we will share our experience and what we have learned to date.

Social Media in Teacher Education

View more PowerPoint from Mike Nantais

International Conference on E-Learning (ICEL)

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

Glenn & Mike presented a poster at ICEL 2011, in Kelowna, B.C. on June 27-28.

Our poster and the accompanying handouts are here (also on SCRIBD). We are excited to add that our poster was chosen as the 'best poster presentation' at the conference.

ICEL poster: Are we overgeneralizing the competencies of the Millenial Generation

ICEL 2011 Handout Pg1-2

ICEL 2011 Handout Pg2-2



An article based on our results is in the future (nearer we hope, however, a few pressing items need to be dealt with first). After our pilot study, we did have an article published in Volume 3 (starting on page 50) of the MERN Journal, found on the MERN web site as a pdf download.

Note of Thanks! (Power of a PLN)

This past term, one of the courses I taught was Internet for Educators. This course is an elective course in Brandon University's after degree B.Ed. program. The students are in their last year & last term of their program and are generally in the middle years or senior years stream, they have a variety of teachable areas. This is the second year I have used an approach using ideas I have 'borrowed' from members of my PLN, in particular Alec Couros and Dean Shareski. The major assignment for the course is to keep a blog, there are required weekly posts, based on the topic of the week, usually presented by a special guest speaker. The students explore the idea, bring in own experiences and reflections. I started this last year, and grew and refined the idea this year. From both my perspective - and from the students, it was a huge success. The responsibility for learning was theirs, while I set the general topics, along with the speakers I invited, the learning took the direction the students wanted to take it. Many added extra posts, sharing resources, ideas and commenting on each others blogs. I want to publicly acknowledge the invited speakers - members of my PLN - who took time and effort to join us, in person and digitally. I learned as much from the presentations and interactions as my students did. The presenters were:

John Evans (@joevans) - a former Principal and now a consultant with Manitoba Education, presented on PLNs - and on the first day of classes. What a great way to start. John got us off with a bang talking about the power of a PLN and demonstrating some tools for building a PLN. John shared his wiki on PLNs.

Howard Griffith (@HowardCDN) - Howard is one of two educators who coordinate & develop Web Based Courses for Manitoba. Howard led a discussion about the whys of online learning and showed the resources and courses available in Manitoba. Student teachers are able to sign up for courses so they may use the materials as resources and to explore.

John Finch (@jfinch)  - a former teacher and Technology Consultant, John is also with Manitoba Education and is on the Literacy with ICT team. John led a hands on session looking at using social media in the classroom, sharing ideas and issues.

Glen Gatin (@ggatin) - was next, Glen is an ed tech researcher and delivers a graduate level course for Brandon University, and other Universities. Glen presented a session looking at learning in a networked world. In particular he looked at various learning theories, including constructivism, constructionism and connectivism. He also discussed MOOCs and MUVES (second life). He finished with some good advice for beginning teachers.

George Couros (@gcouros) - Principal of Forest Green School in Stoney Plain, AB skyped in from his school. This was a treat as a Principal in the field talked about "Unintended Benefits" and shared his experiences as his school embraced social media. Here is a Principal with an amazing philosophy who lives what he says. He also gave advice for beginning teachers seeking their first teaching job. His presentation is embedded below, with his permission.

Unintended Benefits

View more presentations from George Couros

Darren Kuropatwa (@dkuropatwa) - Darren is a high school Math teacher on secondment to Manitoba Education (in the  Literacy with ICT - French language side). Darren is a very sought after speaker and presents around the world. He presented on "What can we do now?". Darren talked about how people learn and talked about assessment and illustrated many ways to use technology in the classroom. His presentation is below.

What Can I Do Now? (web 2.0 pedagogy) v4

View more presentations from Darren Kuropatwa

Dean Shareski (@shareski) - well, we did not actually have Dean speak to us directly, however, I assigned his great K-12 Conference keynote "Sharing - The Moral Imperative" for viewing. His presentation sparked some great blog posts. I thank Dean for reading & commenting on a few of the posts.

Alec Couros (@courosa) - having the famous Dr. Couros, University of Regina, join us via elluminate is always a treat. Alec truly lives his 'open doctrine'. As busy as he is, Alec joined us for an hour right after his own class finished at U of R. Alec was a perfect final speaker and he summed up his thoughts on 'Open Learning in a Connected World' and spent about fifteen minutes answering questions and discussing ideas. Just the week before, I had the honour of introducing Alec on his first foray into Manitoba when he delivered a keynote to WestCAST - an annual conference for pre-service teachers, held this year at Brandon University. His slidedeck is below:

Rethinking Teaching & Learning in a Networked Reality

View more presentations from Alec Couros

Of course, I did hold a few classes myself ;-) and we spent the last class together discussing and pulling together the themes from the course & speakers. The student blogs were amazing, and their final reflections were outstanding. Links to their blogs, including the reflections, are on this wiki - so please take a look & comment! These folks will make fine, thoughtful teachers (anyone hiring?). It is also gratifying to see a few of them continue posting to their blogs in the few weeks since classes finished.

Once again, I want to thank all these educators for their contribution to the development of these new teachers. I met & got to know some of these people on twitter, and they did not hesitate to take part. This success shows the power of a PLN (or whatever term you want to use)! This experience was valuable to both my students and to me - and I hope for these fine presenters as well - I know some have some new twitter followers and blog readers from this class!

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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Digital Learner Research: my thoughts

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

When I first started teaching in the Faculty of Education, I wanted to design my course (I teach the educational technology course) to meet the needs of my students; teacher candidates in Manitoba. The province was also implementing a new initiative called "Literacy with ICT", which called for teachers to infuse ICT into their classrooms. There was, of course, much written in popular literature about Gen Y, or the 'digital natives', this was useful for motivating and inspiring teachers to change, but was it true? What was the actual competency and knowledge about ICT that my students brought to the program? There was also some suggestion that the ed. Tech course be discontinued and that ICT be part of other courses, after all, the students were all "tech-savvy". Glenn and I decided to investigate what our student's actually used technology for, and how they saw themselves in terms of competency in certain areas.

photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/3105191883/in/photostream/

The major thing I take from our results so far (year 1 of a planned 3 year study) is that GenY is overgeneralized and,  while they do exhibit a high degree of comfort with technology, there is such a wide variation and depth of skill, that assuming that our students are ready to wisely and effectively integrate ICT into their teaching is a dangerous premise.  If we expect teachers to make effective and thoughtful use of ICTs in teaching and learning in a pedagogically sound way, then we can not simply assume they have a wealth of knowledge about technology and send them on their way. Our results indicate differences, not only in generations, but in gender. No doubt a person's  interests and background play an important role in technology use as well. If we assume our students are as knowledgeable and savvy as the popular literature says, then we risk leaving some behind, add barriers to learning of others and gloss over vital concepts. Good teachers take into account individual differences and needs as much as possible, this applies to ICT skills as well as learning preferences.

(please refer to the previous post for our presentation at the Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Conference)