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.

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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.

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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

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