Introducing Myself (#etmooc)

Hello fellow mooc-ers, here is my Introduction made using Haiku Deck on my iPad. Wanted to try something new for this, I have had this app for awhile, but never really used it yet. It is easy to use and does a nice enough job. I can see this as a great way tool for digital storytelling. So ... here it is.


Haiku Deck is the best application for creating presentations on iPad
This term is a little crazy for me, I am teaching 4 courses (full load in a term is usually 3) and I am collecting data and starting analysis for my dissertation ... among some other responsibilities like committees, other research projects... I am NOT complaining, just a little warning that I might not contribute as much as I might like to the MOOC. I will be giving it my best shot though! Looking forward to learning & sharing!

To grade .. or not to grade ...

     The past few months I have been struggling a bit with the direction to take 'grading' in my courses this coming term. The last term of last year, and for one course in the fall term, I tried using a no grade system. The main reason I went to this is the belief that learning should be about professional & personal growth and improvement.
     The terminology used at my University for this is 'Pass/fail', which is really a misleading terminology. It implies that one can do the minimum and obtain a pass - this is not the way I see it - or apply it. I set, often with student input, a minimum expectation - one that I hope is high - and students must meet that minimum, not just get by. In my courses - generally about educational technology - I want to encourage my students to take risks, try out something new, explore new ideas. Often students will play it safe, striving to get that 'A'. I want them to try things and do their best, then look at how to improve on that. I want them to be critically self-reflective. I want them to think and be creative.
     Now, back to my struggles. I was a pretty successful student in the 'traditional' system, I have been indoctrinated into the system of grades and percentages and competition (not that competition is always bad) - like most of us have been. From this standpoint, I certainly understand what grades are supposed to do - distinguish between people (sorting), provide a measure - of sorts - for learning, and as an external motivator. I even might agree with some of those outcomes, some of the time. I have, however, always really thought that learning is the important thing, not the grade. But grades are so ingrained, it is hard to leave them behind - especially with arguments such as "how will this affect me getting into grad school?" or "getting a job?" and others argue that "some people will just put in the minimum" and others claim that they are motivated to get a better grade. Sometimes I found myself looking at student work and thinking - well, this should be better ... it would only be worth a ...", then I stop and think about what I am doing, it is about improvement, not 'punishment'. I have also found that assessment is so much more enjoyable - I look at the work for what was done well, how it can be improved, and giving suggestions - much more relaxing and productive, often leading to good conversations with students. Last year, most students enjoyed the system - found it made them more comfortable taking risks.... So ... I made up my syllabi last week - and with the input from a colleague and my own reflection about what I was really after - I stuck to the Pass/Fail - and I feel good for doing so. If this term works out, then - unless I am told from someone higher up than me - I will be sticking with this system. If anyone out there has experience with this type of evaluation, I would love to hear your experiences and any 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

Some Rambling Thoughts: Part 1

Warning - this post is a bit rambly - just a few things I have experienced or thought about lately.

As a teacher, how do you organize all those great sites, online resources, blogs and so on? This is something I have thought about from time to time, especially as I use and take various web based 'tools' for a spin. As part of my job, I feel I need to keep up and, at the very least, be aware of what is out there. Thus I have lots of sites to juggle. We know that technology is ubiquitous, it is used in just about every aspect of our daily lives, it is also very personal. With this in mind, I introduced a few suggestions to my students (teacher candidates) a few weeks back. Included in my quick tour were services such as Diigo, Pearltrees, Symbaloo, Pinterest (which most were using) and Learnist. RSS was also prominently featured as a way to keep all those news feeds and blogs organized, particularly since they were all writing blogs and Google Reader is a great way to keep track of them all.

After doing a rather quick overview, one student asked if they were expected to use them - of course they are not. I told them I was just showing some ways to help organize and it is up to them to find what works in their context, whether it be one of the sites I showed them or something else. This is something I stress to my students, there are so many tools and services to use, that it is impossible to know about, let alone use, them all. The key is to be open to learning what is out there, let their students use different ways to show/share their learning, read and listen to others to see what works for them in their context, find what works for themselves and their students and use it - and share how and what they are using. One way to do that is to build a PLN, to get connected, to share, reflect, and learn.

This makes me think of a pet peeve, if you will, that I have. It is when people dismiss something - even in a hostile manner - that they know nothing about. Twitter is a great example, for some it is dismissed as a waste of time, only good for gossip or meaningless trivia. I am sure you know what I mean. The thing is that many of these people have never tried it, nor do they really know anything about it. The tech we use is personal - find and use what works for you, twitter, or whatever, might not interest you or you may not see the value, but others do. If you try something, and it is not for you, that is okay, but at least you tried and speak from some experience.

In this light, I share stories with my students from my own experiences - meeting people online & off, finding great resources that I did not know about, sharing, being prompted to think and reflect. I believe that since I really started connecting online I have become a more thoughtful & better educator - even in my 35th year in the field. Getting connected and being an open reflective educator can pay great dividends.

PhD Journey: the Proposal Defence

Well, after several months of writing, revising and a change (slightly) in direction - my thesis proposal defence arrived. June 21 was the big day. At the University of Manitoba, proposal defences are public affairs - just to add to the stress. My defence was attended by about 10 people - the associate dean (chair), advisor and committee, another faculty member (an acquaintance) and several good friends from my PhD cohort. I have to admit that I was so nervous, I thought I was going to be sick - but I got through the presentation, then the questions, after which everyone was asked to leave the room while the committee deliberated. After several anxious moments chatting in the hall with friends, we were called in. To my relief, the Associate Dean announced that I had passed both the oral and written proposal with no changes needed - just a few points to clarify on the ethics application and eventual dissertation. Whew! Now, I can get my ethics applications together - I have to apply at two instituttons, U of Manitoba and Brandon U, where I work. I have since then completed these - and they are in the process of being submitted.

The entire process to get here has been long, a lot of work and at times stressful. After my initial submission, I met with my advisor and one committee member back in January, who gave me input - I made some revisions and submitted again - this time to the entire committee. Again, I received suggestions and comments - as I worked on changes, reflected on the input and on some other events that had occurred, and discussed ideas with colleagues, I decided to change the direction of the research a bit - in one way it would be more convenient, and would also allow for deeper & richer data collection. Finally in May I submitted the new version. I met with my entire committee. At the time, it felt like I was way of track and my thought at the meeting was that I would have to restart - yet, committee members left the meeting commenting on how good the meeting was and that the proposal was - with a few changes - ready to defend. Reflecting as I made the long drive home, I realized that these scholars were pushing me to think - to expand my views, to consider new things. Over the next few weeks, I took the advice given - I went into Winnipeg and had great conversations with individual committee members. These really helped to clarify what I needed to do. I completed these final revisions, wrote up an abstract and sent it all in. The defence came and here I am. Ethics applications are ready to go, and once approved I can get started on the research.

A bit of advice for others taking this journey. First, you have to be patient, it is a long process. Take the time, don't set unrealistic deadlines - I had to revise mine a few times - it is a powerful learning process. Something I did that helped a lot was talking with colleagues and cohort friends. Such support and input was vital, if you are going to do this, a learning network is very important. I was able to bounce ideas off of others, talk out issues I had, discuss theories and get input into writing. One thing I would do differently, though, is to include my advisor and committee in the process more than I did. I tried to do the work with little input from my advisor & committee as I went, not wanting to bother them, trying to prove that I can do it. When I finally took the time to meet and talk with them, I found they were truly there to help - to stretch my thinking, to help me grow as a scholar and researcher. So - lesson learned - as I proceed with the research and dissertation writing - I will meet and converse with these people more as I go.

Oh yea - my thesis title is Teaching Using Social Media: A Multiple Case Study Approach. I plan to examine teachers' perspectives as they use social media in their practice - how? why? barriers, supports needed, does using SM have an affect on their practice? etc. As a few of my committee put it - I want to tell their stories. Should be fun!

Inquiries into Technology Based Course Delivery: Lessons Learned (MADLat 2012)

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

Glenn, Mike, & Lilli J. are presenting a session called: Inquiries into Technology Based Course Delivery: Lessons Learned at the 2012 MADLaT conference held in Winnipeg, MB on May 4. The session description is:

Online learning is growing in popularity and importance in all levels of education. This presentation focuses on what has been learned about online learning in Southwest Manitoba based on three recent studies conducted at Brandon University. These separate studies looked at: 1) learning modalities and online learning, 2) high school teachers’ perspectives of online learning, and 3) high school students’ perspectives of online learning. Jointly, these studies provide a multifaceted snapshot of online learning. After the findings of each study are highlighted, session participants will be asked to join in a conversation about their experiences in relation to these studies.

Madlat 2012: Inquiries into Technology-Based Course Delivery: Our Lessons Learned

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MadLat Handout

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

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