Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Learning Revolution - Week's Free Events - ISTE Unplugged - Homework - Emperor's New Clothes

The Learning Revolution
Weekly Update

June 24th, 2014


The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
- Sydney J. Harris

The Learning Revolution Project highlights our own "conference 2.0" virtual and physical events and those of our over 200 partners in the learning professions. We also highlight good conversations about learning taking place between educators, learners, leaders, and others from the school, library, museum, work, adult, online, non-traditional and home learning worlds. The Internet is shifting the boundaries of these worlds, and we believe that as they increasingly overlap and integrate these conversations will be critical to framing and preparing for the learning revolution starting to take place.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please sign up at the Learning Revolution. Please share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues!

SPECIAL NOTE: Those of you who are members of more than one of the Learning Revolution communities are probably receiving more than one copy of this newsletter. Over the last two months we worked with an email list company in an attempt to avoid this duplication, but unfortunately, we were reported as a spammer (ugh!) and so are now reverting to the original Ning network email service. We're still working on other solutions, but for the time being you will get more than one copy of our Tuesday newsletter if you're signed up to receive information about more than one of our events and conferences.


Updates

  • Wahoo! ISTE Unplugged Starts This Friday!. ISTE attendees - don't miss out! Audrey Watters of HackEducation.com will be joining us for our all-day Friday, June 27th, unconference. It's free, it's at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it's a great way to spend a day with interesting people holding interesting conversations. The topics for the day are determined by the attendees, and many who come say it's the best thing they do at ISTE. After the unconference is our now-annual evening social/party, which will feature Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone band. Saturday is our half-day Global Education gathering, and then there's the Bloggers' Cafe Sunday - Tuesday. Check it all out at ISTEunplugged.com. See you there!
  • NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition. Learning Revolution partners, NMC and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), with the support of HP, just released the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 K-12 Edition at a special session at the 2014 NMC Summer Conference in Portland, Oregon. This sixth K-12 edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in education. View the report.
  • EdTechWomen's Leadership Dinner at ISTE. This year's Dinner Event at ISTE will be on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 7:30pm at the Marriott Grand Marquis Ballroom in beautiful Atlanta! At the second annual EdTechWomen ISTE Dinner Event, the community will focus on connecting aspiring and seasoned leaders – women and men – in edtech to share and incubate opportunities for women's leadership development in the education industry. Attendees will have the chance to meet educators, business people and other professionals from across the education industry while engaging in authentic discussion about leadership and career development. Learn more and RSVP here.
  • Twin Events About the Future of Museums. The New Media Consortium and LearningRevolution.com announce twin events about the future of museums on July 23rd & 24th. Both events are focused on four main themes from the NMC Horizon Report > 2013 Museum Edition: Bring Your Own Device, Location-Based Services, Crowdsourcing, Makerspaces. July 23rd - The NMC Virtual Symposium on the Future of Museums is an exclusive symposium for you, the curators, creators, innovators, museum professionals, and educators. In this limited-space event, engage with panels on these topics and help shape the conversation – get your burning questions answered! July 24th - LearningRevolution.com is hosting the free, online Future of Museums Conference, a collaborative global conversation about technology, museums, and the future. This event will be held from 10am - 5pm US-Eastern Time, and will feature keynote speakers and crowdsourced presentations by your peers. Attendees can expect to learn best practices to implement in their museums, and will hear real-world examples of innovative practices in the field. Curators, creators, innovators, museum professionals, and educators are encouraged to present. We are looking forward to these fun events, and to your participation!
  • Homeschool+ Conference Special Speakers. We're excited to announce the following keynote and distinguished speakers have been confirmed for the second annual Homeschool+ Conference: Blake Boles, Pat Farenga, Ocean Robbins, Jamie McMillan, Carlo Ricci, Clark Aldrich, Elliot Washor, Yale Wishnick, Jackie Gerstein, Bernard Bull, Luba Vangelova, and Scott Nine. And more invitations are still out there! Should be another AMAZING event focused on sharing strategies, practices, and resources for those involved with homeschooling, unschooling, free schools, democratic schools, and other forms of alternative, independent, and non-traditional education.

Newsletter Sponsors

Click for more information

ASB Academy

Mathbreakers

Learning Revolution Events


Partner Spotlight

VHS

The VHS Collaborative is an educational nonprofit that has set the standard for online and blended learning since 1996. Through our global online classrooms, schools offer STEM, AP®, Honors, Gifted & Talented, and elective courses that help students prepare for college and careers. We make high quality education available to middle school and high school students regardless of location and within the most stringent budgets. We offer private and custom courses, course licensing, blended learning support for schools, and professional development to help educators learn 21st century teaching skills. More information at http://www.TheVHSCollaborative.org.

Interested in becoming a Learning Revolution Partner? Please fill out a Partner Application today.

One Week Calendar

All events are listed in US-Eastern Daylight Time. To become an event partner and have your events listed here, please email admin@web20labs.com.

  • Wednesday, June 25th in Atlanta, GA Flat Connections Workshop: Connect, Collaborate, Go Global, We have the technology, we have the pedagogy, it's time to join learners to the world! This workshop provides educators and education leaders the skills and resources to connect their learning and take it from local to global - and provides concrete examples and stories of those who are already doing this to inform your approach. It is imperative students receive a global education and have the opportunity to connect and work with others in the world. Embedding global learning and competency is not a plane ticket but a mindset and a curriculum imperative. Where do you start? This workshop will show you how. More information here.
  • Wednesday, June 25th at 8am Education Fast Forward: Live Global Education Debate, Better teaching for better learning: Results of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Be one of the first to learn from the outcomes of the OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) by joining Education Fast Forward's global live debate on June 25, 2014 at 1pm (BST). No need to register, just click to view. Follow us on Twitter @effdebate and post your questions and comments to #EFF10. More information here.
  • Wednesday, June 25th at 9pm Teachers Teaching Teachers, Weekly conversations hosted by EdTechTalk, a collaborative open webcasting community. For more information, click here.
  • Thursday, June 26th at 4pm Common Sense Media: Appy Hour, Join Common Sense Media's monthly #appyhour Hangout series to hear how educators are using digital tools for learning. You can watch live via YouTube and Tweet along at #appyhour. RSVP at https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/ca81429mq8vb8gh1bkll6qmr23g.
  • Friday, June 27th at 8am in Atlanta, GA Hack Education Unconference + Party, Audrey Watters of Hack Education co-chairs our all-day flagship event this year, our "unconference" on teaching and learning (originally EduBloggerCon). In our eighth year, this event typically draws 200 - 300 participants from around the world. We start by building a session schedule together and then spend the rest of the day in engaged conversations around amazing topics. More information and sign-up here.
  • Friday, June 27th at 3pm PDT in San Francisco, CA Galvanize: gSchool Open House, Want to know more about gSchool's 24 week developer training program? Here's your chance to meet the team, get your questions answered, check out the space (psst - it has a rooftop patio) and learn more about what it means to be a gSchooler! RSVP here.
  • Saturday, June 28th at 9am in Atlanta, GA Invent to Learn at ISTE 2014, Join Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager for an energizing day of "hard fun" as we invent, tinker, and learn how to incorporate hands-on project-based learning in the classroom. Participants will engage in a variety of projects using modern tools and technology - the perfect way to get ready for ISTE. More information and registration here.
  • Saturday, June 28th at 2pm in Atlanta, GA Global Ed Day at ISTE 2014, Join Lucy Gray, Steve Hargadon, and many members of the Global Education Conference community on June 28th from 2-5 PM at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA for a special face-to-face meeting in which you can connect and collaborate with other globally minded educators. More information and RSVP here.
  • Sunday, June 29th at 9pm I Have a Question EdTechWeekly, Weekly attempt to crowdsource answers to education questions from our community of communities,. Tag your questions #eduquestion or post them on our Facebook page or Google+ community. Join in at http://edtechtalk.com/live/ihaq.

For a full calendar of all upcoming events and conferences, click here.

Deadlines

  • 2014 Reform Symposium (#RSCON5), July 11th - 13th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals is now open! Do you have an instructional method, project, or idea that you are passionate about and will “wow” other educators? Proposals can be submitted from now until July 1st, 2014. Please see the conference strands and call for proposals for submission details and instructions.
  • Future of Museums, July 24th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and July 21st for the Future of Museums conference. This free, online event will give those of you who work in the museum and archives fields an opportunity to share your passion for the future of museum services, spaces, and innovations. Conference strands include Bring Your Own Device, Location-Based Services, Crowdsourcing, and Makerspaces. Please see the call for proposals and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Homeschool+ Conference, August 7th + 8th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals for the 2014 Homeschool+ Conference is now open. Conference strands include Learning Theory, Homeschooling, Unschooling, Free Schools, Democratic Schools, Alternative and Non-Traditional Education, Student Presentation, Technology, Politics and Policy, and Faith-Specific Topics. Be sure to share this opportunity with your peers and colleagues - we'd love to see your proposal come in soon!
  • Gaming in Ed, September 15th - 19th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals for the inaugural Gaming in Ed conference is now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until September 1st, and we will begin accepting proposals after July 1st. Conference strands include Game-Based Learning: How to Use Games in Educational Settings, Games & Assessment, Connecting Educators With Game Developers: Make Your Voices Heard, Students as Content Creators & Game Designers, Research on Game-Based Learning, and Professional Development. Share your experience with game-based learning with an audience of game developers and peer educators!
  • Library 2.014, October 8th + 9th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and October 1st for Library 2.014. This fully online, participatory conference presents a unique opportunity to showcase the excellent research and work that you do every day. How does your library manage digital collections? Is your library mobile friendly? Do you have a story to tell about maker spaces? Your participation as a presenter will steer the global conversation about the future of libraries. Please see the call for proposals and conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Global Education Conference, November 17th - 22nd, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The call for proposals for the 2014 Global Education Conference are now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until November 15, and we will begin accepting proposals June 1st. Please see the conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!

Highlighted Recordings

Peter Morville from Library 2.013 - on "Inspiration Architecture: The Future of Libraries"

Morville
http://youtu.be/zr_ubbJZe0o

Congresswoman Nita Lowey from the Global Education Conference 2013 - on "25 Years working to Ensure Education for All"

Lowey
http://youtu.be/X9lGXVmeJL8

Peggy George & Jason Borgen from the Connected Cafe - on "Making Informal PD Count"

NAME
http://youtu.be/359-ikSM5tg

Conversations

Classroom 2.0

  • Pedagogical Barriers in ICT Integration. Classroom 2.0 member and Pakistan educator, Abdul Zahoor Sajid, has observed that many of his peers are struggling to find a balance between ICT integration and traditional pedagogical models. New York educator, Robin Long, has weighed in on the discussion, sharing her experience with ICT integration as a top-down initiative. What has your experience been? What are some of the barriers, and solutions, to ICT integration in your school?
  • Comic Workshop Tools for Your Library or Classroom. Karen Cameron shares 5 amazing apps for comic generation - an excellent way to engage reluctant readers and foster creativity among young library users and students. Most of these apps are free and allow users to download a copy of their comic for print. Maybe this year's summer reading program will involve a graphic novel component? Check out these apps here. Thanks, Karen!

Education Revolution Google+ Community

  • Call to Action: Parents in the Classroom. US DOE Teaching Ambassador Fellow, JoLisa Hoover, shares a recent recap of Secretary Arne Duncan's call to action to parents of school aged children. Check out Hoover's report and learn how you might get involved in this initiative.
  • More on the Value of Homework. Week after week, articles on the value of homework circulate in popular education networks. Seemingly a response to recent trends in flipped classroom activities and research exploring the relationship between homework and knowledge acquisition, this topic doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. Katie Lepi of Edudemic recently wrote this article which provides a set of questions that teachers can use to assess the value of their own homework assignments. This may be helpful for those of you who are crafting your lesson plans and assignments for next fall. Check out the article here.

Final Notes

Take a moment and think about the deepest learning experiences you've had in your life. In or out of school, my guess is that the moments when you were learning the deepest were precipitated by certain conditions. What were those conditions--was it that someone trusted or challenged you? Was it that someone saw potential in you, or took the time to help you understand something important? Was it learning about something valuable or extremely interesting to you? Hold those thoughts for a moment, I'll come right back to them.

I'm currently very interested in the ways that we change our perspectives on important topics. If you look at advertisements for cigarettes from the first half of the 1900s, it wasn't surprising to see someone dressed as a doctor touting the health benefits of smoking. We can't imagine that being tolerated today. Think of how minority and other civil rights have been viewed (painful to do, right?). In most cultures, we can point to dramatic changes in perspectives--or "narratives"--of what we consider acceptable. Our perspectives on food and health are changing before our very eyes, as the juxtaposition of a billboard about obesity next to one advertising fast food would catch our attention.

In Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale "The Emperor's New Clothes," a young child points out what no one else is brave enough to: "But he hasn't got anything on." The crowd slowly takes courage from the innocent awareness of the child and begins cry out in agreement with the child, and we see how perceptions molded by social pressure can change. However, Andersen's end to the tale reminds us that there are other forces besides social pressure that maintain "narratives:" power and its benefits. "The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, 'This procession has got to go on.' So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all."

So what other narratives do we accept right now where we may later look back on with surprise that we "went along with the crowd?" Let's go back to those conditions of deep learning you thought about. Were they related to standardized curriculum and high-stakes tests? I'd be surprised if they were.

I'm going to state something bold: education is either a form of liberation or of control. The basic argument for the "liberal arts" is the ability that learning has to help individuals become better and more independent thinkers, and better able to lead fulfilling lives and to contribute to their societies. The basic argument for mandated schooling in the form we most usually see it is to control: to control what students learn, to control how they learn it, and especially to control their behavior. The result of this controlling mindset for schooling is that a significant percentage (the great majority?) of our students have internalized the core message: you're not capable--not capable of choosing what to work on, not capable of making independent decisions, and ultimately not capable of thinking for yourself.

How many of our high school graduates are ready to live independently, and believe themselves to be, and are, capable adults? Conversely, how many students leave the system believing themselves either to have completely failed, or quick to state (as surprisingly many otherwise accomplished people do): "I wasn't one of the really smart ones in school."

May I suggest that we're going to look back on the last decades of modern schooling and wonder why we didn't question the compliance-testing model of education. We will wonder why we were not appalled at the idea that a system of learning doesn't help every child magnify their inherent potentials and to become accomplished and capable. We may rightly ask: how did we think we could solve together the wickedly difficult problems of our age when we emphasized conformity over deep and independent thinking?

See you online!

Steve
Steve Hargadon
www.stevehargadon.com

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Learning Revolution - Week's Free Events - Homeschool+ Conference - Mathbreakers - Creative Commons - Gender in Gaming

The Learning Revolution
Weekly Update

June 17th, 2014


Learning how to learn is life's most important skill.
- Tony Buzan

The Learning Revolution Project highlights our own "conference 2.0" virtual and physical events and those of our over 200 partners in the learning professions. We also highlight good conversations about learning taking place between educators, learners, leaders, and others from the school, library, museum, work, adult, online, non-traditional and home learning worlds. The Internet is shifting the boundaries of these worlds, and we believe that as they increasingly overlap and integrate these conversations will be critical to framing and preparing for the learning revolution starting to take place.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please sign up at the Learning Revolution. Please share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues!

Updates

  • 2014 Reform Symposium (RSCON5): Call for Proposals. Do you have an instructional method, project, or idea that you are passionate about and will “wow” other educators? If so, we invite you to present for the 2014 Reform Symposium E-Conference. The conference will be held online over the course of 3 days: July 11-13th. It will be free to attend, and everyone is encouraged to submit a presentation proposal, including first-time presenters. It will be free for educators worldwide to attend and in the past we had thousands of teachers attend from over 100 different countries. Please see the call for proposals for submission deadlines and details.
  • 2014 Homeschool+ Conference: Call for Proposals. We're excited to announce the second annual Homeschool+ Conference, August 7th & 8th, 2014, and to open the call for proposals. While the Homeschool+ Conference is geared toward those participating in or wanting to learn more about homeschooling, unschooling, free schools, democratic schools, and other forms of alternative education, my hope is that this conference will also be valuable for traditional educators looking to expand their scope and understanding of teaching and learning practices. Please use these promotional materials to help us spread the word about this great, free event!
  • ISTE Unplugged Kicks Off on June 27th in Atlanta. ISTE attendees - don't miss out! Audrey Watters of HackEducation.com will be joining us for our all-day Friday, June 27th, unconference--which used to be called EduBloggerCon and is now called, you guessed it, "Hack Education." It's free, it's at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it's a great way to spend a day with interesting people holding interesting conversations. The topics for the day are determined by the attendees, and many who come say it's the best thing they do at ISTE. After the unconference is our now-annual evening social/party, which will feature Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone band. Saturday is our half-day Global Education gathering, and then there's the Bloggers' Cafe Sunday - Tuesday. Check it all out at ISTEunplugged.com.
  • The AERO Conference. If you're not attending ISTE, and you want a great experience exploring where the learning conversations are going, you should consider the AERO conference June 26 - 29 at Long Island University. This is their 25th anniversary event, and as I've mentioned before, this was my favorite conference last year. More information here.

Learning Revolution Events


Partner Spotlight

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Our free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.” Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. More information at http://creativecommons.org/.

Interested in becoming a Learning Revolution Partner? Please fill out a Partner Application today.

Partner Announcements

  • Center for Curriculum Redesign: Character Education for a Challenging Century: A Global Conference in Geneva, Switzerland and on-line, Oct 22 - 24. curriculumredesign.org/character
  • SeaTrust Institute: Call for Proposals: Promoting Climate Change Awareness through Environmental Education. Due July 31st, 2014. See book details and description here.
  • SeaTrust Institute: Guide for Youth Contributions to Promoting Climate Change Awareness through Environmental Education. Submissions due July 31st, 2014. See details and submission instructions here.

One Week Calendar

All events are listed in US-Eastern Daylight Time. To become an event partner and have your events listed here, please email admin@web20labs.com.

  • Tuesday, June 17th - Thursday, June 19th in Portland, OR NMC Summer Conference - Portland, The NMC Summer Conference is a one-of-a-kind event, attracting highly skilled professionals interested in the integration of emerging technologies into teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. See details and registration information here.
  • Wednesday, July 18th - 20th in Sydney, AU Flat Connections Conference, The Flat Connections Conference is a unique international event that includes students and educators to envision the future of education and of learning communities as they use leading technology tools such as wikis, blogs, social networking and digital storytelling. The conference is diverse in participation while allowing smaller groups to work with leading world-class presenters in a "flattened" environment where virtual participants from remote corners of the world also join in the conversation and action. More information at http://www.flatconnections.com/sydney-2014.html.
  • Wednesday, June 18th at 10am in State College, PA Common Sense Media: A Healthy Digital Media Diet for Children Ages 0-8, Join Common Sense Media to learn about the new early childhood media toolkit for caregivers and families. This free toolkit offers best practices for encouraging social emotional learning, physical development, and pre-reading for the early learner. It includes tips on how to thoughtfully select age appropriate, high quality media for children. Presenter will also advice about how to reinforce the positive impact of media as well as sample activities highlighting effective co-engagement practices. See details and registration information here.
  • Wednesday, June 18th at 1pm Host Your Own Webinar: ICTosphere Surrounding ELT world: Reviewing Tools in Use, This session aims at examining the role of internet technologies and mobile apps in order to enhance English language teaching (ELT). The classroom experience of ICT in ELT will be reviewed and showcased. Asli Lidice Gokturk Saglam, Turkey is a language teacher, teacher trainer, ICT enthusiast and educational researcher. She has been an English teacher in EAP settings for 15 years and she loves teaching a lot (like Gollum loves the ring). She is a doctorate candidate. Her research interests include; teacher education, ICT and testing and assessment. She shares her reflections about teaching in her blog at http://aslisaglam.edublogs.org/ and on Twitter (@aslilidice). Join the session here.
  • Wednesday, June 18th at 12:10pm CDT in Austin, TX Common Sense Media: Digital Citizenship Resources for the iPad Classroom, As student devices are being integrated into schools, helping students be good digital citizens is more important than ever. Join Common Sense Media to learn about resources for teaching digital citizenship in the iPad classroom. Participants will learn about two curriculum resources that teach students to be safe, responsible, and respectful in a digital world. Registration and details for attending iPadpalooza here.
  • Wednesday, June 18th at 9pm Teachers Teaching Teachers, Weekly conversations hosted by EdTechTalk, a collaborative open webcasting community. For more information, click here.
  • Thursday, June 19th at 7pm Livebinders 2014 Top Ten Winners Announced, "How are you using LiveBinders as ePortfolios?" That's the theme for our 2014 Top 10 LiveBinders contest. You can nominate binders that you created and are using at your school or learning environment as well as binders that were created by others. These binders can be ones you started using just this year or ones that you've been using for several years. Educators, students, administrators, and trainers are invited to enter their binders. Join here.
  • Friday, June 20th Steve Sinnott Foundation: Education for All Day, Raising awareness and understanding of the need for quality education around the world and encouraging young people to participate. Click here for details and updates about Education for All Day 2014.
  • Sunday, June 22nd at 7pm The Art of Educational Podcasting, Join live at http://www.TeacherCast.tv.

For a full calendar of all upcoming events and conferences, click here.

Deadlines

  • 2014 Reform Symposium (#RSCON5), July 11th - 13th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals is now open! Do you have an instructional method, project, or idea that you are passionate about and will “wow” other educators? Proposals can be submitted from now until July 1st, 2014. Please see the conference strands and call for proposals for submission details and instructions.
  • Future of Museums, July 24th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and July 21st for the Future of Museums conference. This free, online event will give those of you who work in the museum and archives fields an opportunity to share your passion for the future of museum services, spaces, and innovations. Conference strands include Bring Your Own Device, Location-Based Services, Crowdsourcing, and Makerspaces. Please see the call for proposals and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Gaming in Ed, September 15th - 19th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals for the inaugural Gaming in Ed conference is now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until September 1st, and we will begin accepting proposals after July 1st. Conference strands include Game-Based Learning: How to Use Games in Educational Settings, Games & Assessment, Connecting Educators With Game Developers: Make Your Voices Heard, Students as Content Creators & Game Designers, Research on Game-Based Learning, and Professional Development. Share your experience with game-based learning with an audience of game developers and peer educators!
  • Library 2.014, October 8th + 9th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and October 1st for Library 2.014. This fully online, participatory conference presents a unique opportunity to showcase the excellent research and work that you do every day. How does your library manage digital collections? Is your library mobile friendly? Do you have a story to tell about maker spaces? Your participation as a presenter will steer the global conversation about the future of libraries. Please see the call for proposals and conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Global Education Conference, November 17th - 22nd, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The call for proposals for the 2014 Global Education Conference are now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until November 15, and we will begin accepting proposals June 1st. Please see the conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!

Highlighted Recordings

Michelle Pacansky-Brock from the Learning 2.0 - on "Can't You Just Lecture to Me?"

Pacansky-Brock
http://youtu.be/47F9zqxap14

Jaime Casap from the Global Education Conference - on "The Transformation of Education"

Casap
http://youtu.be/T813GJ-cWW0

Cable Green from the Future of Education Interview Series - on "The Obviousness of Open Policy"

Green
http://youtu.be/iJfeIeY1j_g

NMC Navigator Top Ten

Top Learning Tech Stories of the Week from the NMC/Horizon Project Navigator.

  1. Is flexible study the future for universities?
  2. Bit Rot: The Limits of Conservation
  3. Why Aren’t More Schools Using Free, Open Tools?
  4. 2U's CEO talks hitting 10,000 students and the state of online learning
  5. Geography Plays a Role for Distance Learners
  6. Kickstarting Innovation in Brazilian Education, Part II: The Educators
  7. Digital First Reshapes the Campus Experience
  8. University of the Future
  9. Signature engineering building offers opportunity for structural monitoring
  10. 2 vital components for true college, career readiness

Conversations

Classroom 2.0

  • Great Icebreakers for the New School Year. Karen Cameron shares this great list of activities to help students (and you!) ease into the new school year, and into having a new peer group. These icebreakers will help you and your students get to know each other, and set the tone for their learning in your classroom. Check out the list here. Thanks, Karen!
  • Web-Based Research Sources for Students. Librarians and teachers are always looking for more resources to help their students navigate the research process, which can be super daunting for many students! This list gives us a snapshot of five great sites for academic research, and is a great list to start from while preparing for next year's lesson plans and research guides.

Education Revolution Google+ Community

  • Tablets in Primary Education - A Brief Review. Patrick Pierra shares this article by Kelly Smith, reviewing the pros and cons of tablet use in primary school classrooms. As many of you begin to plan various technology implementation strategies for next year, Kelly's list may give you some insight or lead to important questions about the usefulness of tablets in your classroom.
  • Why Do Gender Stereotypes Persist in Gaming?. Christothea Herodotou shares this article by Kim Gittleson of BBC, New York, on the perpetuation of sexism in the ever-growing world of gaming. From developer attitudes to the preferences of individual gamers, Kim explores the many factors at play in the persistence of male-dominated characters. Check out the article here.
  • Video: What Makes a Good Teacher?. Students and teachers share their views on what makes a good teacher in this four minute video from the Seattle-based Alliance for Education. Check it out here.

See you online!

Steve
Steve Hargadon
www.stevehargadon.com

Thursday, June 12, 2014

ISTE "Unplugged" in Atlanta - Free Events Start Friday June 27th with HackEd14 Unconference

Each year hundreds of educators interested in social media, technology, teaching, and learning gather to build and participate in "unplugged"-style activities as a part of the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference.

ISTEUnplugged.com events are free, thanks to the support (and latitude!) given us by the conference organizers and by our exclusive sponsor this year, ClassFlow. You do need to be registered for ISTE for all activities except for Hack Education unconference and the after-party, which are open to anyone, registered for ISTE or not. A HUGE thanks to ISTE for making this all possible! #ISTEunplugged.

Friday, June 27th - HACK EDUCATION (all day): Audrey Watters of Hack Education co-chairs our all-day flagship event this year, our "unconference" on teaching and learning (originally EduBloggerCon). In our eighth year, this event typically draws 200 - 300 participants from around the world. It's a great event for beginners and regular attenders alike. Please come join us--whether you are attending the actual ISTE conference or not--for an amazing community experience filled with interesting education conversations in a highly social environment. If you are juggling other activities or travel, you are welcome for any portion of time you want to attend.

Many people will tell you this is the event to attend at ISTE because it's all about connecting and sharing. Hack Education is based on the idea of an "unconference", and is organized by the participants in real time on-site. It's maybe better referred to as a "collaborative conference." There are no formal presentations, just "conversations" that you or others facilitate. Those who lead sessions are not expected to prepare material but just to facilitate discussion. More information and sign-up page.

Friday, June 27th Evening - HackEd14 AFTER-PARTY!: Our now-annual unconference "After Party" from 7 - 9pm, sponsored by ClassFlow and featuring Kevin Honeycutt and the iPhone Band.  HackEd14 will wrap up at 4 pm, and we hope you take some time to enjoy the tastes of downtown Atlanta for dinner before heading to the HackEd after-party! Join your fellow Unplugged attendees at the rooftop lounge atop the historic boutique Glenn Hotel, voted one of the “Top 23 Best Rooftop Lounges in the World”. This will be a great time for networking and cocktails with your fellow EdTech community members. The party is free, but watch for an email from me in the coming days to RSVP.

Saturday, June 28th (2 - 5pm) - GLOBAL EDUCATION SUMMIT: The third-annual Global Ed Summit is a 3-hour mini-conference organized by Lucy Gray and Steve Hargadon for those interested in globally-connecting students and teachers, and a physical followup to the hugely popular online Global Education Conference. This participatory event will feature: inspirational ignite talks by noted educators and organizations working to connect classrooms; round-table discussions in which educators will showcase specific examples of global projects; and a global resource cool tools duel in which attendees will share the best resources and tools for creating global experiences for students.  More Information and RSVP.

Saturday, June 28th 9am - 3pm - INVENT TO LEARN WORKSHOP: Join Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager for an energizing day of “hard fun” as participants invent, tinker, and learn how to incorporate hands-on project-based learning in the classroom. Participants will engage in a variety of projects using modern tools and technology (this event has a fee). More information and to register.

Sunday, June 29 - Wednesday, July 1st - THE BLOGGERS' CAFE: Also in its eighth year, the Bloggers' Cafe is a location set aside by ISTE as one of their "lounge" areas for the conference, and is open the full duration of the conference. Often filled well-beyond the seating capacity generously provided, it becomes base camp for some, a landing place for others. The "BC" can often be intimidating to the beginner as they recognize the names of well-known bloggers or social media folks--but the name of the game in the BC is "EVERYONE'S WELCOME!" If someone doesn't notice you or introduce you to the group they are with, it's not for lack of manners, it's just because they are so involved--so please, introduce yourself! More Information.

Special Note - Event Code of Conduct:  We've added a code of conduct this year for the ISTE Unplugged events. Our crowd is always a terrific group of people, but this is a reminder: please be respectful of others at all times. The full Code of Conduct.

I hope we'll see you for one or all of these events. And a HUGE thanks to this year's exclusive sponsor, ClassFlow!


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Learning Revolution Week's Events - Evernote in the Classroom - Yong Zhao - Google+ vs. Ning

The Learning Revolution
Weekly Update

June 10th, 2014


Children want the same things we want. To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted.
- Dr. Seuss

The Learning Revolution Project highlights our own "conference 2.0" virtual and physical events and those of our over 200 partners in the learning professions. We also highlight good conversations about learning taking place between educators, learners, leaders, and others from the school, library, museum, work, adult, online, non-traditional and home learning worlds. The Internet is shifting the boundaries of these worlds, and we believe that as they increasingly overlap and integrate these conversations will be critical to framing and preparing for the learning revolution starting to take place.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please sign up at the Learning Revolution. Please share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues!

Updates

  • ISTE Unplugged. Look for our upcoming email on Thursday which will detail the fun and free events coming up at the ISTE conference. If you can't wait until Thursday, visit http://www.isteunplugged.com/.
  • Future of Museums Keynotes. We have more new keynote and distinguished speakers for the Future of Museums conference, including Elizabeth Merritt, Barry Joseph, Lath Carlson, Jeffrey Inscho, and Holly Witchey. We're currently working on the schedule, so look for updates soon on the conference site!
  • Connect With the Learning Revolution Project on Social Media. The Learning Revolution, as a new project, could use some help building our social media presence and credibility. Please consider liking our Learning Revolution Facebook page (it's not our primary method of communicating or organizing, but we think it will help bring awareness to what we and our partners are doing). You can also follow us on Twitter for weekly updates, conference schedules and activities.
  • Connected Librarian Day!. We've just confirmed that we'll be doing another Connected Librarian Day this year as a pre-conference event for Library 2.014, and to coincide with Connected Educator Month (which we're told will be held again this year). Connected Librarian Day is tentatively scheduled for October 3rd.

Newsletter Sponsors

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Learning Revolution Events

More information at http://www.learningrevolution.com.

Partner Spotlight

ACTFL

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is dedicated to the improvement and expansion of the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. ACTFL is an individual membership organization of more than 12,000 language educators and administrators from elementary through graduate education, as well as government and industry. Since its founding in 1967, ACTFL has become synonymous with innovation, quality, and reliability in meeting the changing needs of language educators and their students. From the development of its Proficiency Guidelines, to its leadership role in the creation of national standards, ACTFL focuses on issues that are critical to the growth of both the profession and the individual teacher. More information at http://www.actfl.org/.

Interested in becoming a Learning Revolution Partner? Please fill out a Partner Application today.

One Week Calendar

All events are listed in US-Eastern Daylight Time. To become an event partner and have your events listed here, please email admin@learningrevolution.com.

  • Wednesday, June 11th at 9pm Teachers Teaching Teachers, Weekly conversations hosted by EdTechTalk, a collaborative open webcasting community. For more information, click here.
  • Thursday, June 12th at 10:30am in Madison, WI GLS 10 Conference - Games in the Classroom, A panel discussion on surveys about games and learning: what surveys can and can't tell us about this topic, what we learned via survey data, and implications for practice. Presenters: Barry Fishman (University of Michigan), Lori Takeuchi (The Joan Ganz Cooney Center), and Michelle Riconscente (GlassLab/NYU), Seeta Pai (Common Sense Media). Learn more and register here.
  • Thursday, June 12th at 1:45pm in Atherton, CA Common Sense Media: Discover and Use Great Ed Tech for Learning, How do you discover and use great ed tech tools for learning? Learn about four important skills for teachers, including how to: investigate the best apps, websites, and games for students; evaluate the learning potential of tools; curate favorites into collections; and innovate with the new lesson planning framework App Flows. These skills and much more can be applied through Graphite, a free service by Common Sense Media. Learn more and register here.
  • Thursday, June 12th at 3:30pm in Atherton, CA Common Sense Media: Making a Better World: Digital Citizenship For K-12, As student devices are being integrated into schools, helping students be good digital citizens is more important than ever. How can we help kids make a better digital world? Learn about free, research-based curriculum and resources to help teach students safe, responsible, and respectful participants in a digital world, while fostering 21st-century skills and Common Core Standards. Curriculum is available online and for iBooks, with interactive activities, videos, and assessments. Learn more and register here.
  • Saturday, June 14th at 12pm CR20 LIVE Weekly Show - Jeff Bradbury: Evernote in the Classroom, From taking simple notes, to organizing a multi-level school district, Evernote is the perfect tool for paperless educators. In only 20 minutes we will dive into the vast world of Evernote and show you some pretty amazing tips and tricks to help you maximize your educational potential. Details to join the webinar at http://live.classroom20.com. Follow us on Twitter #liveclass20.
  • Sunday, June 15th at 8pm I Have a Question EdTechWeekly, Weekly attempt to crowdsource answers to education questions from our community of communities. Tag your questions #eduquestion or post them on our Facebook page or Google+ community.
  • Sunday, June 15th at 9:30pm PrincipalCast, Join Spike, Theresa and Jessica as they discuss Educational Leadership every Sunday night at 9:30 Eastern. More details here.
  • Monday, June 16th at 8pm TL News Night LIVE!, Going LIVE on the 3rd Monday of each Month! View here LIVE at 8pm ET. This is a LIVE show presented in news show format featuring a Wrap up of “This Month in School Libraries” and deeper discussion of topical school library issues with special guest experts. Did we mention it was LIVE? Join here.
  • Tuesday, June 17th - Thursday, June 19th in Portland, OR NMC Summer Conference - Portland, The NMC Summer Conference is a one-of-a-kind event, attracting highly skilled professionals interested in the integration of emerging technologies into teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. See details and registration information here.
  • Tuesday, June 17th in Austin, TX CoSN - 2014 Texas CTO Clinic, The Texas CTO Clinic will bring together leaders from around the state (and beyond) to discuss crucial developments in education technology. Join us for this professional development event and stay ahead of the cutting edge in your field. Learn more and register here.
  • Tuesday, June 17th at 10am PDT in San Anselmo, CA Common Sense Media at iTeach2014: Four Skills To Help You Discover, Use, and Share Great Digital Tools for Learning, Your classroom is ready for digital learning, but how do you find quality apps, games, and websites for students and integrate them into your teaching? Learn four important skills that will help you integrate edtech into your curriculum. First, learn how to discover new tools rated for learning, mapped to Common Core, and see how other teachers are using them. Second, learn how to evaluate and review the learning potential of digital tools through the lens of three important dimensions. Third, learn how you can curate by organizing content into useful, easy-to-access collections. Fourth, learn ways to innovate by transforming your lesson designs into App Flows, a framework that helps you seamlessly include technology in your curriculum with pedagogical intent. You¹ll also learn how App Flows connect with the SAMR model. See how these skills can be applied using Graphite, a free service by Common Sense Media, that helps teachers discover, use, and share the best apps, games, and websites for learning. Learn more and register here.
  • Tuesday, June 17th at 11:15am PDT in San Anselmo, CA Common Sense Media at iTeach2014: Making a Better World: Digital Citizenship Resources for K-12, Young people today grow up in a digital world with potential for communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creation. Yet schools face challenges with behavioral issues that arise from student use of technology, such as cyberbullying, inappropriate sharing, and plagiarism. Digital citizenship is an essential 21st century skill that enables students to be safe, responsible, and respectful participants in the digital world. Learn about Common Sense Media’s free, research-based curriculum and related resources that enable teachers to deliver targeted lessons across a range of topics. The curriculum is available online with videos, downloadable PDF lesson plans and worksheets, as well as interactive assessments. It is also available as a set of multi-touch iBooks Textbooks with Student Workbooks and Teacher Editions. Additional resources include Digital Passport, a suite of games for upper elementary students that teach important digital citizenship fundamentals. Digital Passport is available on the web, iOS, and on Google Play. Lastly, Common Sense Media’s Educate Families program provides schools with tools and resources to engage parents around responsible use of media and technology. Hear about implementation options, family engagement, and tips on how to build a positive, connected culture in your school. Learn more and register here.
  • Tuesday, June 17th at 4pm in Copper Mountain, CO A Common Sense Media Approach to Empowering Kids as Digital Citizens, Join Common Sense Media, a nonprofit dedicated to helping schools thrive in a world of media and technology, to learn about free resources for the connected classroom. 1) Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum: A free, research-based K-12 curriculum, aligned to NETS-S and CCSS, is offered in a format for low-tech classrooms, or in e-book format for blended classrooms. You’ll also learn about Digital Passport, an online/mobile game that teaches digital citizenship to 3rd-5th graders. The curriculum includes resources for parents. 2) 1-to-1 Essentials: A three-phase program with customizable tools to help schools execute their 1-to-1 roadmap, including writing AUPs, student and teacher boot camps, and parent engagement tools. 3) Graphite: Discover great tools for learning through Graphite.org, a free service that offers rigorous ratings and reviews of apps, websites, and games. Learn how to judge the learning potential of digital tools, integrate them into your teaching, and submit your own reviews. Learn more and register here.

For a full calendar of all upcoming events and conferences, click here.

Deadlines

  • Future of Museums, July 24th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and July 21st for the Future of Museums conference. This free, online event will give those of you who work in the museum and archives fields an opportunity to share your passion for the future of museum services, spaces, and innovations. Conference strands include Bring Your Own Device, Location-Based Services, Crowdsourcing, and Makerspaces. Please see the call for proposals and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Gaming in Ed, September 15th - 19th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The Call for Proposals for the inaugural Gaming in Ed conference is now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until September 1st, and we will begin accepting proposals after July 1st. Conference strands include Game-Based Learning: How to Use Games in Educational Settings, Games & Assessment, Connecting Educators With Game Developers: Make Your Voices Heard, Students as Content Creators & Game Designers, Research on Game-Based Learning, and Professional Development. Share your experience with game-based learning with an audience of game developers and peer educators!
  • Library 2.014, October 8th + 9th, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and October 1st for Library 2.014. This fully online, participatory conference presents a unique opportunity to showcase the excellent research and work that you do every day. How does your library manage digital collections? Is your library mobile friendly? Do you have a story to tell about maker spaces? Your participation as a presenter will steer the global conversation about the future of libraries. Please see the call for proposals and conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!
  • Global Education Conference, November 17th - 22nd, 2014
    Upcoming deadlines: The call for proposals for the 2014 Global Education Conference are now open. Proposals can be submitted from now until November 15, and we will begin accepting proposals June 1st. Please see the conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!

Highlighted Recordings

Yong Zhao from the Learning 2.0 Conference - on "World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students"

Zhao
http://youtu.be/lBz4yb9eG8c

Margaret Riel from the 2013 Global Education Conference - on "Improving your Skills as a Global Educator through Action Research"

Riel
http://youtu.be/4pEqS1YGihU

Anne Mirtschin from Reinventing the Classroom - on "Amazing eClassrooms"

Mirtschin
http://youtu.be/f9ap2eRCPeE

NMC Navigator Top Ten

Top Learning Tech Stories of the Week from the NMC/Horizon Project Navigator.

  1. The High-Tech Headband That Can Make Your Stressed Brain Happy Again
  2. The Moon has faster broadband than some parts of the UK
  3. A New Approach To Professional Development
  4. Is All This Student Data Changing the Way Teachers Teach?
  5. 5 examples of blended learning success
  6. 'Signglasses': New Glass App Augments Visual Learning for Deaf Students
  7. Big Data: An Evolution in Higher Education's Technology Landscape
  8. Google Launches Learning Space in Brazil
  9. Sabrina Pence – Three years of personalized learning: Key takeaways at Arthur Ashe Charter School
  10. Homey is a new system that lets you control your devices with your voice.

Conversations

Classroom 2.0

  • Read-Aloud Activities for the Last Day of School, and Launching Summer Reading Programs. Karen Cameron shares four of her favorite read-aloud activities for the last day of school, a great way to generate excitement around summer reading for your kids! Karen shares the books, an annotation, and ideas for accompanying activities here. Happy reading!
  • Finding Affordable Computers for Students and Families. While there have been incredible shifts in access to computing technology and connectivity over the past several years, the technology divide continues to grow and contributes to uneven experiences in learning at every level. In this post, Karen Cameron shares six organizations and services that can help families and students obtain affordable home computers. Check out these sites to help match your students or library users with computers that meet their learning needs. Read more.

Education Revolution Google+ Community

  • So You're Looking for New Classroom Technology. Corey Anderson of Secure Edge Networks gives us ten questions to ask and consider when selecting ed tech options for your classroom or home learning environment. Whether you're a parent looking at devices that will hold their value, a learner looking for a cost-conscious option, or a teacher hoping to get new tools for the classroom, these questions can help you identify the devices that will best fit your needs. Check them out here.
  • Making the Case for Homework. Kevin Hewitson shares his recent article from Advocating Creativity in Education (ace-d) about the relationship between learning intelligence and homework. Kevin reviews recent research on LQ, and explains the differences in learning that occur in school and home environments. Read more about this research and learn how homework can be used as an effective learning strategy here.
  • Innovation - What's the Secret?. Laura Devaney of eSchool News gives us nine ways that schools and educators have demonstrated innovation in learning. From classroom arrangement, to rethinking assessment, Devaney's list provides great food for thought as teachers prepare for next year.

Final Notes

A week or two ago, the Classroom 2.0 Ning network--which I started seven years ago, which is still active, and which represented such a shift in the thinking about and use of social networks for education--was surpassed in membership by a Google+ Community I started in December of 2012, basically 18 months ago. But not just surpassed, decimated. Classroom 2.0 is just shy of 80,000 members, and the Google Plus Community will hit 90,000 this week.

So why is this not a good thing? I mean, 90,000 members--that's impressive, isn't it? Maybe, but let's start with the name. I named it "Education Revolution," and when I decided that I wanted to focus more on "learning" and started working on the Learning Revolution Project, I discovered that even as the creator of the Google+ Community, I couldn't actually change the name. Apparently, if you hit a certain number of members, you're stuck with the original name.

So, I can understand the logic of that, as Google might be protecting against a bait-and-switch danger; but this is just the first way in which the creator of a Google+ Community discovers that he or she is not actually in charge. As the creator of my community, I have surprisingly limited abilities--I can't change the name, I can't highlight or promote posts in an authoritative way, and I can't email the members. In fact, I feel like I'm really just a spam-jockey for building Google's advertising base, since that's largely the time burden one discovers as the group grows. And should Google decide to change the service, or even disband it (which they do to services as we all know), I'd have nothing to show for that work.

Now, Ning has its own checkered past with networks and terms of service (remember all those free networks they shut down?), but at least I can export all the names and contact information from my networks in case there was a change (intentional or unintentional) to their availability. I do pay for that privilege, but I don't think it's the cost (or not) of using the tool that's actually at the heart of the issue. It's the degree to which Google+ Communities uses a direct-to-consumer model that largely ignores the role of organizers with Communities. YouTube, for example, gives the channel creator much more creative ability and tool-sets (and even revenue opportunities) that respect the organizer. Whoever oversees Communities didn't get the memo on how to include and engage organizers, or they just don't think it's important.

Why does this matter? It matters to me because Google+ and the community feature are so tantalizing close: close to providing an incredible platform for truly independent learning communities to evolve. Combine the Communities with Hangouts and it's not hard to envision the Ivan Illich dream of democratic "learning webs" that dramatically shift how people can gather around topics and interests, and could create the potential for an apprentice-like, crowd-based ecosystem for learning that just possibly might represent the most fundamental shift toward a learning revolution. Because Google+ Communities don't recognize the importance of the role of organizers, it's way too easy to see Google losing steam here and slowly ignoring development, and maybe finally sidelining the Communities effort. This would be a HUGE lost opportnity.

I've been at the heart of the social networking for education movement, and while that doesn't make my preferences a universal litmus test, is surely says something that I don't spend more than a few minutes a day on my almost-90,000 person community. It also says something that Google has never asked my about Communities.

See you online!

Steve
Steve Hargadon
www.stevehargadon.com