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)

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!

Remembering Challenger: January 28, 1986

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nantaism/5165771870/

It was 25 years ago today that the Challenger shuttle mission carrying Christa McAuliffe, the 'teacher in space' and six other astronauts, lifted off from the Cape. Only 73 seconds in, the shuttle exploded in a fireball, killing all seven astronauts aboard. (see information about the mission and crew, including a video tribute at the NASA web site ) I was always interested in astronomy and space exploration, I remember watching with excitement as Armstrong stepped on the moon, experiencing the Apollo 13 incident with the world and other discoveries and missions. In 1986, I had been a teacher for almost 8 years and the space program still held my interest. I remember that fateful day, I was  excited about this mission and Christa was a hero, imagine a teacher actually going into space! In the school I taught at, we had a television hooked into cable, in the staff room in the far corner of the school, I was able to get to the staff room and watch. It was one of those moments that sticks out in time - like 9/11, like JFK's assassination ... I remember the shock, even a tear as I watched the incident unfold before me. I did not know these people, loss of life is always tragic, the loss of all these brave men and women was a deep loss, but Christa was one of us, a teacher. The quote in the image I put together above is one of my favorite quotes about teaching, it is my tribute to the Challenger crew and Christa McAuliffe - she continues to 'touch the future'.

Reflections on a Year of Blogging

photo © 2007 Andy Piper | more info (via: Wylio)

Almost one year ago, I started my first blog (this one). At the time, I had just decided to have students in my Internet for Educators class (pre-service teacher education at Brandon University) keep a blog for the course. I had seen the great results that Alec Couros and Dean Shareski had using blogging with their classes at the University of Regina, so I thought I would give it a try. In a twist of fate, I was also starting a course (Seminar in Educational Technology) as part of my Ph.D. program at the University of Manitoba and, you guessed it, the professor used blogs as a major component of the course. I had to practice what I was preaching, and it afforded a good chance to start, since I had little choice.

Now, a year later, I have five blogs (links to all are on this blog site). The second was for another course and explored learning as a social & cultural phenomenon, I was going to keep it up, but I have now retired it. Two others are collaborative efforts, one with members of the ICT Committee I chair at the Faculty of Education, the other explores ideas of Equity in Education. The last (Notta Stuff)  is the one I keep updated the most. I use Posterous for it, since it is very easy to post to.  I use this blog to excerpt sections of blogs or news articles I’m reading and then comment on them.

At first writing blog posts was rather difficult, not necessarily in terms of writing it, but in actually making my work public. I wondered if I had anything of value to share and if anyone would really care anyways. I have come to the realization that the process of writing the blog allows me to reflect on my own learning and come to my own understandings. If someone else finds it of value, then so much the better. I have discovered many other interesting blogs that I follow using RSS in twitter. All of these have become important parts of my PLN.

I certainly do not blog as much as I want to. Everyone is busy these days and I do not want to make excuses, we all have to set our own priorities or make choices. Currently my priorities must lie with my teaching, my research projects and presentations, and my work on my PhD program. One thing I try to impress on my students is to come to some sort of balance in their life, I am still searching for this balance myself. It is a learning process. 

I continue to jot down ideas for blog posts and will hopefully write them someday. In the meantime my new career continues to keep me engaged, learning, curious and very busy. Through building a PLN, by blogging, but mostly through other networking  media like twitter, I have made many connections, shared and received many resources and advice, made new friends, and have grown professionally and personally. As Dean Shareski has said, every teacher (educator at any level actually) should blog - it is a wonderful way to reflect, make meaning and learn.

And now I will head into my second year as a blogger. Thanks, Dr. Hlynka for starting me on this journey!

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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A New Paradigm?

The following video, made by RSA Animate showed up on YouTube recently. It features Sir Ken Robinson. It is a visual treat and, as anyone who has heard Sir Ken's TED talk or other talks/interviews, a very interesting and thought provoking talk. So, take a look and listen;




Sir Ken weaves an intriguing and convincing story. He causes one to ask questions, to reflect and think. Even if you do not agree with all he says, the case for a paradigm change in education rings true.

Is what he states about ADHD true? Are we medicating kids to slow them down to function in schools? Should schools be organized differently so this is not the case?

At the end of the video, Sir Ken talks about the importance of collaboration. Just think of your own learning; how often do we ask questions and discuss with others to come to an understanding? Learning is social in nature and the tools of digital technology make collaboration easier, so why not make use of them?

Does our current model of education need change? In the words of Sir Ken, schools are "modeled on the interests of industrialism" with bells, subjects, grouping by age and so on. Does the current emphasis on standards and standardized tests measure the types of learning that really counts? They often measure content knowledge and rote facts, not creativity & critical thought. It seems that the primary goal of education today is economic; preparing for the world of work. I would agree that this is important, but goals of imparting democratic values, citizenship, critical, creative, and divergent thought are vital. These goals are even more important in the age of digital technology, access to unlimited amounts of information and instant, mobile communication. Too often what is done in schools is controlled and influenced by those who do not really want people to question and think for themselves. What can we do to effect change in our schools and classrooms?

Better late than never? Has education entered the 21st Century?

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

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/3053321118/

How long will we talk about preparing students for the 21st Century? The 21st century is a decade old. There has been much written about 21st century skills, 21st century learning and 21st century standards but we are coasting into the last few months of 2010. Has education entered the modern age? The unfortunate truth is, however, that for the most part, we have not. We all too often rely on standardized testing and outdated modes of teaching. Thankfully there are growing pockets of change and innovation, yet it seems that clinging to tradition is the norm. We are not just talking about using 'traditional' methods, like lecture or ‘drill and kill’, indeed, a good lecture has value - one just needs to watch some TED talks to see that. Still, this should not be the main method of teaching - we should be using methods of inquiry, problem based learning, critical reflection and collaboration, among others.

Digital technology offers many opportunities to change existing pedagogy. It also has some limitations and risks,  however, a critical and knowledgeable educator can mitigate those risks by choosing what, how and when to use technology to enhance learning. We must be vigilant in promoting and modeling these strategies.

Technology is all around us. Students walk in to our classrooms with laptops and cell phones that offer incredible possibilities. We, as teachers, need to set aside our fears and tap into the opportunities that are inherent in the multitude of devices that are carried in their pockets and knapsacks. It’s time to see past the “no cell phone” policy to a classroom where learning is enhanced through the purposeful engagement of personal technologies and where web resources are available to individual students to access during all parts of our lessons. We must continue to pressure school officials to look forward - to allow the use of the technologies and the Internet and to educate students about their appropriate and ethical use - not hide in the sand and hope it all goes away ... because it is not going to go away.