20 questions (and answers) about MOOCs
I was asked by the excellent Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach to speak to her PLP class about MOOCs, and, while we had what i thought was an excellent forty minute chat, there were tons of comments that i never had the chance to address. As i look over the questions they asked, I see that in answering their questions i have a chance to lay out many of the thoughts that I have had about MOOCs while they have been all the rage here on the internet in the last few weeks. I opened the discussion with a quick personal intro to my contribution to the MOOC discussion and then we moved to Q & A. Feel free to skim along and pick up the part of the discussion that interests you. Intro Edtechtalk and community – 2005 In 2005 Jeff Lebow and I started edtechtalk. What i discovered was that, simply by engaging in random discussions with new people we happened upon – I was learning. Rhizomes 2006 This lead me to new ideas about what it meant to learn and what it meant to know. Q & A. I see it as a win.
Every Educator Has a Story . . . Just Tell It.
This is one of my favorite cartoons ever. The “punch” line is that every person on the planet has a story to tell. I also know that every teacher story to tell. Educators are doing amazing things with their learners in spite (i.e., to show spite toward) of the standards-based and accountability-driven movements. I’ve learned about so many exciting learning activities from educators who are publicizing their great projects via Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs. I’ve read about global collaborations, interesting ways technology is being integrated into the classroom, kids making a difference in their communities, and great project-based learning. This is my own call to action for educators to tell their stories of those rich and amazing things they are doing in their classrooms. For example, I am incorporating students’ mobile devices into an undergraduate course on Interpersonal Relationships. I now have a record/reflection about the class. Like this: Like Loading...
The 2012 A-Z List Of Educational Twitter Hashtags
We got so many additions and updates to our 2011 list we thought it was time to bring you the most up-to-date list for 2012. So, without further ado, here’s the 2012 A-Z list of educational Twitter hashtags. We went through all the comments on the 2011 version , wrote down all the Twitter and Facebook updates, and compiled this list over the course of several months. What follows is our best effort to bring you the biggest and baddest list of hashtags. I’m sure we still missed some as new hashtags seemingly pop up every day. First, some background to get you up to speed on what the heck a hashtag is. First, What’s A Hashtag? Whether you’re a new or seasoned Twitter user, you likely come across confusing hashtags that probably look like a bunch of nonsense. The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a Tweet. For example, the popular #edchat hashtag is used by thousands of users every Tuesday. How To Hide Your Hashtag Chat From Followers Sources Technology
Gross National Happiness Commission - The Planning Commission of Bhutan, Development for Happiness
Happiness Quotient in a Himalayan Kingdom | Through Your Body:
THIMPHU, Bhutan If the rest of the world cannot get it right in these unhappy times, this tiny Buddhist kingdom high in the Himalayan mountains says it is working on an answer. “Greed, insatiable human greed,” said Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, describing what he sees as the cause of today’s economic catastrophe in the world beyond the snow-topped mountains. “What we need is change,” he said in the whitewashed fortress where he works. “We need to think gross national happiness. The notion of gross national happiness was the inspiration of the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the 1970s as an alternative to the gross national product. “You see what a complete dedication to economic development ends up in,” he said, referring to the global economic crisis. Under a new Constitution adopted last year, government programs “from agriculture to transportation to foreign trade” must be judged not by the economic benefits they may offer but by the happiness they produce.
ProfessionalGrowth - Teacher Portfolio
Individual • Collaborative Definition: The Teacher Portfolio option is a process involving the collection of best practices in an identified area. The portfolio documents evidence of teacher competencies and guides long-term professional development. It is a reflective tool to demonstrate professional growth over time. Learn More. Purpose To allow teachers the opportunity to reflect and gather data to support the professional goal, assess teaching strengths, and identify areas which may need improvement. Image from:
DuFour PLC Model
What Is a "Professional Learning Community"? To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results. Richard DuFour The idea of improving schools by developing professional learning communities is currently in vogue. People use this term to describe every imaginable combination of individuals with an interest in education—a grade-level teaching team, a school committee, a high school department, an entire school district, a state department of education, a national professional organization, and so on. In fact, the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning. The professional learning community model has now reached a critical juncture, one well known to those who have witnessed the fate of other well-intentioned school reform efforts. The rest of this article can be found Videos
Twitter for Teachers: Discover #hashtag PD!
When I first joined Twitter about a year ago, I signed on to follow my teenage daughters (stalker mom extraordinaire). Among their group of friends, they frequently used hashtags (#) at the end of their tweets such as #justsayin or #awkward to express their feelings at the time. Some of them are quite amusing! After I began using Twitter for professional reasons to help build my PLN (Personal Learning Network), I saw hashtags being used by people at conferences: #NAIS, #ISTE11, etc. By “marking” tweets in this way, people could send a message to fellow tweeps who were at the conference or had an interest in the goings-on. Followers of the hashtag didn’t have to keep up with lots of attendees because savvy tweeters were all using #ISTE11 (for example) on tweets about the meeting. Months later, I have an #ahamoment What I didn’t realize until this summer (#slowlearner), was the ENORMOUS group of educators who are finding folks to connect, chat and collaborate with by following hashtags.
