Learning Twigs

Blogging with students (2): Choosing a blogging platform

 

 

 

In my first post based around the idea of getting students to blog, I explored the important question of Why? Following that, and assuming we've come to the conclusion that there are some strong rationales for using blogs with high school literacy coursework, the next important questions become Where? and How?

 

As in: we've decided blogging can be a great thing for learning outcomes, but where and how are they going to do that?

 

The four most attractive free blogging tools for me appear to be Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr and Posterous (Spaces).

 

And of those, I have to admit I think that Tumblr would be the one that would appeal the most to my 16 and 17-year-old students. If fact, I've already heard some students talking about finding things on Tumblr, so perhaps there is already a link there. Posterous would have been an equal favourite, but their recent transition to something called Posterous Spaces does, I think, cloud their offering with a bit too much information and the potential for confusion or overload. 

 

In the end, however, I realised that the best person to evaluate and eventually choose the blogging platform for each student will be the student him/herself. In fact, this becomes a very useful way of making the blog platform selection a learning task in itself.

 

So basically, I think I will start by presenting the four free blogging tools above as initial options, give my own opinions about each, and then give the students an assignment to choose their own blogging platform (they may, of course, go outside the selections I've introduced) with some rationales for their choices.

 

Before my kids even blog, there are chances to make blog platform selection an active part of the Literacy and Oral Communications outcomes in our VCAL curriculum.

 

I wonder what they'll end up going with?

And I love not really knowing in advance!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

An embedded point of difference

 

 

 

Thanks to the very useful tutorial here, I learned how to embed YouTube videos directly into Microsoft Word documents. Gosh, what a great tool to have at your disposal.

 

In the example above (an application for a rather prestigious award one of my VCAL students asked me to help him out with), I was able to start his application with two videos covering a major project he accomplished. The first video shows him discussing his CAD drawings and rationalising his design alongside the first couple of planks of wood he'd prepared. The second video, from about six months later, shows his completed project in full action.

 

Given that his application is due to be submitted in Word format electronically, the first thing the judges are going to see is the applicant presenting himself in the flesh and a completed project from initial design to finished (and very functional) product.

 

I'm going to take this a few steps further next year. As we help our VCAL students prepare resume documents for apprenticeship and job applications, we'll be inserting two videos along the same lines as above. I think it's important in a CV (for a young person in particular) to show a bit of a quick journey and demonstrate their capacity to grow, learn and achieve.

 

This adds so much more texture and context to the rather bland document that a CV usually represents. It creates a real 'point of difference'; I mean, out of a stack of 50 electronically submitted resumes, tell me you're not going to remember the one that included quick videos of the applicant actually doing stuff and presenting themselves in person?

 

We can do this with PDF documents as well, but in that case the video file needs to be embedded lock step and barrel and it inevitably adds a huge amount of weight to the original PDF file size. The beauty with the YouTube-in-Word format is that it's basically just an in-built i-frame linking to the hosted video on YouTube.

 

Given I have a lot of teachers reading this blog, I think it's also something to think about adding to your Teaching CV as well. How about a quick self introduction, and/or a screencast of some of your materials and/or a video of you in action in a real classroom setting?

 

Create a point of difference. Be different by showing more of yourself in more of the real world.

 

In any case, I'm looking forward to applying this as a curricular tool with my students next year. I'll update you here later when I get some idea on how well it works in attracting prospective employers!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Reputations and grains of salt

 

Image: Michael Kenny

 

 

Deyr fé,

deyja frændr,

deyr sjálfr et sama;

ek veit einn,

at aldri deyr:

dómr um dauðan hvern.

 

 

What that basically means, according to the sayings of the High One in Old Icelandic poetry, is that wealth and friends will die and one day you will die yourself; but there is one thing that never dies and that is the reputation of the honoured person who has passed on.

 

Reputations are precious, aren't they? And we can be pretty precious about them, too...

 

It's never a nice experience to find out that someone you really respected and thought you had a good and open relationship with has been saying less than fair or flattering things about you behind your back -- to others you know and respect. Especially when it potentially has some bearing on your professional reputation.

 

It can leave you feeling helpless and reeling under the impression that, in gravy train industries (education is not immune), things can sometimes be colossally unfair or just downright nasty.

 

Have less pity for yourself and more for the 'slagger', however. The best reputations are forged on what you do and how, not whom you happen to know or have 'pleased' enough to promote your standing.

 

Slagging can be compulsive behaviour to some, especially if it becomes a way for them to feel bigger about themselves. That seemingly arrogant person smiling to your face but having a go at you behind your back is usually pretty damned miserable. They're often fearful as well; they're scared of becoming less relevant, worried they won't matter as much as they did before. Solution? Put others down, subtly (and if possible with apparent magnanimity) so as to leave themselves looking and feeling taller.

 

But a pedestal self-built on slag tends to end up looking (if not feeling) pretty sticky and pitiable.

 

What you do and the interactions you have with people one on one, one by one, really matter. Most people are well armed with grains of salt, and they can see patterns. They'll take you for what you are, based on what they see for themselves and not what they hear from others.

 

No matter how 'big' those others' names are, they can't disguise their habitual digressions into small behaviour. Just as with your reputation, their reputations eventually end up speaking for themselves.

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

A final salute to Sam Lee

 

 

 

A look back over some of the stats for the English Raven blog in 2011 showed that one post in particular generated not only the most visitation but also the most touching collection of heartfelt comments and testimonials.

 

As you can see from the visitors graph above, the post about Sam Lee's tragic passing in October this year attracted attention from the wider ELT audience in the form of a pinnacle or mountain... which correlates (based on the comments I have seen) to Sam's reputation in his professional field as well as across a vast circle of friends.

 

 

 

While I do wish the blog could attract attention for more positive tidings, I am touched that Sam's life and passing received the attention it did.

 

My thoughts again go out to his family, close friends and the good folk at Pearson who had to deal with this tragedy.

 

 

- Jason Renshaw

 

 

 

A look into the eye of learning

 

 

 

The diagram above was something I doodled up recently (yes, I know, I really need to find myself a hobby...) as I contemplated -- as I'm sure many of us do -- for possibly the millionth time: what is learning? What makes it happen (more effectively)?

 

What I found, by overlaying vertical and horizontal venn diagrams featuring what I've come to think of as essential criteria for learning, was a central pattern that leapt out at me as an 'eye'. Interestingly, the only way to get the full eye was to ensure there was an overlap of all four priorities:

 

Existing Knowledge: (or schemata) what the students already know based on experience and prior learning.

Expert Knowledge: what teachers and a range of other experts can pass on to students based on their specialised knowledge and experience.

Critical Thinking: hypothesizing, guessing, figuring stuff out, taking risks, problem-solving.

Peer Interaction: listening to and sharing with learners in the same (or similar) situation, age bracket or social setting.

 

What appears to be missing here, however, are the affective factors like motivation and interest. You could take all four of the elements above, for example, and they could fail dismally if the learners weren't motivated to be part of the learning environment and/or found it utterly boring to contemplate.

 

What do you think? Is it a dud depiction of learning, or is there something to it?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Blogging with students (1): Why get them blogging?

 

Image: Kristina B

 

 

One of my more ambitious and exciting projects for the 2012 school year will be to get my VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) teenage students blogging.

 

I would have started it this year, but I commenced my teaching role roughly mid-way through the year and it would have made integration of blogs into the curriculum somewhat messy. More importantly, I needed to develop appropriate relationships of respect and trust with the students before floating the idea of blogging with them. The response was very positive and I think I have the all-important green light from them along with the break between academic years to get it organised and set up properly.

 

At this very early stage, it feels important to establish a solid rationale for making blogging part of the Literacy curriculum. "Everyone blogs" just doesn't cut it (and it's obviously not true anyway: out of 100 VCAL students I informally surveyed this year, only one of them had and maintained a blog). The blogging rationale is crucial, I think, in selling the idea to all the different stakeholders in our VCAL endeavour: school, teachers, students, parents and prospective employers.

 

So here, in no particular order of priority, is why I'm really hopeful I can get my VCAL students blogging next year.

 

 

1. Blogging facilitates many aspects of the VCAL curriculum

There are eight specific outcomes involved in the Literacy part of VCAL alone, and of them things like Writing for Self Expression and Writing for Public Debate are almost taylor-made for delivery via personal blogs. Quality posts can also facilitate the mirror outcomes of Reading for Self Expression and Reading for Public Debate.

But it could, depending on the commitment and interest of the student, reach much further across the outcomes than that. Reading/Writing for Practical Purposes and Reading/Writing for Knowledge  can also be catered to via appropriately planned and delivered blog posts. 

Also, it needn't be limited to just Literacy. I see a lot of potential for blog posts to cater to VCAL's WRS (Work-Related Skills) and PDS (Personal Development Skills) units. Via audio and video postings (or just through discussion and response in class to various blog posts), we can also incorporate Oral Communication unit outcomes.

Unsurprisingly (remembering that blogging is about a platform and a mode), the composition and maintenance of a blog is potentially nothing short of a curricular winner, and I think it has the power to cater to pretty much any curriculum model out there.

 

 

2. Blogging encapsulates the notions of purpose, audience and public expression

My students are very capable consumers of Internet and Social Media, but not necessarily all that savvy in the way they use and contribute to these media. I see what they post on things like Facebook and how they respond to each other and, while respecting this mode of communication amongst their peers, I quite frankly blanch at times and realise that they are missing out on -- at a relatively crucial age -- some very important social skills which could very well become important in their adult lives.

Having them think about, plan, draft and produce for a potentially public audience represents a very important opportunity to rethink the way they communicate and express themselves. 

Beyond that, I think blogging is a unique opportunity to escape the audience of 1.8 (the writer him/herself and the teacher checking and responding to the writing). Not all of my students write well, but almost all of them have incredibly interesting things to say. It feels like such a waste for such textured and unique expression to live on paper that is very briefly read by an instructor and then filed away into oblivion. There is a potentially massive audience of peers who can benefit from and add to the issues and experiences my students are capable of expressing, but they are shut out if I continue to facilitate yesteryear's closed-shop approach to Literacy.

I think blogging can change that.

 

 

3. Blogging represents a chance to create a positive digital footprint

This is somewhat related to (2) above, but in this case I don't so much see blogging as a tool to rectify poor judgment on Facebook as a chance to (a) connect with other people based on mutual interests and (b) create a really positive stream of evidence that could become useful for future work opportunities. When you consider the weight given to blog posts in search engine listings, this digital footprint can become very rich in potential.

Looking at (a) first, if my students use their blogs to explore their personal interests (and these vary hugely) I think it becomes a great way to find others beyond their immediate location who like similar things. Relationships and recognition beyond the 'home town' can mean a lot to young people, especially if the situation in the home town isn't always all that rosy.

And as for (b), well I'm assuming that many of my students will be open to the idea of blogging about their trade education and work experience. If they can learn to be expressive but savvy about the way they portray and discuss this, the blog could make for a useful inclusion on a resume (or a useful thing to pop up when a prospective employer does an online search about them).

There are some risks here, as well, but I think learning about and managing risk is an essential part of progressing through teenagedom. My learners will have a mentor and a guide (me!) with their first forays into blogging, and I think that counts for a lot.

 

 

4. Blogging can showcase talents that lead to alternative opportunities

One of the biggest disadvantages of almost all education systems is that, to a greater or lesser extent, many young people become pigeonholed at a relatively early stage based on apparent skills and proficiencies (and bits of paper to prove them).

I have students who have really unique talents that would never make it anywhere near (or beyond) the qualification papers they currently have access to. This year I had a plumbing student who also turns out to be quite a brilliant amateur photographer with a targeted interest in cars. I had an automotive student who is an absolute gun online gamer, and a carpentry student who -- beneath all the gruff and bluff associated with his trade -- is one of the most eloquent writers I've ever come across in my teaching adventures around the world.

I think blogging can become an excellent way to encourage these extra talents to float up closer to the surface of things. They might even facilitate extra avenues to income, whether it is via being 'noticed' or just through advertising and promotions connected to future blogging activity itself.

 

 

5. Blogging can turn my students into trailblazers

Most of my students are involved in the 'hard' trades. They're school-based apprentices, or looking to get an apprenticeship.

I did some extensive searching this year, looking for blog posts written by and/or for teenage apprentices and it turned out to be rather futile. Searching even for just general teenager blogs can result in a very mixed and limited bag.

So perhaps my students can become relative pioneers in this space. If they blog about their trade education and experiences, the skills they are picking up, the transition from school to work life, etc., then perhaps they can start creating the content that future applied learning students will be able to access and benefit from.

And perhaps, just perhaps, this will motivate my students with another sense of purpose and worth.

 

 

 

Those are five of the areas that appeal to me most at the moment as I contemplate the hows and whys of blogging with teenage students. In your opinion and experience, have I missed anything? What else can blogging potentially bring to my students? In my enthusiasm and drive, am I overlooking any major caveats or risks?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

 

Teaching is... Recognition

 

Image: Trey Ratcliff

 

 

Teaching awards have always puzzled me.

 

About now there appears to be a bit of a debate going on in the 'teacher blogosphere' over the relative merits of the Edublog Awards. Similarly, at the (quite large) institute where I currently work, there is the tiniest bit of fuss over the whole 'Teacher of the Year' business that takes place each year.

 

I can't say I'm particularly fussed either way (for or against such awards). I think they can do good things for teachers and the profession at large while at the same time confessing that, without them, I don't think we'd really be missing out on much. 

 

Why? Basically because everything I see in the way of Teacher Awards is propelled by teachers themselves. Great as it is to get collegial recognition, if learners aren't part of the process of selecting and rationalising teaching awards then they can't realistically amount to anything all that significant.

 

However, I do think recognition is a very important thing in education. Noticing and recognising the great things happening in our classrooms is a rewards system unto itself. The best part of that is that, as teachers, we don't need to be noticed or recognised ourselves in order to get a really unique buzz out of what we do and (more importantly) what we are a part of.

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Christmas and New Year gifts from the Raven: free and open access

 

 

 

Worried about having to pay for access to all the Englishraven.com resources for teaching English to young learners and teenagers?

 

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

 

2012 is going to be a year of changes and new directions for English Raven, and pay-for access to the (3000+) resources created and gathered over the past decade isn't part of the plan.

 

So if you teach English to children and/or teenagers, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year, and draw your attention to the new Open Access Downloads Page where a rather large sack of teaching gifts awaits you.

 

The only things I ask in return are:

1. You pass the gifts along to other teachers you know as well!

2. You respect my authorship and rights to the material and don't go uploading it on your site or blog without my permission, and (heaven forbid...) don't go trying to pass it off as your own work.

 

 

Enjoy, and see you about in 2012 for some exciting new adventures!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Teaching is... Training and Development

 

Image: Trey Ratcliff

 

 

 

Following a session of teacher training I recently facilitated in my local context, I couldn't help but ponder (for what feels like the upteenth time) the differences and interactions between the notions of teacher training and teacher development.

 

In the end, what I did discover is the value of blogging when it comes to thinking about what we do and why. This post from a little over two years ago, when I was still entrenched in a TEFL mode of thinking, still pretty much sums up my feelings about teacher training and development and applies just as well in my new teaching context (vocational and further education) as any previous ones.

 

What now has my reflective teaching gears grinding away is where educational technology issues fit in. Given it is as much a mode as a (facilitator of) method, contemplating teacher training, program development and teacher development does indeed appear to raise a rather unique set of challenges.

 

Or does it?

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Preparing for screencasting via storyboards

 

 

 

Screencasting can be a bit of a messy and frustrating business if you are using one of the free tools with time limits and are not sure how to manage your time and content well. Even if you don't have to work with time limits with the tool itself, you do of course still need to think about the timing and organisation of your content presentation or demonstration from the learners' perspective. 

 

One way to develop your screencasting proficiency is to prepare storyboards in advance, as I explain and demonstrate below:

 

 

 

 

Here are the templates and examples I mention in the tutorial above:

 

Screencasting storyboard template A (MS Word 2007)

Screencasting storyboard template A (Word Compatible)

Screencasting storyboard example A (MS Word 2007)

Screencasting storyboard example A (Word Compatible)

 

Screencasting storyboard template B (MS Word 2007)

Screencasting storyboard template B (Word Compatible)

Screencasting storyboard example B (MS Word 2007)

Screencasting storyboard example B (Word Compatible)

 

 

For more posts about screencasting on this blog, check out the link here.

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

The importance of FO-FU in #edtech training

 

Image: Larry Johnson

 

 

 

As a person who has conducted and attended hundreds of teacher training workshops, it's been interesting for me personally to see not only how teacher training is becoming increasingly about educational technology but also how limited (or limiting) some of this training can be.

 

I am in the middle of preparing a series of edtech training sessions for the institute where I currently work and two priorities in particular struck me as being particularly important compared to previous workshops I have arranged more around the issues of teaching methodology and classroom management. Actually, these two considerations can certainly enhance those sorts of workshops as well, but for edtech in particular I think they become vital. 

 

I call these two priorities FO-FU, which stands for 'Finding Out' and 'Follow Up'. 

 

Starting with the FO, it worries me somewhat that so much edtech training appears to involve an expert (usually a visiting expert) demonstrating one or a small range of edtech tools that have been preselected in advance. I don't see anything inherently negative in that, but with the wealth of edtech tools and possibilities now available I think teachers need more than that. They're often given fish, but not taught how to go fishing.

 

Hence FO involves identifying a teaching/learning need and then actively looking around to find out what tools are available to meet that need or possibility. Teachers need to learn how to find and evaluate these tools across a range of criteria including things like cost, platform, accessibility, viability and reliability. And they need to work themselves into this finding out process in a way that allows them to increasingly do more of it on their own with other teaching/learning needs and facilitative edtech tools.

 

FU is, in my opinion, an even more important concern. Given that teachers are often being exposed to a tool for the first time, often using technology that mightn't exactly be within many teachers' immediate respective edtech comfort zone, without some sort of follow up it can be a little bit like grasping at ladders made of ice; they melt into liquid before teachers can learn to climb anywhere (if at all). 

 

The solution? Edtech training sessions need to come (as a minimum) in pairs. The first session covers orientation, finding out, selecting and learning how to use one or more edtech tools. The follow up session comes later (anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, but certainly in my opinion no later than that) and teachers are encouraged to bring along some of the work or experience they've managed to complete using the new tool and/or a list of specific problems or successes they encountered along the way since that first lot of training.

 

Again, this represents a problem for the fly-by-night visiting expert who is here today and gone not only tomorrow, but possibly forever. This is not to say that the visiting expert isn't worth your investment for edtech training; but it is to say that both you (if you are organising the training) and your visiting expert need to have a longer term plan that includes some sort of follow up to explore what has been taken up and achieved (or not taken up and not achieved) since the initial training.

 

In fact, I think it is quite essential for edtech trainers visiting contexts for once-only shows to have, as part of their offering, some sort of online meetup or gathering space where the trainees can come together again and share the fruits (or fruitlessness) of the training. Most edtech experts I have met are open to this idea, but it often turns out to be a rather vague offering. The follow up needs to be intrinsic to the F2F training session from the start and clearly and pragmatically facilitated. 

 

FU doesn't just ensure you are getting appropriate bang for your buck with the expert, however. It also becomes a very important fire under the bottoms of teachers to get out there and try and use the tools they've been trained to find and use.

 

Let's imagine a trainer has taught teachers how to find and use a one or more social media platforms to engage in education resource finding and sharing, for example.

 

Knowing that the trainer will be back in a week's time (or available online) to facilitate a session sharing what has been used and gleaned can be just the catalyst some teachers need to get out there and try it and not just put it into the vague mumbly 'might try that thingy sometime' basket.

 

Less confident teachers may be more willing to have a crack if they know they can have questions and problems addressed afterwards. Teachers need to realise successes and progress, no matter how small, if the edtech spark is to get the oxygen it needs to burn into something brighter.

 

It also means that there is more potential for teachers (whether from the same team or from different departments) in a given session forging and maintaining connections with each other. They have something they need to try and achieve and they will be meeting up again later to share it, so why not team up after that first session and try stuff out together?

 

 

All in all, I haven't seen a whole lot of FO-FU in the edtech training I've experienced as a teacher. I think both Finding Out and Follow Up are becoming increasingly vital for edtech, and I am in the process of making them cornerstones of the edtech training I am starting to put together for others.

 

You might like to think about FO-FU yourself, whether it be in evaluating the edtech training you are receiving or the training you are thinking of facilitating.

 

 

;-)