Ed Tech Resources

I enjoyed presenting at the OSU College of Education's first ever Ed Camp Unconference in October. The Padlet below contains resources used to dive into lively conversation about educational technologies, critical digital pedagogy, digital literacies and more! Enjoy!

Professional Development Strategies for Online Faculty

During the 2017 Spring OSU Ecampus Faculty Forum, I presented with other members of the Faculty Senate Online Education Committee in a session entitled An Online Educator's Guide to Authentic Self-Promotion. The session covered things for online faculty to consider for their dossier, online peer observations, professional development strategies and documentation, and busting myths surrounding online education. It's been interesting to be a part of these discussions and to consider the topics in our presentation from multiple perspectives!  Check out our presentation for more details and resources. Access my suggested professional development strategies for online faculty resources online Padlet sticky note. (Hint: Scroll down once you are on the site.) Add your suggestions!

Other 2017 Spring Ecampus Faculty Forum Presentations can be viewed online. Thanks Ecampus for another good conference!

Pok’ewhat?!?

Guest Post by Rhonda Wise - My name is Rhonda Wise and I am currently working as a Seasonal Interpretive Park Ranger at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Johnson City, TX. As an Interpretive Ranger, my job is not only to educate but to connect our visitors, on a personal level, to the cultural and natural resources associated to the Johnson Presidency. The National Park Service is embarking on its second century of service. I want to make sure that I am prepared to represent the agency while adapting to meet the needs of our future visitors in a way that is relevant to them.

Pok'ewhat?!? Social media is swamped with the reports and posts, both good and bad, about the new Pok’emon Go mobile app and game. The mobile app takes gamers to historical sites and markers in a quest to ‘catch’ the Pok’emon creatures. The National Park Service is embracing it, with our current director producing a video welcoming Trainers, as the gamers are called, to the parks. With his endorsement, I added his video to our facebook page and welcomed trainers to Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park (but inside I am cringing).

Is this how we get millennials into and experiencing the parks? I read an article today that made a statement that took my attention. ”Pok’emon Go managed to accomplish something that museums, historic sites and others have struggled with for years: Getting a generation of nerds into the world to discover it, and its stories, anew.”

The positive... Pok'mon Go Live article

And the negative... Holocaust Museum

I will be anxiously watching as this plays out. Will we find new connections with this Pok’emon generation or will parks be a nondescript backdrop for the game? Is this or can this be used as a digital educational tool? Thoughts?

My screenshot taken yesterday between the LBJ Boyhood Home and the visitor center. It's everywhere!

(Stay tuned. Rhonda is working on a project for the Educational Technology course I teach. I'll post when it's complete and direct traffic to more of her engaging posts like this.)

Exploring Media and Student Voice - From iMovie to Facebook

I had the privilege to participate in another Oregon Migrant Leadership Institute for high school students. We use videos and media as springboards to discussion surrounding the migrant population, leadership, goal setting, challenges, and more. Two college mentors facilitate discussion and lead participants in using iPads to create their own videos in a few hours. Check out the big ideas and videos in the dropdown menu we use for springboards to conversation. The Tech Activities serves as a guide for our process. Once participants complete a video on the iMovie app, it is uploaded to a Facebook page.

Here's 2016 Session 1 page and 2016 Session 2 page. A big shoutout to all of the OSU college staff who make the OMLI a meaningful experience! Thanks to Jose Perucho for this overview video of session 1.

The Brainwaves Video Anthology

Check out the Brainwaves You Tube Video Anthology by Bob Greenberg.  It's loaded with short videos that feature leaders in global education.

Here's one with Sir Ken Robinson where he talks about his new book, Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up.

Here are a few of many others I've either watched or look forward to viewing soon!

Alan November on Who Owns the Learning? Preparing Students for Success

Linda Darling-Hammond on The Flat World and Education

Carol Dweck on Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Larrry Ferlazzo on Helping Students Motivate Themselves

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano on Globally Connected Learning

Yong Zhao on World Class Learners

Subscribe to The Brainwaves Video Anthology to stay notified of the latest uploads.  Happy viewing!

Learning Technologies with Language Learners

I recently gave a presentation to a group of university English language instructors.  It's entitled Why? How?When? and Which Tools? Learning Technologies with Language Learners. It's divided into two parts.  Part 1: Frameworks to view technology integration. (The why, the when and a bit of the how.) Part 2: The tools with some examples.

What framework(s) do you use to guide your integration of technologies in supporting language learning and/or content learning?

Exploring Web Literacy with Thinglink

Guest post by S. Horton, a K-12 educator in my Winter 2015 Ed Tech class.

Web literacy is important for students to learn, regardless of their age.  Alan November's website has a ton of resources on web literacy.

When tackling this topic in the classroom, my students were falling asleep at the thought of reading another article. They demanded pop, fun, interaction, and creativity. I needed a way to get the information across while engaging them.  What  was I to do? Create it!  My students and I created this user friendly, super fun Thinglink using a joined effort of Easel.ly and Thinglink.  It's interactive. Click on the icons and explore!

How to use the Thinglink 
The tags have the answers to 13 questions on web literacy.  Some of the tags have follow-up activities that the students perform while reading the Thinglink creation. They click on an interactive link and then interact. Thus, the once bored students are no longer bored, but happily participating in web literacy skill improvement.

How I created the Thinglink
First, in Easel.ly, an infographics site, I made the base picture. Then, using the snipping tool on the computer, to take a "picture" of the Easel.ly poster, I saved it as a jpeg file.

Next, I uploaded the picture into Thinglink, a great site for creating interactive images. Then, I used the information on the November's learning website to create tags on the poster.

You too can bring topics such as web literacy alive.  Give it a try! Check out related posts Exploring Social Justice with Thinglink and Ways to Use Thinglink in Education.

A thank you to S. Horton and her students!

National Film Board of Canada Interactives

Looking for a relaxing way to kick back for a few hours?  Get lost in the National Film Board of Canada's Interactive site!

My exploration has just began.  Bla Bla by Vincent Morisset simply puts a smile on my face. The key to the interactivity is uninhibited clicking and sound on.  Flub and Utter by Scott Nihil and Sabrina Saccoccio caught the attention of the linguist in me.  It took me back to my first linguistic course and the study of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, which Nihil references.  My favorite may be Flawed by Andrea Dorfman, but it's too early to know for sure.  I'm still exploring.

It turns out this is an ongoing area of interest that I keep stumbling upon.  Here's a related post about one of the earliest 360 interactive documentaries, Out My Window.  Also check out the NFB's films! The Girl Who Hated Books is a good place to get started for elementary teachers.  Quallunaat! Why White People Are Funny reminds me of Narmica and a good lesson I need to reinvent.

Thanks to the fabulous learners in my Ed Tech class this term, and specifically Brian Levine for sharing the National Film Board of Canada's Interactive site.

Happy interactive exploring!

Why Does Sugata Mitra Anger So Many Educators?

This Ed Tech Talk entitled, Why Does Sugata Mitra Anger So Many Educators, is interesting!  I think you will find it interesting.  If you aren't familiar with the work of Sugata Mitra, view some of his TED Talks here.

Participants in the Ed Tech Talk include Dave Cormier, Jeff Lebow, Jennifer Madrell, Graham Stanley, John Schinker.  They discuss Sugata Mitra's concept of Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE), but conversation goes beyond Mitra's views.  Their discussion leaves room for reflection for the future of education in K-12 and higher ed.  Dave Cormier wrote two related posts The Rise of SOLEs (Part 1): The Decline of the Webquest and The Rise of the SOLES (Part 2): At the Heart of a SOLE.  These put some of their conversation into context.

What are some of your take-aways?  What points do you agree and disagree with? Watch it and share your thoughts here or in person with another educator.

A Pep Talk from Kid President

A favorite needs watched more than once.  It also needs shared. Watch Kid President from Soul Cake to brighten your day.  Then share, go and "create something that will make the world awesome!"